What would I say on Career Day??
Once a month, I play in a low stakes poker game with old friends from high-school and college, and a few other assorted guys who we’ve picked up over the years.
Last night, one guy who is a laywer for a big software firm based in Redmond that you’ve probably heard of mentions that he has been invited to speak at Career Day at the very high school that I attended!!
I’m like, “Dude! That’s totally awesome!” and he’s like, “No, it’s not…what am I going to tell these kids? I’m supposed to talk for 40 minutes. What am I going to say about being a lawyer at Microsoft for 40 minutes?”
At that moment, I was reminded of a post on Seth Godin’s blog recently that I’ll quote here:
A presentation is a precious opportunity. It’s a powerful arrangement… one speaker, an attentive audience, all in their seats, all paying attention (at least at first). Don’t waste it.
The purpose of a presentation is to change minds. That’s the only reason I can think of to spend the time and resources. If your goal isn’t to change minds, perhaps you should consider a different approach.
So, I said to my friend, “Look, these are high school kids. You’re going to have their attention for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, all bets are off…who knows what’s going to happen. But, in that 5 minutes they’re going to be listening to you, and you need to have one thing, and only one thing, that you want to convince them of. It doesn’t matter what it is, but for 5 minutes you have the chance to be a positive influence on their lives. Think about that. Now, what are you going to tell them?”
“Don’t be a lawyer.”
“Seriously, I’m not kidding. You know what I’d tell them? I’d tell them this: between now and when you graduate college you should be entirely focused on figuring out what you love and what makes you happy. Don’t buy into all this lawyer/doctor B.S. that your teachers and parents are feeding you.
“Figure out what makes you happy. Try all sorts of things and be really honest with yourself about the ones that you love and what you don’t. Figure out what you love soooo much and what makes you soooo happy and what you are soooo passionate about that you would do it for free, without getting paid.
“And, then, after college, figure out how to make money doing it.
“Learning to be a laywer or doctor is what graduate school is for…now is the time to figure out what makes you inspired and motivated. Inspiration and motivation will get you everywhere you need to go. That’s what I’d tell them”.
If Allen Ginsberg were alive today, he’d change his poem to, “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by law school.”
But I think you’re right. There’s not enough talk about avocation in schools these days—too much focus on vocation.
I hope your friend at least inspired them to ask, “What do I LOVE doing?”
teacherrevised
23 Apr 09 at 5:37 pm
When I took an intro to law course at the UW, we had a guest speaker who was a successful criminal defense lawyer. He started out by describing the horrible criminal acts his client was accused of. Truly evil stuff. He then explained to the horrified audience how he got his client off on a technicality.
Then he brought it back to why you can get clients off on technicalities: it puts pressure on police and prosecutors to follow the rules and do things the right way. The right to a vigorous defense in criminal trials is an important part of the checks and balances in our free society. Criminal defense law, just like civil liberties law is a mechanism to ensure the freedom and liberty for all of us.
It was one of the most riveting presentations I’ve ever seen. It didn’t make me want to be a lawyer, as I felt pretty established in what I was doing, but it made me sad that I hadn’t seen him years ago when I was in high school. Back then, I never even considered law as a profession.
I didn’t have that many career role models growing up. Maybe these kids don’t either, I don’t know. There seems to be some value in “here’s what I (a real person) do with my life and here’s how it’s awesome for me” as well as “find what makes you happy and do that”.
Martin Cron
23 Apr 09 at 6:16 pm
One of the questions I always ask on my radio show is if you won 10 million dollars today – what would you do tomorrow? And I always think if that person says they would be doing anything other then what they are doing right now – they are probably in the wrong business.
In fact, I convinced my good friend Jenny Lawson (@thebloggess) to quit her job using just such a line. Now if she fails – it will be all my fault.
Erica OGrady
23 Apr 09 at 11:01 pm
Seems like there are at least a few people here that are into law. Check out philalawyer.net. His mantra is also “don’t be a lawyer.” I just finished his book and he’s really sharp and mostly talks about the 10+ years of his life he wasted on “law.” Great story-teller.
Justin
28 Apr 09 at 3:46 pm
Thanks. I’d lost sight of looking for something that I’d love doing. Listening to my family pressuring me to pursue some high end career that could possibly cause regret has gotten to me. I needed this reminder.
Raymond
26 May 09 at 12:32 am