and what I don't have a PowerPoint under

that is very very ruthless really so

when the organizing team came over a few

months ago we're talking about the thing

we're talking about possibly saying all

15 or 18 minutes about on Baumer about

thinking about one of the main issues

that if I assume most people here around

18 or 20 or all of it and number two

that you know one of the major decisions

that you guys can face and I'm around 13

hires turned 31 this year so I guess I'm

gonna try to focus on know what what I

think will happen between the maintainer

around the 13 happen in the next 10

years

and what's the four-day theme that we

think we've been used to solve these

issues so taking a step back when I was

your age I guess the major themes that

come up are you know where do I go to

college what I actually does my major

why she's a minor

what I do for my internship do I go on

to graduate school enjoy my my first job

boy study abroad by saying these days

every reviewers in New York or LA or

some of the parts or going back home

they might eventually work for a big

company or do I miss my parents or my

job so I don't company there many

different things and

issues and major decisions we have to

make in the next couple of years so I

think should be from my experience I

spent half my life in Taiwan I like the

US so I couldn't proceed both advantages

and disadvantages of both education

systems so I think from an Asian context

we're always taught to think one step

before so context is like we're middle

school and all of our parents our

teachers our professors always tell us

you know okay you're you're getting good

grades go into the best high school now

you're getting good grades going to the

best college now you're getting good

grades go to medical school become a

doctor all Chinese parents to some

degree always always say it's usually a

doctor lawyer or teacher it's either one

of these three right so always people

say we haven't we have a good enough

grade to become a doctor or a lawyer or

a teacher but no one really asks us do

we want to be a doctor do we want to be

dedicating the next 40 years of a life

to become a lawyer no one really asked

us there's big philosophical questions

so in many ways Asian education is more

about technicalities it's about how do

we get that score and then we decide

whereas after we enter society is all

it's all the opposite way around we

should decide first what is our

philosophical direction and then we

decide whether or not we should get

there so I'll use this from I was a

business major so I'll use more of a

business an analogy for this so let's

say you know you become suddenly you're

assigned to become the CEO of Apple as

the CEO of Apple usually attend various

that let's say anyway between four to

eight years then we do not say on our

first day I will become CEO of Apple and

my number one goal right now is to grow

our company sales by 10% by the end of

next year doesn't really make any sense

why 10% why 15 which categories

computers laptops or cell phones it's a

very abstract notion so it's the exact

same idea where when we're 17 we decide

okay what college do we go to we always

decide one year before

that's the Asian education system that's

the Asian context so that's why it's so

confusing because we don't have an end

goal the fundamental end question should

always be what do you want to do

when you're 25 when you're 30 what is

your dream job what is your dream career

and then we decide back from the ages of

18 all the way to 25 or 30 which

necessary steps allow me to get to that

stage as fast and efficiently as

possible so going back to that Apple

analogy if you become an Apple CEO you

don't say my only focus will be for the

next 365 days I want to grow sales for

10% usually it's by the end of my tenure

I want Apple cell phones to be you know

the number one player in China if

currently it's only 10% but by the time

I retire I want it to be 35% and that's

my goal for the next four years and then

how do I in each consecutive year what

resources do I need who do I hire what

decisions do I make to gradually

gradually hit that goal okay so coming

back to who we are right now I was

warned to draw this very very big so we

can see this on the screen so let's say

we're 18 right now and eventually we

planned out or 30 maybe if we're too

young we can imagine when we're 25 so

the question people most likely ask at

this stage is which college do I go to I

have no idea what I want to do with my

career I have no idea if I want to be a

double e major or a medical premed major

or a law a pretty long major less that's

very very easy to imagine because when

we're 17 all we can see is what do I do

when I'm 18 when I'm 21 all we can see

is what do I want to do I'm 22 when

we're 22 all we can see is what do I do

what kind of job do I want to find at

123 ideally we should take a step back

we should reverse it ideally we should

be asking ourselves what do you actually

want to do after you graduate from

college what do you actually want to do

in the long term what is your long-term

end goal so the question we should

actually be asking is what do I want to

be doing as my dream job when I'm 30 or

at the very least what career do I think

I want to dedicate myself to for the

next 20 30 or 40 years of my of my life

so let's say my dream job is run 30 I

want to be a banker working in New York

and then why I'm 18 that'll you suited

to come back and strategically think

what degree what school what majors what

internships where should I work that

will gradually gradually leave me

closer towards my end goal at 30 it

gives you a much clearer decision-making

process because you finally know what

you're doing this for you finally know

why you're taking this minor why you're

taking this elective why you're taking

this internship besides the obvious

answer my parents told me to do that or

everyone is going for a business minor

or everyone wants to go into business

finally we have a reason to do it for

ourselves

on average let's say we graduate 122 on

average the first a second job the

duration is probably about 2 or 3 years

so that means if we take this as an

example every 3 or years you will change

your job so you have three possible

decision making processes so then that

