You just never know.....or can you???

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I don't know whether you're a fan of the Sunday morning talk shows or not, but being a news junkie - I confess to having many an episode of This Week with George Stephanopolis or Meet the Press with David Gregory on my DVR. This past Sunday, David Gregory interviewed Hillary Clinton. At the end of the interview, he showed something that Secretary Clinton wrote when she was in the 6th grade: "When I grow up, I want to have the best possible education I could have obtained. If I obtain this, I will probably be able to get a very good job. I either want to be a teacher or a nuclear physics scientist." Secretary Clinton responded, "I think it's just a lesson to everybody, you don't know where you life may lead and what your opportunities could be."

There are some interesting take-aways from this quote by Secretary Clinton. First, she was very smart to know, even as a 6th grader, that a good education is critical to success. There are plenty of studies out there that validate that even with the rising cost of a college education, you're still better off in the end than if you'd opted out. If you've ever studied Secretary Clinton's bio, you'll know she went to Wellesley College, followed by Yale Law School. She obviously attained that personal goal of 'the best possible education'. However, it's worth noting that there are great schools outside of the realm of Ivy League schools. If you're interested in learning about some alternatives, check out the website: www.ctcl.org. This website is built around the original research of education expert, Loren Pope, who wrote the book Colleges That Change Lives. This book should definitely be on every high school student's reading list. If you also aspire to get the best possible education - and not just 'best' in terms of US News & World Report rankings, but also 'best' for your unique needs/goals - then check out this book or the website above!

Next, we can look at the second part of Hillary's statement, where she linked getting a 'good education' with getting a 'good job'. Generally speaking, this is definitely true. As we said before, you're better off with a college degree than without one. However, it's also worth pointing out that getting the right college degree for you is also key to future career success.

What I mean by this is that we each have unique strengths and weaknesses. If you want to give yourself a head start in this process, then learning about yourself - from your personal thinking preferences to your passions - can all help you make smarter choices about both college majors and career paths.

Here's an example: let's say that you love to communicate. You're not sure about your precise career path, but you especially love both writing and current events. In college, you write for the college newspaper and also get some internships working for real newspapers. The experience of writing for your college paper and interning with a few newspapers will collectively give you an advantage when you apply for a job as a writer for a newspaper/magazine after college. That doesn't mean that if you don't major in journalism and don't get any internships with newspapers that you'll never be able to be a writer. However, if you are able to learn early in life about your passions for writing + news/current events, then you can put yourself on a journalism path that you'll be happier with and more successful in - than if you'd taken a more ambivalent approach.

There are plenty of people out there WITH good educations but WITHOUT great jobs...and, not just because unemployment happens to be high at the moment. Did you know that studies done in 1994 found that 25% of the Harvard class of 1958 was on welfare? And, amazingly, the statistics for other Ivy League schools was similar. I don't mean to knock Ivy League schools. The point is that those who actually end up being the most successful are not those with the right academic pedigree or the major that boasts the highest salaries after education. The people who end up being the most successful are those who know who they are and leverage their strengths/weaknesses with smart choices about college majors and careers.

Did you happen to notice that Secretary Clinton listed two VERY different careers as examples of 'a good job'? If you were to look at the HBDI thinking preferences of a teacher versus a nuclear physics scientist, you'll find that they are at nearly opposite ends of the spectrum. I'm guessing that in the years after 6th grade, Hillary Clinton was able to get a better understanding of her own strengths and weaknesses, and what career paths would be most suitable for her. However, there are a lot people out there who are, in fact, considering wildly different majors or potential careers. While it's great to have an open mind, considering all of your options - you also want to be prudent. If you're not a math/science person, maybe a career as a nuclear physics scientist is not in the cards for you.

The last take-way from this interview excerpt with Hillary Clinton is that she said you never know where life will take you. True enough, I'm sure that whether it's former first lady Hillary Clinton or the current First Lady, Michelle Obama, the world is full of people who end up in places they never dreamed. It is also true that if you are passionately driven in the areas you are gifted, you will go far. None of us may no precisely where you will end up, but we can be sure you'll do great things in life if your strengths are leveraged in the areas consistent with your values and interests. And, we know that you can pro-actively equip yourself with information about yourself, and the decisions you will be making (like what to study, where to go to school, what career path to take) so that you can be confident in your choices. Tools, like LeadAmerica's u101 course - can help you learn more about your thinking preferences, and how you combine those with other factors, such as your passions, to make smart decisions down the road.

So, what do you think of Secretary Clinton's quote from David Gregory's Meet the Press interview? Do you agree? Disagree? Share your thoughts!