For some months now, hundreds of articles have been published on the topic of graduate studies' value. Titles such as "MBA studies don't pay off nowadays" or "25 percent of Ivy league MBA 09 graduates are still jobless" add to the mental pressure that MBA graduates looking for jobs face. This made me realize that we're living in a society which makes us believe that we are totally responsible for our career success.
Our society ruthless splits people into two categories: winners and losers. "Winners" are considered the richest, most renowned in their industry, working for the industry leader companies, while "losers" are the one who don't have one of these qualities. Added to this, business schools preach that the best for one's career is to go either into management consulting, and there only to McKinsey, BCG, Bain or Booz or into banking to Goldman Sachs & its peers. Should you think about another career, you're bound to be included in the "losers" category.
After quite a long time of being brainwashed to think this way, I've come across an inspiring talk given by Alain de Botton on the topic of success. His speech supported my previous attempts of going against this conventional flow and pursuing a personal career track. As I know that many of you are dealing with the same struggles, I wish to share the main take-outs from Alain de Botton's speech:
- Success is an individual definition. In other words, when setting a career goal make sure that it is your OWN wish, and not merely a conventional expectation that society has from you. Otherwise, as you approach to your goal and give up other things for that, you start wondering whether it is something that you really wanted, and you risk being miserable though you reach your goal.
- Society makes you believe that you can be anything and anywhere. The truth is that we cannot control our lives and success to 100%. Hazards and luck play a role in our reaching our career goals.
- You cannot be good at everything. In other words, don't expect to be the best management consultant in the FMCG industry in your country and be the best dad in your country, at the same time. In order to be the best at something, you need to give up something else. Make sure that you are well aware of your choices.
All in all, I suggest you give a thought to your goals and make sure that they are really yours and that you are well aware of what it takes to achieve them.
For the ones who feel that it's worth dedicating 17 minutes of their time to hear the entire argument, please find below the Alain de Botton's talk on TED:
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