This was refreshing to read! I also feel like this: "They come in saying, “I want to be a public servant. I’m here to do good. Other people might tell me what that is. I expect to come into the office, be assigned a thing, and do it.” The younger generations are even tougher because you usually develop your interests and goals in your early career, and there aren't as many early-career roles anymore. But this issue predates the recent early-career labor market struggles. A lot of people struggle to function autonomously like that.
Maybe young people expect to be released from the arms of the colleges that refused to fail them, into the arms of an employer that is dedicated to their success. They expect other people to tell them how to succeed to show them the path. But few people have been truly impactful through following instructions from someone else, and besides, all the paths look different now! The best thing anyone can do for their career is care - actually care about something, and then dedicate a career to either helping get that thing done, or to doing that thing to the absolute best of their ability.
This is really great and I have a genuine question. What is the on-ramp into working on white spaces for those of us who have had our fill of “I want to be a public servant. I’m here to do good. Other people might tell me what that is. I expect to come into the office, be assigned a thing, and do it.” but have had enough success with it that it is uncomfortable to abandon.
I get the pathways if you are new, but where are the lateral opportunities. Is a lateral pipeline even desirable? Is it better to just field-build?
Great question! It’s hard to be very specific in the abstract (specific lateral opportunities are often area- or person-specific) but in case it helps: My first question would be: What problem(s) are you most excited to try to help solve? And then try to see who’s doing what on that already in a way that seems entrepreneurial, outcome-focused, etc. (our Todd Moss interview earlier in the week has some stuff on that: https://substack.com/home/post/p-198426945). Often there might be nonprofits already doing good work and interested in someone with a public service background, and you could try to laterally jump into a role there. You could also go straight into trying to start something yourself (if nothing exists and/or you could see yourself being a founder), which is higher risk but also higher upside.
Thanks for the perspective. Do you mind if I reach out through other channels? We have some people in common and I have a few ideas for the latter option and could use some directional ideas.
ChinaTalk x Horizon is my type of content
This was refreshing to read! I also feel like this: "They come in saying, “I want to be a public servant. I’m here to do good. Other people might tell me what that is. I expect to come into the office, be assigned a thing, and do it.” The younger generations are even tougher because you usually develop your interests and goals in your early career, and there aren't as many early-career roles anymore. But this issue predates the recent early-career labor market struggles. A lot of people struggle to function autonomously like that.
Maybe young people expect to be released from the arms of the colleges that refused to fail them, into the arms of an employer that is dedicated to their success. They expect other people to tell them how to succeed to show them the path. But few people have been truly impactful through following instructions from someone else, and besides, all the paths look different now! The best thing anyone can do for their career is care - actually care about something, and then dedicate a career to either helping get that thing done, or to doing that thing to the absolute best of their ability.
This is really great and I have a genuine question. What is the on-ramp into working on white spaces for those of us who have had our fill of “I want to be a public servant. I’m here to do good. Other people might tell me what that is. I expect to come into the office, be assigned a thing, and do it.” but have had enough success with it that it is uncomfortable to abandon.
I get the pathways if you are new, but where are the lateral opportunities. Is a lateral pipeline even desirable? Is it better to just field-build?
Great question! It’s hard to be very specific in the abstract (specific lateral opportunities are often area- or person-specific) but in case it helps: My first question would be: What problem(s) are you most excited to try to help solve? And then try to see who’s doing what on that already in a way that seems entrepreneurial, outcome-focused, etc. (our Todd Moss interview earlier in the week has some stuff on that: https://substack.com/home/post/p-198426945). Often there might be nonprofits already doing good work and interested in someone with a public service background, and you could try to laterally jump into a role there. You could also go straight into trying to start something yourself (if nothing exists and/or you could see yourself being a founder), which is higher risk but also higher upside.
Thanks for the perspective. Do you mind if I reach out through other channels? We have some people in common and I have a few ideas for the latter option and could use some directional ideas.