Billionaire LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman Says His Masters in Philosophy Has Helped Him More Than an MBA
Reid Hoffman
But one of Silicon Valleyâs most influential billionaires  LinkedIn founder and Greylock Partners investor  Reid Hoffman   received  his  masters degree in philosophy from Oxford in 1993.  He  was originally planning to go into academia  but decided that  his  desire to do nothing less than change the world would be more likely in the world of tech. Thatâs not to say  however  that  he  abandoned the lessons  he  learned.
In an interview for Business Insiderâs podcast âSuccess! How I Did It â  he  explained that  his  unusual educational background has proven quite helpful throughout  his  career.
 Hoffman  told us  his  favorite philosophers are Aristotle  Friedrich Nietzsche  and Ludwig Wittgenstein  and  he  said that studying them has proven useful in two ways.
It honed  his  critical thinking
 Hoffman  said that âphilosophy is a study of how to think very clearly â and that is useful in both investing and being an entrepreneur  which  he  said is like being âan all-in investor.â
It gave  him  deep insight into human nature
 He  told us  âI think what every entrepreneur in consumer internet is doing is essentially embodying a theory of human nature as individuals and as a group for how theyâll react to the service  especially if itâs community or network properties  how theyâll interact with each other  how this will fit in their landscape of how they identify themselves and how they communicate or transact with other people.
 Hoffman  said in a recent episode of  his  podcast âMasters of Scaleâ that  he  considers the MBA path to be potentially dangerous for entrepreneurs  because it teaches them to approach business in a safe and ordered way; by studying the essence of human nature   he  explained in our interview   he  instead had an education into how humans interact with each other and the world â  his  business education came through trial-and-error in the real world.
âThereâs almost a sense in which part of being an entrepreneur or being an investor is being an applied philosopher or an applied anthropologist â  Hoffman  said.
But one of Silicon Valleyâs most influential billionaires  LinkedIn founder and Greylock Partners investor   [TGT] received   [TGT]   masters degree in philosophy from Oxford in 1993.   [TGT]   was originally planning to go into academia  but decided that   [TGT]   desire to do nothing less than change the world would be more likely in the world of tech. Thatâs not to say  however  that  he  abandoned the lessons  he  learned.
In an interview for Business Insiderâs podcast âSuccess! How I Did It â  he  explained that  his  unusual educational background has proven quite helpful throughout  his  career.
  [TGT] told us   [TGT]   favorite philosophers are Aristotle  Friedrich Nietzsche  and Ludwig Wittgenstein  and  he  said that studying them has proven useful in two ways.
It honed  his  critical thinking
  [TGT] said that âphilosophy is a study of how to think very clearly â and that is useful in both investing and being an entrepreneur  which   [TGT]   said is like being âan all-in investor.â
It gave   [TGT]   deep insight into human nature
  [TGT]   told us  âI think what every entrepreneur in consumer internet is doing is essentially embodying a theory of human nature as individuals and as a group for how theyâll react to the service  especially if itâs community or network properties  how theyâll interact with each other  how this will fit in their landscape of how they identify themselves and how they communicate or transact with other people.
  [TGT] said in a recent episode of   [TGT]   podcast âMasters of Scaleâ that   [TGT]   considers the MBA path to be potentially dangerous for entrepreneurs  because it teaches them to approach business in a safe and ordered way; by studying the essence of human nature    [TGT]   explained in our interview    [TGT]   instead had an education into how humans interact with each other and the world â   [TGT]   business education came through trial-and-error in the real world.
âThereâs almost a sense in which part of being an entrepreneur or being an investor is being an applied philosopher or an applied anthropologist â   [TGT] said.