Why You Will Fail to Have a Great Career

See Larry Smith's Ted Talk directly on the main site.

Who says economists don't understand human nature? Below is a delightful, poignant, provocative TED Talk from Economics Professor Larry Smith from the University of Waterloo in Canada (who happens to also be a master storyteller). He has also mentored many of his students through the often scary world of forming a start up business.

Through an eloquent weaving of storytelling, along with that dry sense of humor that we all love from people of more mathematical, scientific, or engineering minds, Larry takes the listener on a journey to understand what it takes to succeed. Hint: It's not money!

 

Larry starts out by saying point blank that he is going to explain why you are going to fail to have a great career. That pulled me (and the audience) right in. This fifteen minute Ted Talk will fly right by. I don't want to give too much away, but he breaks things down into the difference between a good career and a great career. He then talks about why those things were different fifty years ago versus in today's world.

See, nowadays, it just doesn't suffice to have a good career anymore. We need more. Larry talks about the difference between pursuing things that merely interest us versus things that awaken the most passion in us.

Now, that sounds easy enough to distinguish between those two. However, in my own life I have had to look deeply at this crucial difference to determine what among my many interests I am the most passionate about. So think in your mind for a moment. What are your biggest interests? And of those interests, which ONE brings out the most passion and energy from you?

That place of passion is the place to start. That's it, right? Wrong! Larry then goes on to talk about why we will fail because we are afraid to pursue it. The build up that he weaves is incredible.

He talks about the many excuses that we then make for not having a great career pursuing our passion.  We make "human excuses," as he calls them. We then make more excuses on top of those. He makes a strong case as to why we will fail to have a great career. And he is right on the money the whole time.

Finally, he goes for the jugular by describing the TWO most death-dealing words that we utter that destroy any chances of success. What are those two little words? Should I tell you?

And then, he goes on to end with the ONE word that you can say to turn it all around. It's a magic word indeed. Should I tell you?

I just can't do it justice like Larry does. I'm sorry but you are just going to have to listen to it yourself. If you don't, then you can spend the rest of your life wondering, "if only." Well, that is, "unless..." :-)

The Death of Google and Facebook by 2017?

I recently read a provocative article in the Forbes investment section called Here's Why Google and Facebook Might Completely Disappear in the Next 5 Years, by Eric Jackson.

The article made some aggressive yet also believable assumptions about the social media and web search giants, mostly involving their alleged inability to keep up with the ever-increasing threat called mobile. The author makes it seem viable that if they don't keep up with the evolution of the web, and how consumers buy, then they could disappear in a puff of smoke within 5 years.

Read this fascinating article on Forbes.

I have talked about mobile before, and how important it is to make sure to have your website and stories in digital formats that can be seen on both traditional computers and mobile devices, as well as usability across multiple social platforms.  Ultimately, if you remember those two things there is not much reason to fear.

The article makes the assertion that Google, whose market share is 76% direct web searches, might eventually lost a huge chunk to new competitors like Siri, which is a mobile application that allows searching the internet via voice commands.  The author then goes on to explain how Google's late-entry into the social market via the ailing Google+, was an even bigger hit to the now reigning king of the web. I think he might have some valid points with these arguments. It is definitely something to think about.

He talks about how Facebook has been extremely slow to enter into the mobile arena, with a relatively rudimentary app that has very few of the functions of the main application itself. Facebook recently bought Instagram for a whopping $1.8 billion, in order to compete in the mobile market. I'm not so sure that Facebook will be gone in five years. I think they have some more tricks up their sleeves.

Unmentioned in the title but discussed in the article was Amazon, and how it could even take a hit because it lacks social presence. I, like many reviewers of the article, somewhat disagree with that statement. Many consumers, including myself, use the Amazon reviews extensively. And Amazon has purchasing ability on mobile applications. Also, Amazon with its Kindle has revolutionized the book publishing industry. I think Amazon will be around for many years to come. It has earned massive brand loyalty. So, friends, if your desire is to tell your stories via digital median on Amazon's digital publishing platform...go for it!

Are you still dragging your feet about getting a smartphone and going mobile? The article has a great quote from Apple's CEO Tim Cook, that puts everything into perspective:

"Through the last quarter, I should say, which is just 2 years after we shipped the initial iPad, we’ve sold 67 million. And to put that in some context, it took us 24 years to sell that many Macs and 5 years for that many iPods and over 3 years for that many iPhones. And we were extremely happy with the trajectory on all of those products. And so I think iPad, it’s a profound product."

Click here to read the rest of Tim's article call transcript, from April 2012, discussing Q2 2012 earnings. Apple, as the original article points out, has done things right. Pay attention to what they have done. Simply make sure your rich media is viewable and usable on social media platforms as well as on mobile devices and you will be just fine, regardless of Facebook and Google's uncertain future. However, I wouldn't count them out just yet. This has definitely been some great food for thought.