I work in marketing, and like any career out there, there are days when I love my work and on other days I want to give it all up, start a vlog and become the next Casey Neistat.
The best part about my job is that I get to work with some really smart people. Sometimes I will be in a meeting, look around and be in awe of the intellectual power in the room. It’s usually at that point that I realise my mind’s wandering, and I get back to trying to understand what everyone’s talking about.
The thing that strikes me most, however, is that there are days when things are stressful, and on those days, we joke that we’re not curing cancer or saving lives – which is absolutely true. But then I think to myself, why not? Why aren’t we curing cancer or saving lives? Is what we are doing now the most important work we could be doing?
I did some digging and discovered the Australia’s Top 100 Graduate Employers – The definitive guide to Australia’s most sought-after graduate employers, based on more than 2680 votes by Australian university students. The top ten list of places our finest graduates want to work are the big-name tech, consulting, accounting, and banking brands.
However, if I ask kids what they want to be when they grow up, vet is right up there with teacher, doctor, and firefighter. And somewhere between the ages of six and twenty something happens and their aspirations of doing important work that makes the world a better place has the snot kicked out it.
If we could get some people who currently work on optimising your email inbox experience or developing an AI to help sell more coffee, to rather help find solutions to inequality, social injustice, climate change, the erosion of democracy, and yes, cancer, then we might solve some wicked problems.
So, I had an idea. It’s a little naive, but I would love to see it happen. What if, to get more smart people working on life-and-death problems we did the following:
- We offer free tuition to university students.
- For each year of free tuition graduates and postgraduates will work for a year at an institution where they will focus all their efforts towards solving a global, complex problem.
- There will several options open to students on which problems they want to tackle.
- These institutions will provide housing and additional training as required.
- In addition, all students will be paid a small wage for their time.
It’s a little like compulsory military service, but the service is social, and the duration of you service is based on how much the government has contributed to your education. And like the military, some people will stay on – become lifers and guide all the new students to ensure there is continuity in the efforts being made. And maybe we give them cool uniforms and discounts for various goods and services in acknowledgement of their contributions.
This time will also prepare graduates for the work environment. Most universities do no coaching in this space. Which, in turn, will make women and men coming out of these institutions far more employable than fresh grads straight out of university or college.
And then, maybe, more of us can do work that saves lives, at least once in our lives.
Love it Gerrit! Completely agree – I wish someone had told me when I was young (or at least I wish I’d listened if they did) that happiness comes from having purpose. Put a program around that, like the one you propose, and it becomes the norm – and that creates a powerful force for good.