Success Biography – Connan O’Brian’s school record was no joke

As a former top performing student, it has really stood out to me that in my research I’ve noticed most of the anecdotes about people who achieve outstanding success usually don’t get there by the normal academic route. There’s Steve Jobs, of course, who I covered in this series of posts. Then there are several mentions of successful people in Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. The idea that college isn’t needed for success came up again in How Children Succeed, by Paul Tough.

Does this represent a bias or reality? So, I decided to start taking note when I hear of someone who is a success who was a stellar student.

The first successful person I just happened to hear about who also did well in school was Antonin Scalia. That makes sense that a Supreme Court Justice would be a scholarly person.

This next one is a bit more surprising.

Conan O’Brien graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard. That is certainly academic success. It’s interesting to note, however, that this is not based on his grades from the entire four years. Instead it’s based on a thesis that it sounds like he binge wrote during his senior year about a very non-mainstream idea.

Further reading:

Becoming Steve Jobs vs. Steve Jobs the official biography, a comparison Part 1/7

Outliers Book Review – Obsession to success, Part 4/4

College isn’t needed for success