It's the market you're in

by phil on Monday Mar 9, 2009 12:19 AM
holistic thinking

The keys to success are two things:

1. Hard work
2. Being in the right market

At an Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar at Stanford, a CEO of a major tech company (forgot which), showed company after company that was just as innovative and bright as Google or Apple, but were simply in markets that declined or never went anywhere. His company was in digital storage, which has been a perpetually, exponentially, increasing enterprise.

Those two points were his message.

Right now the media is slamming people in the financial sector. Everybody there looks dumb. On NPR, they interviewed college students who were taking Economics, and none of them said they were doing it to get into finance.

But that's dumb too.

The main takeaway is that everybody should be, at least on some level, holistic thinkers and futurists. Before considering the next move, try to think just like Steve Jobs. As Steve Jobs likes to quote Wayne Gretzky, he "moves where the puck is going to be, not where it is."

A few markets are still expanding and hiring right now, and have at least 5-10 years of growth at least in them:

• Healthcare
• Video Games
• Security

The reasons for their growth is largely just where society's headed. The aging population, the increasing number of tech-savvy gamers, and the rising terrorist threat.

I would not take the current climate, either, to discourage getting into finance. If anything, now's a great time because when you graduate, it'll be much easier to stand out. All businesses revolve around the flow of capital, and someone will always be there to grease those wheels. And wherever large transactions take place, those in the middle always get rich. Just think of the change lady at a casino whenever somebody hits a jackpot. Often she gets hundred dollar tips.