It cracks me up to see so many people who think that having a good general culture is a crucial thing. They believe they should know all sorts of stuff on a wide range of subjects including literature, art, history, geography and politics.
Personally, I couldn’t have a poorer general culture (although I do tend to create the peculiar impression that I know a lot of stuff). My standard answer to a question such as “When did Napoleon invade Russia?” is, depending on my mood, either “On a beautiful morning” or “Don’t know, don’t care”.
Furthermore, as I don’t try to improve in this area, you can imagine I don’t give general culture a lot of value, as opposite to the high value I give good people skills. Here’s why:
General Culture Is Not Practical Knowledge
Most of the knowledge considered to be a part of your general culture has a practical use that stops at superficial conversation. Beyond that, there isn’t much you can do with it. When did knowing the best neoclassical painters practically help for someone, apart from a guide in an art museum?
Sure, there are principles and concepts in various fields that are of practical use to us in everyday life. I believe it’s good to know about the Pareto Principle or the best social media websites. However, that’s not the kind of knowledge general culture is mostly about.
Skills Trample Knowledge
I think I say something like this almost every day: quit reading; start doing! Even practical knowledge has little value if it’s not assimilated and developed into a skill or an attitude. This assimilation process is not based on reading, it’s based on practicing.
It is your skills and attitudes that make you a successful professional, a charismatic person or a great leader; not your general culture. And developing skills effectively means, in my experience, about 5% absorbing information and 95% applying it repeatedly.
This is why it doesn’t surprise me that the most cultured people I know are fairly unsuccessful.
General Culture Makes Boring Conversation
Have you taken part lately in a conversation on German poetry or something like that? Whenever I am, my mind is screaming: “Get me out of here!” and I obey it. It’s no wonder that such conversations are habitually called ‘small talk’.
I find that a conversation on a particular subject in the area of general culture is only interesting if all the persons involved have a strong interest and thirst for knowledge on that particular subject. This, of course, rarely happens. Like it on not, many people would rather discuss relationships than the political system in Ethiopia.
If You Think It Makes You Interesting, You’re in for a Big Surprise
Another idea I consider outdated is that demonstrating a vast general culture will impress others, because it is a very attractive trait.
First of all, the only people you’re gonna truly impress are my grandma and her girlfriends. Secondly, if you want to play this angle, there are a lot more attractive traits than knowing a lot of shit. Consider traits like wits, confidence, people skills and authenticity; these are the ones that give you an edge in social interactions.
It Gets Worse
That part of me that provides communication coaching for a living can’t help but notice that many times, using your general culture as the base in making conversation is a way of hiding oneself. If you’re talking about stuff, you’re not talking putting yourself out there. That doesn’t make you charming, it makes you boring.
I’m sure that at one point in our history, knowing the history of many countries was a very important thing. I suspect it was a way to separate the upper class from the common people who didn’t even have access to that kind of knowledge.
Today on the other hand, general culture, at least in the traditional way of defining it, doesn’t do squat for you. Maybe that’s a sign we need to either leave this concept behind, or reinvent it.
Image courtesy of practicalowl
[adrotate group=”5″]
Hi Eduard,
Good point here.
Book Smarts (general culture) loses out to Street Smarts unless you happen to be someone teaching the particular discipline being talked about.
It makes little sense to impress people with knowledge that does neither party any good.
This reminds me of the Henry Ford libel case. He sued for being called an ignorant pacifist. When lawyers tried to prove his ignorance Ford mentioned he could get the answer to any question by hitting a push button in his office. There’s a reason he was one of the wealthiest men who ever lived and it wasn’t because he held onto useless knowledge.
Thanks for sharing and have a powerful day!
Ryan
Funny you should use the term Street Smarts, Ryan. I use the term Life Smarts frequently and I will often refer to some people who know a lot of stuff as lacking it.
Thanks for dropping by 😉
Eduard,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I would have to agree that when it comes to general knowledge, we can have a vast amount of it, but if we don’t know how to apply it, it’s relatively worthless. I do think it’s important to be cultured in order to be open-minded to other views, traditions, and values, but this alone will certainly not lead to success. We need to understand what skills and knowledge are particularly useful to us, and cultivate these.
I think that is a real benefit culture can offer Joe: being more open-minded.
Unfortunately, only a part of what we call general culture helps us do that. Knowing is not the same as growing.
Thank you Eduard! I had countless debates in my life about this topic and I always seemed to be the only one who thought that acquiring tons of general knowledge is a waste of time if you don’t apply it to anything else than smalltalk.
Hey Sven! Glad you’re on my team. Whenever I have this debate nowadays, I just point to real people who have or lack a lot of general culture, and how this affects their lives. And I say: Look!
I know what you are saying but I think you overstate the issues here.
