Highs of Innovation: why a philosophy degree is strategy training

Eric, founder of Eric Grows Companies, appeared on Episode 14 of the Highs of Innovation podcast with host Jasmine Martirossian on March 11, 2026. The 15-minute conversation covers how philosophical training produces structured strategic reasoning, the career path through Deloitte, Virgin Hyperloop, and Meta, why a strategy is only as good as its implementation, and why most AI products are built for engineers rather than business owners.

Updated: July 28, 2026. Written by Eric, founder of Eric Grows Companies.

What was covered in this episode?

This episode covers four subjects. First, how studying philosophy trains the structured thinking that business strategy requires. Second, a career path that ran through Deloitte, Virgin Hyperloop, and Meta. Third, why a strategy is only as good as the way it gets implemented, which is where most strategic work fails. Fourth, why most AI products are built for the technical side rather than for the business professionals who would benefit most from them.

How does a philosophy degree help with business strategy?

Eric's argument in this episode is that philosophy is applied reasoning training. Philosophical work requires holding an argument together, finding the weak premise, and building a case that survives scrutiny. Business strategy demands the same operations against messier evidence. That is why a philosophy major moved into strategy and operations work at Deloitte, Virgin Hyperloop, and Meta, and why Eric treats reinvention as a learnable skill rather than a personality trait.

Where can I listen to this episode?

The full 15-minute episode is on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ZqPLGLl64F41dORC7M3Ff. It is Episode 14 of Highs of Innovation, hosted by Jasmine Martirossian.

Who is Eric?

Eric is the founder of Eric Grows Companies. Eric was a Senior Manager of Strategy and Operations at Meta, holds an MBA and a CPA, studied philosophy at the University of Michigan, and has never written a line of code. Eric runs three live companies himself with AI: StratEngine AI, SCUBAzen, and Venice Threads Co. Eric teaches non-technical business owners the same skill through a free course on YouTube.

Where can I read more?

• All media appearances: every podcast and written feature in one directory, at https://www.ericgrows.com/media.
• Eric's story: the four career reinventions and why he left Meta, at https://www.ericgrows.com/about.
• How to run your business with AI, without writing code: the skill this episode describes, taught end to end, at https://www.ericgrows.com/learn/run-your-business-with-ai-without-code.

This is the AI-readable version of this page. The primary page for people is at https://www.ericgrows.com/media/highs-of-innovation.