choosing a career or finding your passion?

Work: Finding Your passion

Léon Benjamin, July 2014

CHOOSING A CAREER OR FINDING YOUR PASSION?

Work: Finding Your Passion


• The Big Picture

Your Competition

• In the last 25 years 1.5 billion people have been added to the global labour pool

• In the next 10 years there will be (at least) 20 million Ph.D. students in Asia

Speed of Change

• Until the 1900’s accumulation of knowledge doubled every 100 years

• Today the sum total of human knowledge doubles every 2-3 years

• 70% of all information was created since the internet began

Nature of Work• Since the 2008 financial crisis most jobs created

in the West have been temporary• We’ve moved from career ladder to career lego



• The future of work



100,000 instant access to 100,000 rated and tested professionals who offer technical, marketing and business expertiseRevenues of $200m pa

10,000+ distributed home-based agents. Historically one of the fastest-growing companies in the USA

(Estimated) that more than 1 million people in Canada and the US make at least part of their living buying and selling on Ebay

The future of work



The future of work



The fractional future of work



• About Passion & Purpose

• Purpose is everything– In Japan, there are more than 20,000 companies that are more than 100

years old, with a handful that are more than 1,000 years old. Why?• They were founded on a central belief that is not tied solely to making a profit

– Despite being one of the poorest regions in Japan, the people of Okinawa have one of the highest life expectancies in the world. Why?• They live longer because they have a "reason for being" or "reason for waking

up in the morning.“

• Can a company live forever?– The average lifespan of a company listed on the S&P 500 index of leading

US companies has gone from 67 years in the 1920s to just 15 years today• Nokia, Blackberry, Kodak• Companies haven’t yet realised they can make more money if money isn’t the

only thing on their mind



SOME PRACTICAL TIPS



We used have social networks when we were growing up: It was called outside.

Get out more!



• Practical Tips

• Find your passion. Stay in the flame. Do what you’re good at. – Niche thyself

• Don’t ignore the power of social media to brand ‘You & Co.’– LinkedIn, Twitter, Blog, Google (search)

• Keep informed– Read the news (mainstream and ‘fringe’)

• Employers value authenticity over perfection– Have a point of view

• Statistically most of you will work for small companies– Different culture to large companies

• No pain, no gain. – Looking for work is a full time job– Try out some ‘fractional work’

• Entrepreneurship isn’t a status symbol. It’s an attitude. An attitude everyone is going to need.



• Room for discussion?

“Imagine organisations in which most workers aren’t employees at all, but electronically connected freelancers living wherever they want to. And imagine that all this freedom in business lets people get more of whatever they really want in life – money, interesting work, the chance to help others, or time with their families.”Thomas Malone

choosing a career or finding your passion?

Self Improvement