This is the career advice I gave to my kids – ABC Far North
The question I get asked nearly every day is “What career advice would you give your kids?” and answering it’s easy, because mine have just finished high school and this is the condensed version of what I told them:
you only need to find your direction, not your lifelong path
you’re going to have 14 jobs and 6 careers, not all of them connected to whatever you study or do straight out of school, so don’t worry if you get it wrong
you’re going to have create work for yourself and self manage your career
on top of great institutional and life long learning, the traits that will get you a job, promoted and well paid are the human ones, not the generic ones, so get good at the 3C’s communicating, collaborating and creating and then keep getting better at them
be open, respectful, mindful and purposeful
be the same person on the outside, that you are on the inside
like every other person, you know exactly the sum total of what you know and no more, but be open to knowing more and when you think you know it all – know you know nothing
be confident in yourself and your self-worth
have fun
take on the world
This fatherly advice was the start for a great chat between ABC Far North’s Kier Shorey and we worked our way through the most difficult of topics, how do we prepare our kids for a future we know almost nothing about.
Love this topic, have a listen and then add to my top 10 with your own (7 minutes 57 seconds).
The question I get asked nearly every day is "What career advice would you give your kids?" and answering it’s easy, because mine have just finished high school and this is the condensed version of what I told them: you only need to find your direction, not your lifelong path you.
The shift around This is the career advice I gave to my kids ABC Far is not purely structural. It changes what capabilities organisations value, how people find meaning in their roles, and what conditions make good work possible. Leaders who understand this early retain the talent they need and build cultures that attract it.
The most important question is not whether This is the career advice I gave to my kids ABC Far will matter, but how quickly it will matter in your specific context. Leaders benefit most from mapping the ripple effects early — not just the direct impact but the second and third-order consequences that arrive later and hit harder. That is the practical work of foresight.
