Learn how to hit reset on your career with economist Steven Levitt as he shares surprising tips, including a coin flip strategy. They discuss pursuing a career in economics, trying low-cost options before making big decisions, and the importance of taking risks for fulfillment.
Read more
AI Summary
AI Chapters
Episode notes
auto_awesome
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
Passion and interest are important factors for success in one's career.
Taking calculated risks and making strategic changes can lead to personal and professional growth.
Deep dives
The Challenge of Career Plateau
Abdullah, an engineer, feels intellectually unchallenged and stuck in his career. He recognizes the limited advancement opportunities in his field and wants to explore economics, a field he is passionate about. However, he faces the dilemma of leaving his stable job, financial stability, and family. He contemplates the risks and uncertainties involved in making a career change and how it might impact his family.
Passion and Decision-Making
Stephen Levitt, an economics professor, highlights the importance of being passionate about one's work for success. He cautions against blindly pursuing higher education and instead, recommends finding low-cost ways to explore new fields, such as online classes or incorporating economic thinking into existing job roles. Levitt encourages quitting when necessary and emphasizes the value of regret analysis in decision-making.
Strategies for Making a Change
Levitt suggests strategically making changes in one's career to maintain maximum optionality. This could involve gradually transitioning, pursuing data science alongside an engineering background, or taking a heavily economics-focused MBA program. He also discusses the limitations of the economics profession in terms of gatekeeping and the need for more diverse paths to success in the field.
The Importance of Taking Action
Levitt advises that if someone has been contemplating a change for a long time, it may be an indication that the change should have already been made. Procrastinating decision-making can lead to feeling stuck and unfulfilled. Embracing the risk of change and taking small steps towards a bigger goal is crucial for personal and professional growth.
Our listener Abdullah has reached a plateau. A mid-career manager at a large electronics engineering corporation, he feels intellectually unstimulated. Even though Abdullah has a stable job with seniority, he dreams of going back to school and pursuing his true passion: economics. But with a family to support, should Abdullah make a risky leap? On this episode of How To!, host Carvell Wallace is joined by Freakonomics co-author and University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt. Well-known for out-of-the-box thinking, Levitt shares surprising tips (including a simple coin flip strategy) that can help anyone on the edge of a huge decision.
Do you have a question we can help you solve? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001. We might invite you on the show! Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Podcast production by Kevin Bendis, Derek John, Joel Meyer, and Rosemary Belson.
If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on How To!. Sign up now at slate.com/howtoplus to help support our work.