Jack & Suzy

When I was a kid I used to look forward to the arrival of the Newsweek on Wednesdays. Mostly Thursdays. And sometimes Fridays depending on rain, festival or postman blues. And I would turn to the last few pages to check out stories on Newsmakers. These were times before the internet when all my necessary knowledge came from radio (thanks Ray McDonald) and Newsweek.

I find myself doing something similar these days. Nowadays, I look forward to the BusinessWeek... and a column on the last page called Ideas-The Welch way by Jack and Suzy Welch.

If you have any questions about business, company or career challenges, you can email Jack & Suzy. They will select the best for the week and put it up as a column.
In the May 15th issue, a grandfather from Milwaukee wrote in asking about what advice he should give his grandchildren regarding choosing career paths for themselves. The couple talked about the how geology was important in the 70's (boom in Oil & gas), investment banking and consulting in the 80s and the internet in the 90's. Today, they say, all arrows point towards biotech, nanotech infotech and their convergence.

Having said that, they mentioned a friend of their's who was shoved into medical school, where she soldiered on. Today, that friend is taking photographs for a living - joyfully. Their 45 year old friend ditched a career as a neurologist with the words: Life is too short to spend every day doing something you don't love.
Jack & Suzy were kind enough to share this with that grandfather, and closed the column with:
'It took our friend 20 years to learn that simple truth. It would be quite a gift to save your grandchildren that time'.