“Workshop: Careers Without Constraints” Recap
Last Thursday, we had a full house of multi-hyphenates for our WORKSHOP: Careers Without Constraints! Our two dope speakers, Nick Susi, an artist manager who somehow ended up as the Director of Strategy at Complex & Vic Pineiro, a filmmaker turned SVP of Content and Social Media at Big Spaceship walked us through their brains–letting us in on how they work, what motivates them, and why they do what they do! It ended up being a night filled with laughter, reflection and, in true STRTGST fashion, a few tears.
Together, we found clarity in and shared our values. We defined our personal missions beyond our sometimes arbitrary titles, learned to flip our perspective to counter imposter syndrome and how to pay attention to areas we’re dedicating our efforts as a way to say, “Hm, maybe this is the thing that I am!” Folx came for the topic, stayed to munch on the noms from Ox Verte, and shared with their hearts. All in all, it was some good sh*t.
Below is the gist of what we learned, ways to dive deeper, and how to run with it.
Best Bites
- “My title doesn’t reflect most of what I’m actually doing day-to-day.” Nic & Vic showed us how making a list with your title (current and/or past) and your daily actions reveal if we spend more time on what our title says or something else. It’s a good way to change perspective when thinking about ‘what you do’.
- “The single career is a thing of the past.” Vic posited that perhaps it is more useful to learn a variety of skills we then use to tackle a single career rather than focusing on mastering one skillset first.
- “Values shift over time…let them go.” The cadence with which we keep up with ourselves is just as important as identifying what makes us tick. Just acknowledge that priorities shift. Take the time to understand what drives you at specific points in your life.
Go Deeper
- Grab a copy of “Range, Why Generalists Thrive in a Specialized World” by David Epstein. It’s a good counter opinion to Malcolm Gladwell’s 10K hours theory on mastery. Not everyone is a Tiger Woods (specialist), some people are Roger Federers (generalists who achieved greatness not in spite of exploring other passions, but because of them). Go explore sh*t!
- Take a page out of Nic Susi’s book and meet one new person for 90 days. For Nic, he came out of it with new directions he hadn’t considered in the past.
Run With It
- Define your personal values. Identify what makes you tick before you make that next jump. To help, circle your top 15 values here and then cut it down to 2. When you asses opportunities, ask yourself, “Does it deliver on those 2 values?” Sure they may change over time; but, it’s a great tool to succinctly articulate what you want or simply answer ‘What do I want?!’
- Pull from the past. What are some past experiences you’ve overlooked because they don’t seem to directly correlate with your given path? What translatable skills from those experiences make you unique as well as comfortable in practical parts of your current work?
- Flip the script on perspective. Take a look at what you consider a ‘weakness’ and flip it into a strength by calling out how it compliments your existing skills and gives you your unique perspective on seemingly unrelated problems.
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