HBR Early Career’s Post

Try for meaning versus purpose. 🎇 Chill out on expecting passionate purpose to magnanimously reveal itself. Instead, try thinking about what you are already good at and what you enjoy. 😲 There may be more of these than you think! Reflecting on previous jobs (even those early, part-time ones 🍔 ) as well as those painful school projects 😬 can reveal tasks that you enjoyed and were pretty good at! Things that you "like" can become things that you "really like" as you get better at them. And THIS process is the stuff of meaning. ❓How have you found meaning? Maybe you found it by accident. It would be great to hear your own story in the comments!

Discover why your career doesn't need a singular purpose in this eye-opening article by Stephen Friedman. Shift your focus from chasing a grand mission to finding meaning in what you enjoy and excel at. Read more here: https://ow.ly/uY2M50RsRkA | Harvard Business Review #CareerInsights #MeaningfulWork

I get this question a lot in conferences, especially from young people.Have you always known what you want to do? How do I find the "best" career, job, business opportunity? You don't really have to, here is a good article by Stephen Friedman on it.

I don't think I learned anything new, but some thoughts were reinforced. Though this course is for the newly graduated. It was worth my time as an individual in the midst of a career pivot to explore.  https://lnkd.in/gSBgWh_Q #personalbranding #careermanagement.

Some of the smartest and/or most intuitive people I know didn’t graduate with a 4 year college degree. It came as a shock to me that one of my close friends didn’t go to college. 👧 She is extremely smart and finds the most interesting scientific research and teaches me better than a professor. 👨💼 Another friend of mine runs a successful business with employees. It’s surprised me when I found out he dropped out from college. 🧑🎨 I have another friend with a 2 year degree who often blows my mind because his ideas and creativity are beyond me!! He owns two business and works a full-time job! 😱 Have you been shocked by someone’s unique talent only to find out, they don’t have a 4 year degree? Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised?! ⭐️ Maybe we should believe that everyone is smart and talented in different ways. ⭐️ Maybe talent, tenacity, level of knowledge, and character aren’t defined by their school degree. ⭐️ Maybe, just maybe, we can see the best in people for how they contribute to the world, and not on their school degree(s). #experienceovereducation #degreecollege

Do you find switching careers daunting? Just as you wouldn't visit just one place on your vacation,  you shouldn't limit yourself to just one area of expertise, either. Change can be scary, I understand. But once you venture into a new domain, you'll be exposed to new learning opportunities, skills, diverse team members, and new ways of thinking. Angela Duckworth is an inspiring role model. Formerly, a management consultant, she left her demanding job to become a 7th-grade math teacher in a New York City public school. Her key observations with the students led her to a graduate school to pursue Psychology. She is now a renowned psychologist and an author. This willingness to shift from one domain to another can yield important insights and lead to many meaningful discoveries. The variety that comes along with changing careers not only enriches your personal and professional life but also makes you more adaptable and resilient. Plus, the modern-day world is evolving at a striking pace. Opportunities are plenty as a result of emerging technologies and rapidly transforming market sectors. A tight focus on just one area might not align with the dynamic nature of our world. For successful people, versatility is often the key ingredient. Embracing change doesn't mean discarding your past experiences; on the contrary, it may add more depth to your tale. Stay curious. The world is your oyster! #careerchange #personaldevelopment #versatility #resilience

The worst thing you can do is deciding what you hate slowly. A few years ago a team at Georgetown University asked me to share my best tips for recent graduates. One that came to mind immediately was to encourage grads to decide what they hated quickly. Check out this short video where I share that advice as part of a series that we did related to my career advice book Always Eat Left Handed.

Do you have a career purpose? What is a career purpose? Is this something that we know already? Is it something that we discover along the way? Schulich ExecEd faculty Stephen Friedman asks these questions in his latest article for the Harvard Business Review. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gF7KrfNz

Over the past week, I've had several conversations about career reinvention in midlife. I was introduced to Herminia Ibarra's work on this topic last year, and it continues to resonate. Her recent article has some fantastic tips. My favorite comes near the end when Ms. Ibarra notes the importance of crafting your message (or, as I call it, your "elevator pitch"). She says: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 – 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘱 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦. 𝘈𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴; 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯. https://lnkd.in/eXwpUhu2 #careertransition #leadershipcoaching #careercoaching

As we age, an objective that we as people share is having the eventual job, having a career. This decision is one of the biggest ones that occurs in life; it provides the means to live, impacts daily life, and the events leading up to and after getting there. So what happens when the career you’ve chosen does not fulfill you? For many the idea of switching careers may be scary, and while it can come with setbacks, it can also provide great benefits. Such was discussed in an interview with Kenosis’s career coach Bill Fanelli in which he reviewed some of these aspects. Watch it here: https://lnkd.in/gFGgNrwT