Who REALLY Influenced Your Career?

“Corporate slave!” My 18-year-old jeered with a grin from the swimming pool as I returned to our condominium. “Unemployed loser!” I retorted. Just another day at my house.

My son is between international school and a gap year. It's been fascinating to hear the career plans of him and his cohort. Very few - including my kid - mention big companies. These (mostly privileged) students judge corporate careers like many corporate people judge government careers, deriding a perceived desire for security or a lack of autonomy. 

Most of them define success in terms of lifestyle and impact. Their heroes are entrepreneurs, artists, eco-warriors and influencers (of course none of these kids has ever paid the rent). At least two are signing up to their respective militaries in Northern Europe - arguably, Vladimir Putin has been their biggest career influencer. Which got me thinking, who really influences our careers? It can’t all be Jobs, Branson, Musk, your inspirational teacher, and ‘That One Great Boss Who Saw Something In Me And Gave Me A Chance’.

I grew up without money. But one branch of the family had it. And I mean, ‘live-in-a-castle-with-your-own-tennis-courts’ money. But they seemed even more unhappy than my family! That taught me early in life that I would probably need only enough money to not think much about money. Even so, general economic anxiety and the desire for a stable income has been a career driver for me, from the beginning. But far from the only one.

As a kid, I watched a documentary about British Rail (hey, entertainment choices were limited back then). They asked a middle-aged conductor if he liked his job. ‘It’s alright, innit? I mean, I’ll never change the world,' he admitted with grim relish, "but it’s alright.’ This struck me as both realistic, in a reductive way, and sad. Anyone can change the world, at least in some small way. I didn’t want to ever think the way he did! So in a weird way, this nameless, forgotten man from an obscure TV show four decades ago has inspired me.

Like most university students, I held a series of part-time jobs. Barman, farm worker, event staff. One summer, I worked as a security guard at an electronics plant in Toronto, Canada. I’d often chat with a plumber who did projects onsite. He impressed me with his intellect, humour and worldliness. It turned out his previous job was investment banker. One night at a cocktail reception he had looked around and concluded this wasn’t the life for him. He walked out, and called up his brother. ‘Remember that business idea we had?’ This man awakened to what he wanted from a career: a family business, working with his hands, and having fun…which came before social status or salary. And even if you don’t know what you want to do, realising what you’ve had enough of, and acting on that ‘negative’ spark instead of suppressing it, can steer you away from a career fate, and toward a career destiny. 

Countless others have influenced my thinking on career (and life), with both ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’. Characters from movies and novels who had integrity. The underworld denizens (gangsters, porn actresses, addicts) I encountered on youthful nights out in Tokyo - people who had truly rebelled against convention, and lived on the edge of society. They demonstrated how far is too far (for me). Artists, like Buckethead above: Guns ‘n’ Roses hired him. Ozzy Osbourne had considered it, but found him too weird (!). Buckethead has released over 650 albums - not a typo - and despite success and critical acclaim, he’s a lesson in ego management, never showing his face, and only rarely granting interviews. 

Decades in recruiting - touching thousands of careers - gave me a lot of perspective on this topic too. I now believe 3 things matter in a job: (1) Do you feel alive? This encompasses many things - does the work have meaning to you, are you learning, is it fun (at least some of the time)? (2) Do you respect your boss? It’s not their job to motivate you. But they do have to inspire you, meaning, make you want to try and do things, and pick up some of their skills along the way. (3) Does it pay your bills? You know - rent, and all that stuff...

Whatever your personal perspectives on jobs and careers, it’s not a bad self-awareness exercise to reflect deeply on who/what your true career influencers have been. For me, it’s childhood economic anxiety + wealthy relatives + fictional heroes + a British Rail conductor + a Canadian plumber + citizens of the Tokyo demimonde + a bunch of other people (yes, some bosses and teachers too). Oh yeah, and Buckethead. How about you?