A sort talk to students' careers fair on why finding your passion is more important than choosing a career.

1. Work: Finding Your passion
Léon Benjamin, July 2014
CHOOSING A CAREER OR FINDING
YOUR PASSION?

2. Work: Finding Your Passion
Léon Benjamin, July 2014
• The Big Picture
Your
Competition
• In the last 25 years 1.5 billion people have been
added to the global labour pool
• In the next 10 years there will be (at least) 20
million Ph.D. students in Asia
Speed of
Change
• Until the 1900’s accumulation of knowledge
doubled every 100 years
• Today the sum total of human knowledge
doubles every 2-3 years
• 70% of all information was created since the
internet began
Nature of Work
• Since the 2008 financial crisis most jobs created
in the West have been temporary
• We’ve moved from career ladder to career lego

3. Work: Finding Your Passion
Léon Benjamin, July 2014
• The future of work

4. Work: Finding Your passion
Léon Benjamin, July 2014
100,000 instant access to
100,000 rated and tested
professionals who offer
technical, marketing and
business expertise
Revenues of $200m pa
10,000+ distributed home-
based agents. Historically
one of the fastest-growing
companies in the USA
(Estimated) that more than 1 million people in
Canada and the US make at least part of their
living buying and selling on Ebay
• The future of work

5. Work: Finding Your passion
Léon Benjamin, July 2014
• The future of work

6. Work: Finding Your passion
Léon Benjamin, July 2014
• The fractional future of work

7. Work: Finding Your Passion
Léon Benjamin, July 2014
• About Passion & Purpose
• Purpose is everything
– In Japan, there are more than 20,000 companies that are more than
100 years old, with a handful that are more than 1,000 years old.
Why?
• They were founded on a central belief that is not tied solely to making a
profit
– Despite being one of the poorest regions in Japan, the people of
Okinawa have one of the highest life expectancies in the world.
Why?
• They live longer because they have a "reason for being" or "reason for
waking up in the morning.“
• Can a company live forever?
– The average lifespan of a company listed on the S&P 500 index of
leading US companies has gone from 67 years in the 1920s to just 15
years today
• Nokia, Blackberry, Kodak
• Companies haven’t yet realised they can make more money if money isn’t
the only thing on their mind

8. Work: Finding Your passion
Léon Benjamin, July 2014
SOME PRACTICAL TIPS

9. Work: Finding Your passion
Léon Benjamin, July 2014
We used have social networks when we were growing up: It was called outside.
• Get out more!

10. Work: Finding Your Passion
Léon Benjamin, July 2014
• Practical Tips
• Find your passion. Stay in the flame. Do what you’re good at.
– Niche thyself
• Don’t ignore the power of social media to brand ‘You & Co.’
– LinkedIn, Twitter, Blog, Google (search)
• Keep informed
– Read the news (mainstream and ‘fringe’)
• Employers value authenticity over perfection
– Have a point of view
• Statistically most of you will work for small companies
– Different culture to large companies
• No pain, no gain.
– Looking for work is a full time job
– Try out some ‘fractional work’
• Entrepreneurship isn’t a status symbol. It’s an attitude. An
attitude everyone is going to need.

11. Work: Finding Your Passion
Léon Benjamin, July 2014
• Room for discussion?
“Imagine organisations in which most workers aren’t employees at all, but
electronically connected freelancers living wherever they want to. And imagine
that all this freedom in business lets people get more of whatever they really want
in life – money, interesting work, the chance to help others, or time with their
families.”
Thomas Malone