Rethinking Career Design: How Traditional Education Set Up a Generation to Fail, and How to Course Correct Today | Farouk Dey, Revisited

Dec 9, 2025

Farouk Dey, a higher-education leader and life-design advocate, talks about transforming student experiences at universities. He emphasizes the need for curiosity-driven exploration over rigid career paths. Farouk shares insights on the Imagine Center, which fosters integrated learning, and explains how economic shifts demand a rethink of career services. He advocates for experiential learning and making life design a priority, urging institutions to focus on developing minds rather than just careers, ultimately helping students construct their own passions.

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ADVICE

Start With Curiosity Not A Career Plan

Stop asking what you should be in the future and instead ask what you're curious about today.
Experiment with current curiosities and build networks around those experiments to discover fulfilling careers.

INSIGHT

Career Services Reflect Economic Eras

Career services evolved with economic shifts from vocational placement to counseling to networking hubs.
Each era's model reflected labor market needs, not a timeless purpose for higher education.

ADVICE

Build One Integrated Student Hub

Integrate experiential, mentoring, internship, study-abroad, and career functions into one student-facing hub.
Make the space a hangout so students access services organically, boosting engagement and satisfaction.

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In an ideal world, college would help students explore possibilities and imagine a future that fits who they are. Instead, many choose majors before they know themselves and get pushed onto a career conveyor belt with little space to discover what matters to them. Farouk Dey wants to change that. His work encourages students to pause, experiment, and learn from real experiences before deciding where they want to go. In this episode, Dart and Dr. Farouk Dey discuss how life design can help students find direction through experimentation, and how universities can create fuller, more meaningful journeys for the people they serve.

Dr. Farouk Dey is the President of Palo Alto University. He has spent more than two decades reimagining how universities help students prepare for life and work.

In this episode, Dart and Farouk discuss:
- The Imagine Center for Integrative Learning and Life Design
- How economic shifts drive national career changes
- The growing need to develop minds, not just careers
- Changing the outdated career service models of American universities
- Balancing competition and curiosity when choosing a career
- The importance of experiential learning for life design
- How universities can give students a higher return on their investment
- Farouk’s advice for companies who want to build a life design center
- How to construct your passion – not find it
- And other topics…

Dr. Farouk Dey is the President of Palo Alto University and the former Vice Provost for Integrative Learning and Life Design at Johns Hopkins University. He previously held senior roles at Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University, where he led work in career and experiential education. His focus is helping students navigate learning, work, and meaning through applied design principles. Dr. Dey holds a PhD and EdS in Higher Education Administration, an MBA, an MEd in Counseling Psychology, and a BBA in Finance.

Resources mentioned:
Bill Burnett on Work For Humans: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/designing-your-life-how-to-use-design-principles-to/id1612743401?i=1000738307337

Connect with Farouk:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/faroukdey/

Work with Dart:
Dart is the CEO and co-founder of the work design firm 11fold. Build work that makes employees feel alive, connected to their work, and focused on what’s most important to the business. Book a call at 11fold.com.