いかにして コーネル大学で数学を専攻した陰キャ青年が、気がつけば多彩な縁を通じて、アメリカ中央情報局CIAの情報部門トップを務めるようになったかという話。彼はスタンフォード大学でMBAを取っているので、そのイベントでのインタビュー。
セルフ アウェアネスがしっかりしているんですよね。 常にテクノロジーと共にいる自分、というアイデンティティ。しかし、それを使ってどのように社会貢献をするか、世俗的成功を勝ち取るかについては、極めて自由なんです。選択肢だらけ。
大手企業に就職し、起業してスタートアップを経営し、軍と一緒に仕事をして、ついには CIAのトップエグゼクティブになる。いずれも、変化を見極めながら躊躇なくリスクを取ったことで、キャリアを積み上げています。
人生の流れは一つではありません。あっちこっちに海流も気流も流れており、それらの挙動は複雑系の塊であり、常に変化し推移して、不確定性を上げている。戦略的に見極めた上で、ではどの流れに乗るのか？さほど深刻に考える必要はない。要するに、いろいろリスクを取ってトライ することでしょうね、最適解は。
これは別に、若者だけに限られた特権ではありません 。40代だろうが50代だろうが、いくらでもそこから、人生チェンジ、キャリアチェンジは行えます。人生100年時代 なんですからね。何かを始めるのに遅すぎることなんてない。
The story of how a nerdy young man who majored in mathematics at Cornell University found himself, through a variety of connections and circumstances, as the head of the intelligence division of the CIA, the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States. He has an MBA from Stanford University and were interviewed at one of those alumni events.
He seems to have a strong sense of self-awareness. His identity has been always with technology. But at the same time, he has been extremely free in how he used his nature to contribute to society and achieve fruitful success. There were so many choices and all up to him.
You can work for a major corporation, start your own business and run a startup, work with the military, and finally become a top executive at the CIA, right? All of these careers have been built by taking risks without hesitation but with careful assessment of changes around you.
There is no one “current” in life. Single stream for success is a mere fiction. There are both ocean currents and air currents flowing here and there, and their behaviors are a mass of complex systems, constantly changing and transitioning, raising ever increasing uncertainty. After strategically assessing the situations, then, which current to ride under which circumstance? There is no need to think too seriously, though. In short, the best solution is to take various risks and try things out.
This is not a privilege limited only to young folks. People in their 40s and 50s can make any numbers of life and career changes. We live in “the age of 100 years.” It is never too late to start something, isn’t it?
It is never too late to start something anew.