Episode #4 of Think Different TV features Marty Nemko, #1 career counselor, author, and U.S. News and World Report journalist and me in conversation for 35 minutes. I recommend watching it on the Vimeo site and letting it load all the way. Then you can use the chapter markings on that page. Here's an MP3 audio file of the episode. Here are the topics we discuss:
- Where should you look for a job in these times?
- Is China the next big entrepreneurial power? Will capitalism crush communism?
- How does a liberal media, liberal president, and liberal congress affect things?
- How can advocating an unpopular view make an impact?
- Should productivity and achievement be a more important goal in life than happiness?
- Do romantic adventures and misadventures contribute to more misery than happiness, on the whole?
It's a fun conversation with some disagreement along the way, which always keeps it interesting.
0:55 Marty's clients are now freaking out about finding a new job, not just how to move up in the ranks.
1:22 There are two groups of people: the entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial people. Non-entrepreneurial people should work for the government or government contractors.
3:17 What should entrepreneurial people do?
3:28 Obama has become religion, followed by environmentalism.
4:20 There'll be opportunities in mass transit, thanks to Obama.
6:00 The developing world will also be rich in opportunity.
6:30 Marty says: CHINA!
7:13 U.S. has been reluctant to consider nuclear power whereas China is doing it.
8:00 Liberal media, liberal presidency, liberal congress: Marty says this may strangle options for growth
8:24 Ben says China doesn't have a "billion entrepreneurs" as Marty suggests. Unless capitalism crushes communism, is it sustainable in the long run?
10:00 Marty disagrees and says there's an obsession with entrepreneurship.
11:00 Don't get complacent about China and entrepreneurship.
11:30 Ben says bringing in a few profs on entrepreneurship doesn't change an underlying culture.
14:25 What unpopular causes does Marty champion?
15:53 To make a difference, focus on issues where others aren't focusing.
16:15 Boys and men are treated terribly in the school system, higher education is America's most overrated product.
18:45 The censorship of the left suffocates the exploration of unpopular ideas.
19:20 Ben says the grip of CNN and NYT is loosening and the media landscape is nicheifying.
21:43 Are people under the age of 30 going to the liberal MSM for news? Ben says they won't be as influential going forward.
25:00 Is being ambitious un-cool?
26:00 The most self-efficacious people Marty knows want to die at the workplace, at their computer. Marty tries to spend as many moments of his life as possible trying to make the world better.
27:45 Marty says he doesn't like his work. It's work. Spiritually, the life well led is making a difference and working. Not to have fun.
28:38 Marty says he's not happy, sometimes content.
30:00 So much of career and life advice centers around the happiness goal. If that's not your goal, the advice is not very applicable.
30:55 Most people are made less happy by their romantic misadventures, says Marty.
31:45 "We assume love is the answer when it often is not," says Marty.
(thanks Charlie Hoehn for editing this.)
