You Can't Plan Your Career | Bill George | Big Think

You Can't Plan Your Career

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Now that your future is uncertain, here’s what you shouldn’t do: follow the money, says Bill George, Harvard management practice professor.

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Bill George:

Bill George is professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, where he has taught leadership since 2004. He is the author of four best-selling books: 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis, True North, Finding Your True North, and Authentic Leadership. With co-author Doug Baker he recently published True North Groups.

Mr. George is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Medtronic. He joined Medtronic in 1989 as president and chief operating officer, was chief executive officer from 1991-2001, and board chair from 1996-2002. Earlier in his career, he was a senior executive with Honeywell and Litton Industries and served in the U.S. Department of Defense.

Mr. George currently serves as director of ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs, and the Mayo Clinic and also served on the board of Novartis and Target Corporation. He is currently a trustee of the World Economic Forum USA and Guthrie Theater and a former Trustee of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He has served as board chair for Allina Health System, Abbott-Northwestern Hospital, United Way of the Greater Twin Cities, and Advamed.

He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2012. He has been named one of "Top 25 Business Leaders of the Past 25 Years" by PBS; "Executive of the Year-2001" by the Academy of Management; and "Director of the Year-2001-02" by the National Association of Corporate Directors. Mr. George has made frequent appearances on television and radio and his articles have appeared in Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, and numerous publications.

Mr. George received his BSIE with high honors from Georgia Tech, his MBA with high distinction from Harvard University, where he was a Baker Scholar, and honorary PhDs from Georgia Tech, Bryant University, and University of St. Thomas. During 2002-03 he was professor at IMD International and Ecole Polytechnique in Lausanne, Switzerland, and executive-in-residence at Yale School of Management.

He and his wife Penny reside in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Question: What is your advice to recent business school graduates trying to plan their careers in a time of increasing uncertainty?

Bill George: Well you can’t plan your career today. Careers, there is too much uncertainty, exactly. You’re right. And there is too much volatility and your career you cannot predict it. In fact, some of the greatest opportunities is stepping up to a situation you never expected. That’s what Anne Mulcahy did when she became CEO of Xerox and so I tell my students you need to prepare yourself from within. Forget about all the outside style and impression and communications and all that stuff. That’s not relevant. It’s the person within. Define what you’re really passionate about and then go to work in that area. You know if you’re not passionate… I had a student come see me yesterday and he said, “Do you think I ought to go to work in finance?” I said, “Are you interested in finance?” He said, “No, but do I need it on my resume?” I said, “Absolutely not.” “Find what you’re passionate about and go do it.” “Follow your heart and do the things and you will be wildly successful and you’ll make a lot more money than you ever dreamt of.” If you lead with the money you’ll probably get a lot at first and it will taper off. If you let the money on a slow build up you’ll probably be much more successful because you will have performed. You will have grown as a leader and by the way, you’ll have a lot… You’ll feel a lot more fulfilling because at the end of the day what are you going to tell your granddaughter you did to make a difference in the world? And if it’s just about making money for your family you’re maybe pretty disappointed.

Question: How should business school students think about financial opportunity as it relates to personal opportunity?

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