Faulty Career Assumptions

Everything that I’m thinking about right now comes from a short video we watched for the course this week that was an excerpt from a lesson being given by Stan Christensen who is a professor at Stanford and a partner at Arbor Advisors. He talks about assumptions that are commonly made that lead people in the wrong direction. This was an incredibly timely lesson for me since a couple of days ago I was approached with the possibility of moving to a different department of the company I work for. In the last few days I have actually thought several of the things he points out as faulty so this was really helpful. You can watch the short video here.

The first assumption he dismisses is the thought that you should take a job because it’s a résumé builder. How do you know what a future employer will want to see on there? Choose to take a job because you want to, not because you think someone else will like that you took it. I had this exact thought earlier this week and hearing him talk about it made me reevaluate the decision I was leaning towards to make sure I was doing it because I wanted to, not because it would bolster my experience in the eyes of others.

Another thought that I had this week that he strikes down is the idea that we all should be specializing in something. I have developed a pretty strong skillset while I’ve been in the position I currently hold and have some data to prove that my methods are really effective. As I’ve developed these skills, I’ve thought about continuing on this path and then eventually leaving to offer these same skills to another company. What Christensen says here though is that instead of going with the trend of specialization we should be a generalist. And here’s why: 1) you don’t want to be stuck doing the same thing for the rest of your life (which it true, I don’t). If I become the best in the world at what I do, I will be doing only that. 2) There is a danger that the skills you specialize in will become irrelevant and obsolete, and that’s a scary thought. As I thought about this principle in the context of my current situation, I knew that a change would be right for me. I have developed some good skills in the area of digital marketing, but putting all my eggs in that basket could be pretty risky. Are we still going to be using twitter in 15 years? Maybe, but chances are technology will take us a different direction and my skills will be much less applicable.

Overall, this was the perfect video for me this week and I would recommend it to anyone who is currently faced with a career change/modification decision. It can really help you gain some perspective.