Thoughts on how my grandchildren (ages 6 to 14) can best prepare themselves for the future–probably long after I am gone
Dear Chaos Monkeys,
The world was easier to understand when I was a kid and a teenager, like you all are now. You worked hard in school, went to college (if you could), found a good job, worked your way up, bought a house, raised a family, and eventually retired. There were no guarantees, but there was a well-worn path that millions of people followed successfully.
The world you are entering is different.
Artificial intelligence is already changing how people work. By the time you graduate from college, it will perform many of the tasks that occupy lawyers, accountants, programmers, analysts, and journalists today. Entire industries will be transformed. New fields will appear that nobody can imagine. Jobs that seemed like a sure things just a few years ago—like computer programming—now aren’t.
This uncertainty can feel intimidating. I don’t think it should.
The biggest lesson I have learned in more than seventy years of life is that every generation believes its challenges are unprecedented. Then, people adapt. They always do. Compared to a world war, the Black Death, or the Great Depression, this is all a short-term inconvenience.
The winners are rarely the people who predict the future accurately; they are the people who remain curious, flexible, and willing to learn. My motto is: “Bet on the future. It always wins.” Don’t be the last person struggling to hold onto a job in a dying industry.
When I was young, nobody had jobs in social media management, cloud computing, mobile app development, or cybersecurity. Almost all of the richest people in today’s world made their money doing things that didn’t exist when I was your age. The same will be true for many of the professional opportunities available to you. Your goal should not be to guess the future, but to become adaptable enough to succeed in whatever future arrives. Be improvisational and restless, not passive.
That brings me to my first piece of advice: Don’t focus on preparing for a specific job. Prepare yourself to become the kind of person who can thrive in many different jobs. In any technology revolution—and I have lived through at least five—there are three phases: the toy phase, the horseless-carriage phase, and the “new thing” phase. In AI, we are just entering that second phase, where technology simply does what people already do, just faster and better. The AI disruption will explode when we enter the third phase—the moment we start creating things that have no counterparts in today’s world.
That starts right now, in high school.
Take difficult classes. Learn to write clearly. Learn mathematics, even if you don’t think you’ll ever use it. Study history, understand how governments work, and learn basic economics. Read books. Learn a foreign language. Learn how to learn, and be eager to do it. The people who struggle in the future won’t be the least intelligent: they will be the ones who aren’t curious, who stop learning. Spend less time worrying about perfect grades and more time building things. Start a small business. Build a website (get your hands dirty with WordPress or code; don’t rely on an AI). Create a YouTube channel. Volunteer for a nonprofit. Learn photography. Play a musical instrument. Write software. Organize an event. Sell something online.
The specific project doesn’t matter nearly as much as learning how to turn an idea into reality. Schools teach useful things, but they often do a poor job of teaching initiative. Be willing to do things that may not succeed but are worth doing anyway. Nobody wants to fail, but sometimes it’s worth failing while trying to make the world a better place. You’ll also learn more from failure than you will from success.
As you think about college, I want you to understand something that many families don’t discuss honestly: College is not a magic ticket. A college degree is still valuable, but it is not valuable because a diploma hangs on a wall. The value comes from the skills you acquire, the relationships you build, and the opportunities you create. Don’t choose a college to impress your friends, and don’t choose one because of the football team. And please, do not bury yourself under mountains of debt for a degree that won’t create corresponding opportunities. The best college is often the one that gives you the strongest education at a price that allows you to begin adult life without financial handcuffs. Prestige matters some. Debt matters more.
Once you get to college, study something hard. That doesn’t automatically mean engineering. It means choosing a field that forces you to think. Learn how to analyze evidence, how to communicate, how to solve problems, and how to work with people who disagree with you. I was an English major with a history minor. Technically it trained me for nothing. In reality, it trained me for everything. I learned how to gather information, analyze it, form an opinion, and defend it. Regardless of your major, learn how to use artificial intelligence. AI will become as vital to your generation as spreadsheets were to mine. The people who master these tools will have
an enormous advantage.
You may be surprised by this next piece of advice: Do not assume that the most prestigious careers are the safest. Many traditional white-collar jobs involve analyzing information and producing reports. AI is already good at these tasks and will get better. Meanwhile, careers that require working in the physical world are becoming increasingly valuable. Electricians, advanced manufacturing technicians, robotics specialists, healthcare workers, engineers, plumbers—the people who build, repair, design, and maintain real things—will be in high demand. The future may
reward practical skills much more than society expects as I write this.
As for graduate school, don’t attend because you’re unsure what else to do. Graduate education makes sense when it serves a clear, specific purpose. A physician needs medical school; a lawyer needs law school; a researcher needs a doctorate; an engineer may benefit from a specialized master’s degree. But collecting degrees without a plan is just an expensive way to postpone adulthood. Remember, every year spent in a classroom is a year not spent gaining practical experience.
One final thought.
You will hear a great deal in your life about careers, salaries, titles, and status. Those things matter, but not as much as people think. The happiest and most successful people I have ever known all share a few common traits:
● They surround themselves with good people who inspire them to be better.
● They distance themselves from negativity.
● They stay curious and dependable.
● They treat people well and keep their word.
● They never stop learning.
● And they find work that feels meaningful to them.
Your great-grandfather used to value what he called “a fighting heart.” That’s the ability to get knocked down, stand up, and get back into the fight. Everyone hits the floor. The people who succeed are the ones who get back on their feet. I have spent much of my life investing in young companies. Most of them did not become overnight successes. The best founders were rarely the smartest people in the room; they were the ones who refused to quit when things got tough.
The same principle applies to your life. You do not need to have everything figured out at age eighteen. Or twenty-two. Or even thirty. Few of us do.
What matters is that you keep moving forward, keep learning, and keep looking for opportunities where others see only uncertainty. If something isn’t working, don’t despair—just develop a different strategy.
Your generation will inherit a world filled with astonishing technologies. You will witness advances that make today’s AI look primitive. Some jobs will disappear, new industries will emerge, and entire fields will rise and fall.
Through all of that thunderous change, one thing will remain constant: The world will need thoughtful people who can learn, adapt, create, lead, and earn the trust of others.
Become one of those people. Everything else will take care of itself.
Love,
Ba