Education 2.0 & 3.0

Here’s something that’s obvious, but at the same time not: We’re all a lot more than we appear to be at work.

We have other dimensions that are invisible to our companies, supervisors, direct reports, and most of our colleagues, and those invisible dimensions have a deep impact on our work.

A couple of pieces of research got me thinking about this. One is a diary study of dual-earner couples showing that people put more time in at work when their intimate relationships are going well, because the absence of drama at home gives them greater emotional, cognitive, and physical vigor to bring to the workplace.

Or do they? Millennials want to work on their own terms--without a bad boss micromanaging their every move.

In the 15 years I’ve been teaching MBA students, their career plans have changed dramatically. Until the early 2000s they aspired to work in traditional corporate jobs for companies like Deloitte, JPMorgan, and GE. After that, the top destinations became tech giants such as Apple, Google, and Facebook.

In the past few years; however, a new favorite career choice has emerged, which eclipses any other form of traditional employment--working for themselves or launching their own business.

The problem with self-doubt is that the fear it creates stops us from living the lives we most want and changing the things we don’t.  How?  Fear keeps us living small and stuck in jobs that don’t fulfill us but feel safe.  But is there really anything safe about living a life where you feel disengaged, disillusioned or desperate to be doing something else? of course not. The truth is that who you are is not your doubts. The key to banishing them isn’t to wish them away, but to take action in their presence.

It’s easy to mislead ourselves into thinking that if we just had the success we wanted, then we’d never doubt ourselves again and ooze the confidence we see in others.  But it actually works in reverse.