By Andrew Wang
I never thought that a brief sit at Starbucks could provide such wisdom. True story: I was sipping on a cup of coffee while waiting for my next interview, and the words on the side of the paper cup from which I was drinking caught my eye:
The way I see it: ‘Failure is hard, but success is far more dangerous. If you’re successful at the wrong thing, the mix of praise, money and opportunity can lock you in forever.’
Ironically, those words of wisdom were extremely applicable to myself at the time. I guess that’s why
Starbucks charges so much: There’s an old guy with a beard writing witty advice on cups in the back room.
But in fact, I think that quote would have applied to many of the hundreds of well-dressed business folk strutting in and out of the coffee shop. Every human being wants to be recognized (praised) and rewarded (money), including Schulichers.
However, here at Schulich, the culture is different. It is different from high school. It is different from the rest of York. And it is probably different than Waterloo Engineering. What’s the difference? The need for recognition and reward is greater than in any other environment.
Nowhere else will you find a culture where there is such pressure to perform, not only academically, but also socially – in student clubs, in networking sessions, and in front of peers.
Under this pressure, many Schulich students (I know at least a handful) have been trying their damnest to achieve such recognition and reward, often at the peril of their own happiness. While diligence and determination are admirable qualities, some Schulich students who do not see a deeper purpose other than money and praise make misguided choices that do not suit them in the long run.
Here’s what happens: an identity crisis occurs when students join Schulich. In high school, everyone was at the top of their graduating class. All of a sudden, they were put in an environment where their academic edge completely disappeared. And being the competitive spirits that they are, these students desperately need to find something to compensate: some choose to blindly seek club executive status, while others put on a façade of confidence without competence backing it up.
Ultimately, your career success and happiness will often be a function of what you enjoy doing, what you are good at doing, and deeper reasons as to why you are doing it. If it is 2:00 a.m. at night, and you have to keep studying for your next mid-term, you’ll have a better chance pulling it off if your reason to do so is so you can fulfill your childhood dream of being an ad exec.
To the contrary, it is quite likely you’ll struggle through the pain of staying up late if it is just for the praise. Same goes for clubs, jobs, and anything else you do in life.
The underlying point I am trying to make is that for whatever reason, your decision making may be superficially driven by your ego, which was fully fed in high school. While having so-and-so status, or being known as such-and-such may get you a temporary sense of gratification and an ego boost, it is not a solid reason to do something.
Rather, find out what you really want deep down.
That’s the way I see it.
Andrew Wang is an analyst at a major Canadian investment bank and a 2010 graduate of York University’s Schulich School of Business. This article was originally published in Career Insight Magazine.
