Define yourself in terms of who you serve, not in terms of what you do.
I am very pleased to announce that my TEDx Talk on the role of the Modern Specialist has been published. In this talk, I share some perspectives that at times run counter to some popularly held beliefs on how to set yourself up for career success such as focusing on one thing and become really good at that. While I can see the potential benefits of such an approach, the question is what you do if you don’t know what to focus on, what your passion is, or if there is no demand for your services? Those are some of the concerns that I address and I also present an alternative perspective that I at times advice my students to embrace, the one of “The Modern Specialist.” This perspective is partially developed as a result of my summer internship in New York with Gary Vaynerchuk at Vayner Media and my talk also builds on my previous TEDx Talk at TEDxUmea.
This talk was recorded during a very special day at TEDxMissionViejo superbly managed by Stephanie Paul and where I got to engage with a very dynamic group of people composed of other speakers, audience members, and volunteers. I was proud to share the stage with my social entrepreneur student John Cefalu who spoke on making an impact in Africa and was also very pleased to see my Chapman University students volunteering and helping make the event run very smoothly to make it a tremendous experience for the audience and everyone involved! Special mentions go out to Venice Gell, Laurisa Sanchez, and Taylor Myers and the whole TedXMissionViejo Team and to Noel Witcosky and Annika Streng for helping me with research.
Lawyer and Social Media Expert Mitch Jackson honored me by attending.
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