If I were 22: how to shape the new digital economy

This season’s commencement speeches were filled with words of inspiration as well as caution.

We heard President Obama tell Rutgers University graduates to expect roadblocks and not to “lose hope in the face of naysayers.” (Instead, radio and television personality Ryan Seacrest suggested at the University of Georgia, thank them for their advice.)

We heard Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson equate success to how well you can handle those moments when life tells you no.

We heard Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, speaking from the heart about grief stemming from the loss of her husband a year ago, say graduates “will almost certainly face more and deeper adversity,” and Today Show co-host Hoda Kotb remind many soon-to-be job applicants: “you don’t need everybody to like you, you just need one.” (She was passed over by the first 27 news directors she interviewed with.)

I’ve given similar pump-up talks mixed with hard truths to my children, including my son, who a couple weeks ago earned his bachelor’s degree from Rollins College. 

My wife and I looked on with pride as his name was called and he walked across the stage. I also found myself remembering how I felt during my Harvard commencement – that feeling that you’ve accomplished something big but still face a bigger question:

What will you do next?

The tone of recent commencement speeches has been a way of recognizing the lingering effects of the Great Recession. Though, every generation endures challenging economies and shifting market forces. My experience, for instance, was shaped by seeing manufacturing jobs get shipped out of my hometown of Youngstown, Ohio.

What makes today especially different for my son is what happened right before he started high school: when the iPhone came out and the digital revolution, fueled by incredible advances in software, became a lot more real overnight.

Today the changes run deeper than seeing industries struggle as others thrive, or witnessing comebacks and slowdowns. The difference is that just about every single industry has either been disrupted or is remaking itself in ways that are still hard to imagine. Graduates are entering the workforce at a time when, as Netscape co-founder Marc Andreesen said in his famous Wall Street Journal editorial, “software is eating the world.”  

We’ve only begun to see the alterations to professions and how we work. Ten years from now, half of this year’s graduates will be working in careers that don’t even exist right now. Many careers they start in will disappear.

#IfIWere22, like my son is now, I would try to position myself to shape this new world – not just be shaped by it.

Here are two pieces of advice:

1. Even if one day you earn enough to buy a Porsche, your career itself will never go 0 to 60 that fast. Whether you start a company or join one, you have to prove yourself and build trust.

During college my son had three different summer internships that culminated with him gaining an opportunity to explore his ambition to work in finance. He told me he learned a lot about budgeting and planning. But he was a little bummed out to learn that the vast majority of the experience was on a spreadsheet.

I remember saying to him: “But how much time did the CFO spend on the spreadsheet?” My point was, when you’re starting out, you have to prove that you can master basic tasks.

Still, my son learned that, even if he can’t go straight to managing a team, he can start by joining one. So with that in mind he accepted a job in consulting that should offer him an even more collaborative working environment and a strong path of discovery into the workforce.

I started my second job out of business school at a consulting firm, too – at Booz Allen Hamilton. But it’s likely our careers will still be very different. The reason is: I stayed with that company for 25 years, whereas studies show my son’s job will likely be the first of 15 to 20 that he has during his career. 

This makes it even more important for new graduates to embrace change. As basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski has probably said at practice thousands of times, but this year shared at Duke University’s commencement: “There’s nothing more important than attitude, and it’s your choice.”

 Thus …

2. Rather than trying to avoid getting knocked down, know that you will … and have a strategy for how to get back up.

It didn’t take me long to realize at my first job that I didn’t know much about business. The partners just kind of looked at me and said, “Why are we paying this kid?”

So I went to night school. And I distinctly remember my dad, when I told him my plan, saying: “You just graduated from college and now you have to go to night school to do your job!” (My dad never got past the tenth grade.)  

This is just what I’ve had to do at times throughout my career. But going forward I think this is something all of us will have to do all the time. The tuition bills can stop, but our education has to keep going. We need to be in the mindset of constantly updating our skills.

The willingness to embrace lifelong learning – and to get back up when you get knocked down – will give you an edge. It’s also a way you can set forth on a fulfilling, inspiring ride where you control the flow of your life, live your values, and drive the change we know is coming in the world.

There will be moments of resistance, for sure. But recent graduates are also in unique position – right there at the ground-floor – to break through it and be the definers of this new digital age.

Photo: The author, left, a member of the Board of Trustees at Rollins College, onstage with his son, Allan, at his graduation ceremony.