Ready to Make an Impact?
So, I am excited (I know, again). Tonight, sees Good Omens start on Amazon Prime. One of my favourite books hits the small(ish) screen. It is a tale of an angel and a demon. It’s a tale of the impact that a single action can have.
Possibly fate then that I spent yesterday working with researchers in Oxford on just that. Impact. They were looking at how their research could influence the world. It got me thinking about how our careers can do just that.
What will your impact be?
It is a classic training question when talking about careers – “what do you want your legacy to be?”. I prefer that to the “what will be written in your obituary?”!
But for many of us work can and needs to provide more than a means to pay the rent. It might enable us to give generously to charity or fund our volunteering choices. Or keep us in jigsaws (just me?). As technically trained people we can also choose roles that change and develop the world around us.
Some triggers for thoughts on maximising your impact here:
- where could you impact manifest?
- what would you like to change?
- what are your driving values?
- can you measure your contribution?
8000 hours to create impact
Some great research has been done on BIG impact careers by the 8000 hours organisation whose strap line is:
You have 80,000 hours in your career. How can you best use them to help solve the world’s most pressing problems?
In their article here they identify game changer careers are in AI, bio risk and existential risk. The latter are threats to humanity as a whole. I can get completely behind people choosing this for their impactful career.
Do let me know your thoughts!
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