A brave new world: Are we preparing our students for the new career macroenvironment?
Posted by Joe Cannon
Fast Company magazine often takes an idea and pushes the boundaries — but I find their observations are usually prescient. They point out that the business world is becoming increasingly chaotic — making career planning darn near impossible, at least in the long-term. This brave new world rewards the agile and opportunistic. This article, “This Is Generation Flux: Meet The Pioneers Of The New (And Chaotic) Frontier Of Business” (January 12, 2012) introduces you to seven people — representing a broad demographic cross-section — who are thriving in this macroenvironment. The article suggests the skills that may be needed as well. A companion article, “The Four-Year Career” describes a 28-year old woman’s early career path (Fast Company, January 12, 2012). The idea here is that our students should probably be career planning for relatively short time horizons — four years as opposed to twenty.
For another perspective on career planning, read “To Find Happiness, Forget About Passion” (HBR Blog Network, January 13, 2012) the author suggests that young people should be focused on problems they can contribute to solving. Reading the comments (189 and counting as of today) — will give you a much richer perspective.
These articles have also been posted over at Learn the 4 Ps — since they are most relevant for your students — especially those developing a personal marketing plan.





