Update/Context: We’re seeing positive changes in how we guide our youth toward becoming productive, self-supporting members of society. The message has shifted from the old model of "find a job at a big company and retire with a pension" to the more open-ended "you can be anything you want to be" and "follow your passion." While this is progress, there’s still more work to be done. Instead of asking young people what they want to be, let's ask them what problems they want to solve. This mindset shift can empower them to think entrepreneurially and create meaningful impact in their careers and communities.

It's All About Problem-Solving 

All of this has to be within a framework of providing some kind of useful service to others, whether bosses, coworkers, customers or society. To be useful, the service has to solve problems for others. Hence the emphasis, when I was at Fab Lab ICC, in all our classes on problem-solving as well as in all our activities and projects. Indeed, as related to career building and making a living, all educational institutions should be emphasizing problem-solving as the primary objective, not how much salary can be drawn from an employer or how much profit can be extracted from customers. Don't misunderstand, salaries have to be right for the work performed and profits have to be sufficient to provide for the sustainability of the company and the satisfaction of the investors and/or stock holders, but money and profits should be secondary to an objective of solving problems in the best, most innovative and efficient ways possible. 

Challenge Youth to Change the World 

At every opportunity, we challenge youth to start figuring out how to change the world and "you don't have to wait until you get out of school to start." We are not challenging them to make large salaries or become rich. We are challenging them to figure out ways to change the world by making it better. The challenge will be met by solving problems of one kind or another. This kind of challenge will tend to lead these young students to a life of work solving problems by doing something about which they are passionate. There's nothing wrong with making a lot of money and/or becoming rich but that's not the primary goal. If you've built a life around helping others, chances are that you'll use whatever money you make and wealth you build to help others throughout your life. 

The Best Life Is One of Serving Others 

You can follow your passion as long as it solves problems in ways better than any other solutions available. You only get to follow your passion if people individually or in our society are willing to pay for your solutions. You can't make a living following your passion if no one else cares about or benefits from the fruit of your passion. 

If we can continue to change the message to our youth in this way, eventually we'll have a society of people concerned with making the world around them better, many of them following their passion. The best way to have a happy and fulfilled life is to figure out how to serve others by solving problems while doing work about which you are passionate.