BE INSPIRED: SERIES 1

On a weekly basis, we will be bringing you inspirational speeches and stories (stories of individuals and organizations) that could make you make walk without touching the ground and fly without wings.

For this series1, we will be examining the work of Thomas L. Friedman, a three time Pulitzer Prize (the highest award in Print Journalism).  Thomas L. Friedman was born in Minneapolis on July 20, 1953; Mr. Friedman received a B.A. degree in Mediterranean studies from Brandeis University in 1975. In 1978, he received a Master of Philosophy degree in Modern Middle East studies from Oxford. Mr. Friedman joined The New York Times in 1981 and was appointed Beirut bureau chief in 1982. In 1984, he was transferred from Beirut to Jerusalem, where he served as Israel bureau chief until 1988. He was awarded the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting (from Lebanon), 1988 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting (from Israel) and in 2002 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, his third Pulitzer for The New York Times.

Below are parts of his commencement address delivered at Williams College in 2005:

Lesson #1: Do what you love

Do what you love. Although this might sound like "warm and gooey career advice’" but actually a very "hard-headed’" survival strategy, is because, as I like to put it, the world is getting flat.

What is flattening the world is our ability to automate more work with computers and software and to transmit that work anywhere in the world that it can be done more efficiently or cheaply thanks to the new global fiber optic network. The flatter the world gets, the more essential it is that you do what you love, because, as Pink notes, all the boring, repetitive jobs are going to be automated or outsourced in a flat world. The good jobs that will remain will be those that cannot be automated or outsourced; they will be the jobs that demand or encourage some uniquely human creative flair, passion and imagination. In other words, jobs that can only be done by people who love what they do.

You see, when the world gets flat everyone should want to be an untouchable. Untouchables in my lexicon are people whose jobs cannot be outsourced or automated. They cannot be shipped to India or done by a machine. So who are the untouchables? Well, first they are people who are really special - Michael Jordan or Barbra Streisand. Their talents can never be automated or outsourced. Second are people who are really specialized - brain surgeons, designers, consultants or artists. Third are people who are anchored and whose jobs have to be done in a specific location - from nurses to hairdressers to chefs - and lastly, and this is going to apply to many of us, people who are really adaptable - people can change with changing times and changing industries.

There is a much better chance that you will make yourself special, specialized or adaptable, a much better chance that you will bring that something extra, what Dan Pink called "a sense of curiosity, aesthetics, and joyfulness’" to your work, if do you what you love and love what you do.

Question of the week:

What category of the people described above do I really belong?

Quote of the week:

Listen to Your Heart; Happiness is a Journey, not a Destination - by Thomas L. Friedman

For other inspirational stories visit:

http://ignitionworld.blogspot.com/

Signature:D'Prince