The fact is that they do the exact same things the most everyone else does.
They learn on the job and grow or not based on who they are and what they seek.
There's a very interesting article here:
The Black Hole of Higher Education
Although a bit dated is it's a very thought provoking article.
In every positiion I've held, there were some HS grads and some college grads; in some positions there were people who have held no degree because they did not finish HS. I helped one such person with basic math skills because she was having issues with fractions and mathematic word problems to pass her GED.
I am in the computer industry and hold a HS, college and even technical certifications that help me; but I can say that in all probablility, the college degree got me "looked-at" but it was me and my skills learnt mostly on the job, that got me hired.
Where my husband works, they get kids with HS degrees and they train them and put them in the job.
The problem is that good people are hard to find, and more and more businesses are probably seeing that a "college" education really does not mean as much as it used to.
Sure some colleges are better than others; but in many cases, "people define their own future" by the "efforts" they put into what they do and college has little to do with it.