Historical perspective is important and useful. Much of what we want to learn about our selves and the issues we face are Human issues that have not changed much through the ages.
I think the issue here is between people who use a veneer of “genreal culture” to appear intelligent or superior as opposed to people who use it to enrich and illustrate their own learning.
To say that history is not interesting or useful is just to display ignorance. As you say, it’s what you do with the knowledge that matters most.
Hey Rob,
That is a valuable point you’re making. I also state in the post there is some part of general culture that has real, practical value for us. However, there is also a lot of fluff.
And you’re right, some folks do have the impression knowing fluff makes them waaaay better than the rest. I find that totally unwarranted.
I think that you are looking wrongly at this matter. General knowledge is, in my opinion, a by-product of being interested and curious about the world and by reading things to satisfy this curiosity. I think that people that accumulate general knowledge just for the sake of it are very rare.
I also believe that in order to be creative and come up with new solutions you have to have bits of knowledge from here and there and to re-arrange them so that they transforms into something different and new.
Interesting point Raluca. However, It might be more a reflection of the reasons you acquire knowledge (you’re curious) rather than the reason people in general acquire it.
I know plenty of people who read stuff just to try and fit in a certain social category. It is also not the kind of practical stuff that helps them come up with solutions in their lives.
This is a bit at odds with my recent post about developing a palate for arts and culture. I think it is a way of building character and showing passion for life.
However, depending on what you mean by “general culture” we might have more overlap than I suspect. I certainly don’t think it is useful for everyone to read all the “literary classics” or “masterpiece films of the 50s” or whatever…but I do think it is important that we develop a taste for SOMETHING.
Interesting thoughts Eduard and I will definitely consider some of these things in the future.
Just read your article Steve. I think we’re saying the same thing (mostly), but we’re approaching it from different angles. I’m the critic in this, you’re the constructive guy 🙂
> Skills Trample Knowledge
So true. Nothing beats turning insight into action to get results.
Dude, I think I’m gonna give you a prize for short but relevant comments and good paraphrasing 😉
I think the title of the post is rude and pretty offensive. Not to mention that it encourages people to be superficial and narrow sighted (Raluca has made a great point there). Also gave me serious doubts about your credibility as a coach.
The implications of your statement in the post are very serious. Let’s start tomorrow by not teaching our kids at school things about general culture ’cause anyway it does not help them. Let put instead self help books or why not some of books made by your blog’s posts. 😉 For example, in 1988, during Ceausescu’s regime, we studied French, English and also Technical Drawing. So the question was: why study French and English because chances to get out of the country were very slim, not to say we did not have access to books or any foreign material. Today, I rely a lot on the notions learned in that period, and without technical drawings reading ability I would look pretty stupid in my customers’ eyes not being able to help them understanding some product’s characteristics.
As Raluca mentioned, how could we learn more about ourselves by not immersing in topics which do not make too much sense for the moment but will help us to understand or discover some areas about us where we are more powerful?
I remember Steve Jobs, mentioning about attending a Calligraphy class in his college, which, considering the path he was on and your post title, it would have been absolutely useless. He recall later that class helped him designing the fonts on the first Apple products.
We as human being are too limited to know what God has in store for us in the future, therefore I consider General Culture as an Asset rather than bs. Like any asset, it could be used well or bad.
Calin, I think you’re missing the point. I’m not against seeking knowledge in various fields.
I am against believing that all knowledge has an intrinsic value and against ignoring the need for knowledge to have practical applications.
I talk all the time with people who know a lot of stuff and can’t do shit in real life, but they think they deserve special treatment for their general culture. That’s what I think is superficial.
You do not acquire cultural knowledge in order to shine socially. If this is your aim, then it might help or it might not, but it is not the proper aim. An education, truly speaking, offers no practical benefits (social, monetary), but is the most beneficial in terms of living a fully human life and understanding the world and its citizens and events, past and present. There can be no price on wisdom, and wonder and curiosity about every aspect of life is a mark of true intelligence. A person who only looks for practical gain is living an animal existence, which I agree, the mass of humanity is confined to.
Cultural knowledge is appreciated because a person who is curious of such things, who is interested in knowledge for its own sake and not because it serves any practical gain, is to be admired as an educated person who takes in the whole world, all aspects of life, not just social. To know the best of what is thought and said improves your mind, your perspective, your ability to analyze and think, and such a richer life intellectually, as well as wisdom and understanding of the world and the human condition.
These things should be pursued due to your insatiable curiosity and fascination with all aspects of life. I love knowledge for its own sake, but in no way use it to shine socially.
Social skills are important, and knowledge regarding skills is best learned experientially, but other types of knowledge are useful in their own fashion, and can be learned through books, reflection, and dialectics.
Perfect life in ALL its Aspects. Nothing is everything.
