A couple weeks ago a friend of mine recommended the new book by Cal Newport, “So Good They Can’t Ignore You,” which argues that the best and most satisfying careers are those where your passion for the job emerges only after you’ve developed distinctive skills for it — because distinctive skills enable you to do… Read More
How a law school grad hustled to skip law firms and landed a Google business development job straight after graduation
“It’s amazing how much an actual interpersonal interaction matters.” – Amrit Dhir, Google Partner Development Manager
How an early Microsoft alum was rejected by the toy industry, then went around it and built one of the world’s biggest board game franchises
“It’s not about how many times you get knocked down; it’s about how many times you get back up.” – Richard Tait, co-creator of Cranium
What a social entrepreneur learned about rejection early on that then helped him start a non-profit funded by Echoing Green
“I believe energy begets energy, positivity begets positivity. Small wins really lead to other things.” – Rey Faustino, One Degree
Why a Yale graduate left broadcast journalism to start a video production company that has taken her traveling to Spain, Latin America, China, the Philippines, Africa, and more
“I think one of the biggest keys to transitioning is just talking to mentors who have been there before.” – Amy Montalvo, ONEPASS Productions
How a former Peace Corps volunteer addressed criticisms of “selling out” to Wall Street, and now leverages his finance and consulting experience to serve as a mayor
“One of the important messages Harvard imparted on all of its graduates was that you should focus on tri-sector competence.” – Yiaway Yeh, Palo Alto mayor
Why this engineer and beauty pageant winner left McKinsey to pursue acting and modeling (and how she got her foot in the door while working full-time at McKinsey)
“Acting for me is the craft of self-exploration, and it’s the study of human nature.” – Melanie Kannokada, actress and model
The biggest entrepreneurship lessons this science major learned in two failed attempts starting a company, before nailing it the third time with a multi-million dollar venture-backed food startup
“In a startup, there are many situations where you just don’t know what you’re supposed to do because you’ve never seen it before. But it’s also really exciting because you get experience you may never get in a traditional job.” – Kevin Yang, EAT Club
How a recent college grad started with nothing but a vision, and in 4 years built one of the most prominent education NGOs in China (and convinced Teach For America’s founder to join her board)
“People don’t tell you how much the world is slanted toward ‘no.’ The number of times we heard ‘no’ when building Teach For China was huge.” – Rachel Wasser, co-founder of Teach For China
Why this entrepreneur started a non-profit to provide mothers in developing countries with an innovative infant warmer he designed after selling his startup for millions
“The idea wasn’t to start a company. The idea was to get this product out to everyone who needed it.” – Linus Liang, co-founder of Embrace
