Gratuitous advice to the youth of America.

There are folks out there that actually believe that there is less opportunity now than there was in their parents' day.  They are wrong.  No matter where one looks one can find opportunity.  Look at the medical field.  It is exploding with new knowledge about the way our bodies work, why we get ill, and how we can stay well.  New medicines are being developed to deal with all manner of health challenges.  People are living longer and their health requirements are changing dramatically.  If I were a young person I would seriously consider a career in some aspect of the health industry.  If I had a love for science, I would go into research and work with human cell technology.  If I wanted to be of help to others, I might become a nurse.  If I didn't like needles and blood, I would go into administration and find a practical way to digitize those mountains of paper files that crowd doctor's offices.

Or how about energy?  Why not help tame coal and make it more friendly to our environment?  The guy or gal that does that should get a mantle full of Nobel Peace Prizes.  Be the person that figures out how to successfully store large amounts of energy and you will crack the brick wall that keeps solar from being practical.  Figure out how to more economically transfer power from one point to another and you will not only reduce the price of copper, but make it possible to bring electricity to all of the corners of the earth.  Successfully harness one of the really clean energies to an automobile that can drive a few hundred miles on a charge and you instantly become a millionaire (if that is what turns you on).  There is a world of opportunity embedded in all of the many problems that face society.  Think big, find a sector of our economy that interests you and work out a game plan for your career.  Don't rely on someone else to discover your worth, they are going to be too busy working on their own game plan.  You must do it yourself and you must be realistic. 

The first thing that you must do is accurately assess your strengths and weaknesses.  This includes what you like and don't like, but it also includes things like how well you take to technology, whether you prefer to work with your hands, how good you are at relating to other people, how much money you have, where you live, who you know, what kind of education you have, and a whole raft of other specifics.  For many, this is going to be the hard part.  Screw this up and you waste a lifetime.  You must be brutally honest with yourself and you must do this as early in your life as possible.  Once you have that done, you are in a position to realistically select a career path.  Too many young folks do not do this and wake up after four or more years of college to find that they don't much like where they are in life and they then complain that they do not have any opportunity.  I suspect that some of these folks are huddled in tents in one or the other Occupy Wall Street protests currently in progress around the country.

OK, let's assume that you have made the personal assessment honestly and accurately and you know who you are and where you want to go with your career.  At that point in your life you are in command of your life, but you probably don't really believe it yet.  It is important to understand that you have a monumental advantage over all of the people around you who do not know what they want to do with their lives.  Those folks are going to be waiting for someone else to give them a job while you are going to go out and get a job.  (The verbs in that sentence are critical.)  The next step in the process is to decide which specific position in which specific organization in the career line that you have chosen that you are actually prepared to handle effectively.  Here again you must be brutally honest and neither cocky nor timid.  This is another tough spot for a young person with limited life experience, but you must do the very best that you can if this is going to work.  Aim too high, get lucky, get the job, and flame out.  Aim too low and waste your time. Neither is very good, but if it were me, I would err on the modest side - it's safer and I've got time on my side.

Once you are in the organization of your choice, it is time to learn as much as you can about what makes it tick.  In addition to the substantive side of the work, which is obviously critical to your ultimate success, you must also understand where decision making power resides if you are to have a successful career.  For me, this breaks down into strategic thinking and tactical maneuvering.  The strategic side of things is the substance of what your organization is trying to accomplish.  The tactical side of things is the bureaucratic struggle to advance yourself in the organization.  If you ignore either part of this equation, you seriously degrade your chances for a successful career.  I assure you that it will do you no good to merely demand that everyone treat you fairly and leave it to your supervisor or your union representative to ensure that you are not unfairly disadvantaged.  The fascinating thing about this point is that it is valid in every single organizational model that I have ever seen from tribal societies through socialist, communist, and those that allegedly are democratic.

Once you know how your organization works you are prepared to address substance more effectively.  Decide what you want to be doing in five years, ten years, and ultimately - then map out the specific positions that you need to occupy to be successful in what you want to accomplish.  Obviously, you also have to educate yourself to be able to handle those positions as you obtain them.  Identify the people who will be making the key decisions along the way.  Ensure that you get to know them and make certain that they know how you can be useful to them as you both strive to accomplish specific goals.  It very well might be that you need to consider other organizations in your game plan,  Don't hesitate to learn about competing organizations that might be useful to you during your career.  Obviously you are also going to have to make a real contribution to the substantive goals of the organization as you go forward, but I am taking that for granted and am focused here on the tactical side of the equation.  If all of this sounds a bit opportunistic, please understand that I believe that we should not only take advantage of opportunity I also see no harm in creating opportunity.  The world is not necessarily a nice place - get used to it and deal with it.  Having said that, I have found that if you do bad things to other people it will always come back to bite you in the posterior.  Call it justice or karma, I care not, but know that it is very real.  Compete hard, but treat others as you would be treated.  In addition to furthering your career, it also helps ensure that you get a good night's sleep.