But I agree, most people are not made to pursue higher things, and forcing this to impress socially is a foolish notion. But a true liberal arts and classical education to the extend the person’s intellect allows appreciation, is a life beyond compare. Nothing else is lost, but so much gained.
Hey Julian,
That’s one of the most well written comments I’ve received on People Skills Decoded in a while. Glad to have you aboard.
I perfectly agree with you that general culture is not a good tool to impress socially and this is why I think that people who try to use it this way are fooling themselves.
I am I pragmatist and I don’t buy into knowledge being a good thing for the sake of knowledge. I understand that many of us have an intrinsic thirst for knowledge and we enjoy acquiring it, but I also think we should always keep in mind much more the practical side of it.
As an ex-debater, who coincidentally is doing a training on argumentation and persuasion today, I can’t help and notice you’re using a circular argument when you’re saying that a person with culture is appreciated because they are an educated person. Yeah, an educated person is an educated person. Again, I don’t see an intrinsic value in it per se.
Cheers,
Hey Ed,
I think Julian makes a great point that acquisition of knowledge can extend a person’s intellect. Do you agree with that? I wonder if you’re trying too hard to make this idea black and white. Personally I think both skills and (general) knowledge are important in order to be maximally effective. It’s just a question of how much and why. It’s the difference between an interesting person and a drone. Whom would you prefer to work with? 😉
It was interesting to see the arguments coming from readers from East and West (North America). Clearly this is a larger “problem” in the East. I think people in the the West could use a bit more culture and less work. (in general) People from your neck of the woods are often shocked how work oriented and culturally barren most Noth American cities are.
So no clear conclusion here, except that “general culture is bullshit” is clearly an exaggeration! 🙂
Chris
Hey Chris,
Well, an accurate name for this article would have been “Why in my perspective, general culture in the traditional view is bullshit as a way to get success and woo people”. I think you can see why I went for the shorter version 😉
If I interpret what you’re saying correctly, you refer to people who can kill any conversation by talking about “general culture”. But then, isn’t the problem more about their lack of social skills than anything else ? Those people are being agressive by showing off their “superiority”, and that’s the problem.
But I think that you can find this problem with some people who will brag about their experience, their old age or their travels. Everyone went through the experience of listening to someone who thinks that they are teaching you something when they are only bragging about their longer experience. If they are not trying to connect with you but just to impress you, you are not having a good moment. But if the person really cares about what they are talking about, I could easily imagine myself talking with someone about Somalia and appreciating to learn stuff and to connect with the person. Meanwhile, the crushing type of cultured people are not often the most cultured at all. Just like the most physically agressive people, it often comes with insecurity and weakness, really.
On the other side of the spectrum, someone with “pure” people skills in the sense that you describe “pure” general culture would be completely empty, the kind that chatters all the time and speak for the sake of it. Isn’t the problem more about culture, or anything else, as an empty shell ? With people having a conversation with you without trying to connect at all ? Once again with the Somalian example, someone talking passionately about it would certainly show more about himself than someone talking about his love life with empty, conventionnal formulas.
Hi Leon,
Yes, not making your conversations gravitate around your general culture is one of the main ideas. Most people find that boring and pretentious.
There is something else we can put in a conversation as content: personal stuff. Talk about your experiences rather than World War II, talk about your beliefs rather than the philosophy of Kant.
Eduard this post is food for thought. Thank you. People are more emotion oriented. Conversational skills doesn’t get the respect that it deserves. It’s good to know history but social skills takes a person much further in life.
I was hoping someone would mention that Omar. Conversations are frequently an exchange of emotions, not of information. We often miss that point.
I really don’t get your point. Information and knowledge are the most valuable tools to succeed in life, to be healthy, to live a good life, to reach some kind of happiness. If you are skilled then you can get a good job with a decent salary.
How can you encourage people not to read? So your goal is that nobody reads this post you created? This absurd.
You say go on and do!! Books teach you how to do stuff. So how can you just start doing something without reading first?
It’s like asking somebody to be a basketball champion asking him not to train and developing his physical condition first -strength, speed, jumping, agility, anaerobic endurance-. A good basket ball player can’t succeed without knowing the best techniques for all of these. It’s not just running and throwing the ball to the hoop.
I think you are confusing social or conversation skills with general knowledge. You can be a genius and not have friends at all. You are not having clarity of concepts here.
How can you have skills without reading? What kind of skills are you talking about. Skills to be a clown of a circus? Even a waiter or a carpenter has to able to read and have some knowledge before doing something.
How can you call knowledge bullshit? Are you sure of what this means?
This was really difficult to hear, but I needed to hear it. GREAT blog.
I’m book smart, I’m street smart and skilled.
It’s a matter of finding your balance.