Why you will fail to have a great career…

Larry Smith is a professor of economics at University of Waterloo. He coaches his students to find the careers that they will truly love. The most notable start-up he advised in its infancy is Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the BlackBerry. (No commentary please from the audience on how his advise is working for RIM now…)

While I didn’t find any earthshattering revelations here, I did find Smith to be an engaging and inspirational storyteller in his presentation of the excuses we invent in failing to pursue our passions – – excuses including:

• “There are no more great jobs, all the good jobs are disappearing”
• “Great careers are a matter of luck”
• “People who have great careers are geniuses, special one-of-kind”
• “In 1950’s, competency would land you a good job. Today, not so much given how competitive it is…”
• “I would do this (pursue my passion) but I’m not weird or obsessive…there is a fine line between great, weird and madness…and this is why normal people don’t have great careers”
• “If you work hard, you can have a good career. But you need to work really really hard to have a great career and you are not prepared to sacrifice _____ (family, children, friends, etc.)
• “I value my relationships more than my accomplishments. I will not sacrifice them in pursuit of my passion or a great career.”

Smith goes on to explain that it is our obligation (to ourselves and our families) to find our passion – to find our destiny – to find the highest expression of our talents – rather than look back on our lives as a missed opportunity.

He explains that we seek refuge in human relationships rather than pursue our passions because we:

• We are afraid
• We don’t try
• We might look ridiculous
• We might fail

And he states that there is no reason why we can’t pursue excellence in marriage, in parenting, in friendship and in a great career which we are passionate about.

Yet most of us fall back on the crutch: “if only I had…

Powerful finish.