means if 30 is your end goal if 30 is

that job I want to be a banker in New

York then which job leads me gradually

gradually more into that pyramid so

we're over here right now we still have

a whole you know room full of options we

could become lawyers teachers medical

students whatever the idea is the older

we get we should be slowly narrowing

down our decision making process so that

we're choosing what makes the most sense

in terms of alignment so this is a very

very simple idea but from a business

standpoint it would be ridiculous if we

came on board and said I want to grow my

company and buy this company I want to

enter Europe why why do you want to buy

this company why do you want to grow 10%

going back to that Apple analogy why 10%

why not 15 why not 20 why China why

cellphones why not laptops

it's very hard to explain if we're only

always thinking one step before and one

year before but if I can tell you we

need to enter China we need to grow

cellphones we need to grow 15% because

that's the only way in four years time

we will hit and become the number one

cell phone company in China then

everything makes sense then you can more

clearly go back and think okay what are

the resources who do I need to hire and

so therefore from our analogy what

school do I go to which country do I go

to how do I think about my next steps

that this is a very basic premise of

strategic thinking and even though it

looks very very easy once we start

graduating once we enter the workforce

once we come business managers this is

the one theme or spirit that will base

we string together all of your

decision-making processes it's not about

the next day it's not about tomorrow or

the next week it's always about the end

goal and in many ways this decision

process can solve many of our life's

problems so going back to that first

original question what do I want to do

when I graduate which internship do I

want to find which country do I want to

go to almost everything you can take a

step back and think what am I doing this

for

so the questions that we most often get

more young is should I go to business

school should I go to Cornell should I

go to UCLA that's in many ways the wrong

question that we're asking we should ask

to actually be asking ourselves what do

I want to do after I graduate from UCLA

what do I want to do after I received

that degree you're asking should I go to

that school but they're active question

you should be asking yourself is what do

I want to do even if I do great at

school you take care of that

philosophical question first whether or

not I can get into UCLA whether or not I

can become a doctor is a technical

question an Asian education is very very

good at brainstorming you and

brainwashing you every day about solving

the technical side but we spend very

little time actually thinking about the

philosophical side should I become a

doctor and whether or not I want to

become a doctor or two absolutely

different things

next time you one of your parents said

go become a doctor look I can ask them

why I guarantee you 99% of the time

parents actually can give you an answer

why should I become a doctor do I want

to become a doctor that answer is very

very fundamentally different then I have

enough that good grades I can become a

doctor whether or not I can is very very

different from what I should and that's

the basis of what you're thinking so

anything we can encounter from the ages

of 8 18 to 30 you can kind of solve by

splitting up into philosophical issues

and technical issues you always solve

the philosophical issues first should I

enter this industry should I start my

own company should I buy this company if

I'm one day a senior manager yes or no

and then we decide what are the

resources needed for me been able to

achieve to achieve that goal okay so I

think all in all this is will be very

very helpful this

basically can solve actually 90% of all

the major issues so that you will

encounter and trust me when I say this

after you leave this if there's one

thing to remember from this its

strategic thinking okay even goes down

all the way to this hmm should I be

dating this girl at the stage this

business fit my life goals when I'm 22

what if she's going abroad what if I

want to start my own company and she's

in Japan and this is a long-distance

relationship does it fit

ideally if it fits it should be

somewhere within this triangle if it

doesn't for example let's say I want to

be a banker all of a sudden I'm offered

a job at Louis Vuitton it pays well it

sounds good but it in no way makes me it

makes it easier for me to hit my

eventual goal then no technically

ideally no matter how much money they

offer no matter how prestigious that job

sounds you should not be taking that job

because it actually zigzags you away

from your alignment back in business

school the the the most simple analogy

we used to use was think of life as this

as this whiteboard at the table ideally

if this is point a that's point D and

we're going from a B C to D the most

efficient answer should be completely

alignment you should be able to look at

the end of a table and look all the way

down to point D that means every

decision you made is kinda like a rope

you strung it together as hard as short

as tough as possible that means you made

the most efficient answer the most

efficient decision that leads you to

your end goal as fast as possible so I

went by this very very fast but I hope

this helps but a few final takeaways

when we're confused

we always fear we're always very very

hesitant that means confusion failure

that they're hard to imagine you know

the ideas of that are very very abstract

failure where do I go what do I want to

do with my life what major do I choose

they're very very abstract ideas is that

there's anything that this teaches us

whenever you make when you're whenever

you're facing abstract ideas your first

step is to always factual eyes it your

second step is to then quantify it so I

don't know what what I want to do with

my life this is my end goal what steps

do I need to hit my end goal you factual

eyes it and then you quantify it step 1

step 2

step three step four abstract factual

eyes quantify it'll make things much

less scarier okay good luck