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What is a good major for me?

What is a good double major combination for business strategy?

  • I am a second year student at University of Toronto (just completed 1st year a week ago). I am a business student who is studying management with an emphasis on business strategy; I recently found out that i could add another major without much workload or paying extra fees.  What is a good complimentary major to take with business in order to be prepared to be a great business strategist? I have to make this choice by next week. Right now my options and reasons are as follows: Philosophy major or minor: Prepares you to be a better analytic/critical thinker Psychology major or minor: Understanding human cognition A combination of classes geography, political science, history of technology, urban planning, philosophy and psychology: Helps give a wide range of knowledge which could be paramount to creative thinking. Region (African Studies) major or minor: An in depth knowledge of a region could possible be valuable if the region is valuable. Which option do you see as the most helpful in being an aspiring business strategist?

  • Answer:

    I don't really think majors prepare you for strategy. You should go work in real companies and develop real experience. My double major was in Computer Science and Economics, and my masters is in EECS. Geoffrey Moore, considered a good strategist and author of a seminal high-tech strategy book called Crossing the Chasm majored in English.

Sramana Mitra at Quora Visit the source

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Like said, comp sci.  Most business people just don't get the scalability dynamics of software, the costs of what is possible, nor the development process.  People that understand both are unicorns.  People that don't, cause problems. Geology.  Billion dollar tech companies are called success.  Billion dollar energy companies are called startups.  Small fish, big pond....just don't pee in the pond. Biology/Pharma.  This is government enforced drug dealing.  See Freakonomics. Regarding Africa....don't study....just go there and get an internship and learn the current reality.

Hans Chung

You may want to look at one of the following majors -Computer Science-builds a sound basis for understanding computers and also building one's logic competency -Economics-good major for understanding Financial markets and also quantitative -Mathematics-Very quantitative which always helps in strategy since numbers help in pursuing one strategy versus another

Hunter McCord

I worked in strategy at the product level for a couple of years. My advice would be to study something deeply quantitative. Doing this via an applied technical discipline like engineering or CS is ideal as it will give you direct insight into technological capabilities. Virtually every business is either governed by or about to be disrupted by technology. The extra depth in math and stats will help you out perform virtually every other major in analytical domains.  That said, business strategy is much about the details of execution. Technical training can sometimes trick the mind into believing there is one right answer to a problem. Strategy on the other hand requires comfort with uncertainty; the ability to commit to a plan an execute. I would also posit that great modern strategy has two elements; a strong narrative and a 'design thinking' approach. This is particularly true when dealing with products that will have an end user (rather than say a commodity like oil). Ref: 'Change by Design' by Time Brown. tl dr: EECS + Region studies

Ryan Stellar

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