I listened to a podcast today about choosing a career based on your talents rather than your passions. The guest speaker was a 40 year-tenured Stanford professor who has authored serval books, started multiple businesses, consulted with many tech startups and is a sought after keynote speaker.
He stated that people should “just talk to people who do things that interest you“. He said those people will introduce you to more people in that field. These conversations will help you identify your talent, connect you and help you establish a career.
He went on to discuss various anecdotal stories of his involvement with the founder of Snapchat, being an early employee of Apple back in the 80s, working with other tech startup founders who went on to become Silicon Valley icons, establishing his lab at Stanford and consulting for CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.
That might have worked for him. After all, he got his BSe and MSe from Stanford in the mid-70s and joined Apple during the launch of the Mac. Teaching at Stanford for 40 years, with a guaranteed salary and being able to connect with up and coming students as well as past alumni no doubt had a he impact on his own career trajectory.
I think he totally missed with his advice.
Most of us didn’t go to Stanford and land the rockstar job of tenured professor in Silicon Valley. People like Elon Musk,Evan Spiegal and Steve Jobs would never talk to us. When exploring career options, we’re thinking about things like:
- Can I find preschool and after school childcare so I can work 10 hour days plus a 2 hour commute?
- Will I get laid off during the next downturn?
- Does it include health benefits?
- Will I earn enough to pay for gas and groceries?
As I was thinking about this interview, I realized that many tenured academics bring a similar unrealistic perspective.
I worked for one who was the CEO of a tech business. He and his team of “geniuses” could never meet a deadline. Why? Because they had grown up in PHD programs where deadlines could always be pushed out another year. They had no concept of profit/loss and urgency. Although on paper they were successful startup people, behind the scenes, they were college kids who raised VC money, lived off of it and got lucky when their company was acquired.
That’s not the world most of us live in.