Catalina Sanchez-Carrion
I&E 352: Strategies for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Mentoring Assignment II
During the second conversation with David Garfinkle, I was able to spend more time discussing how his past experiences in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship could help provide some insight towards some of my future endeavors. During our conversation, we mainly focused on two components. The large focus of our conversation was discussing the beginning of one’s career, and how there are potentially benefits from working at a large firm, as well as some advice to a young individual as theybegin their career. Second, we discussed the importance of defining one’s goals and potential milestones for their future.
While talking to David, I mentioned that I would be working at a large bank this summer. Personally, I did not know that finance was the industry I would want to pursue, however I mentioned that something I have put a lot of thought into as I begin my career is how working at a large firm will help me to get exposure to a variety of resources, while also being able to build my network. I asked David his opinion on this, as well as how he thought I could avoid getting caught in the “rat race”.
The first advice that David gave me was to ensure that I keep perspective on it myself. He does not believe that any experience one encounters either at Duke or in ones career is necessarily wasted. He believes that the experience that he had early on in his career working at a large law firm helped him gain exposure to clients he may not have met otherwise. It also presented him with the opportunity to meet several people in the Entertainment industry, which would help him begin to gain credibility in the industry and meet potential clients he could have at his firm in the future. Moreover, he mentioned the importance of seizing opportunities. Almost always, we have to start at the bottom. It is likely that people may have to spend hours annotating contracts, or making copies. However, he learned that by maximizing the effort he put into these tasks, he was able to learn more about the firm he was working at, and it provided him with the tools to ask questions to his boss or mentors in the future.
In addition, we also discussed some of the qualities that are important for one to have when entering the corporate world. I shared with him how over my internship the past summer, I felt that it was important to know how to not annoy the people I was working with. He mentioned that as you begin to make a name for yourself in the industry of choice, your attitude is key. With young individuals, David feels that it is important for him to know that they are smart, reliable, and consistent and communicate with him. These are the people who he is more likely to hand on a cool task when they come along. It is important to ensure that you complete some of the more “unappealing” tasks with a good attitude.
I found a lot of these things David mentioned to be of value to me as I begin entering the corporate world. Before I begin to work on any of my own ventures, I believe that it is important to build a network of people who can trust me. As David confirmed, it is important that I demonstrate myself to be useful to my coworkers, as well as dedicated and passionate about what I do. Having a positive attitude is key. Additionally, he reassured me that it is okay to not know right now what my passions are. With time, as I continue to be exposed to new things, my experiences will help me find the path I should follow.
Secondly, I asked David about the importance of attending graduate schools, and how structured of a plan one should have as they enter their future. Verbatim, David said, “Life is what happens while you’re doing the plan”. He mentioned that it does not hurt to have thoughts and goals, but at times to be prepared to go with the opportunities that are spontaneously presented to us. He also mentioned that not every opportunity that we take is going to be successful. He reflected on a time where he jumped on the opportunity to work on a musical that he eventually won a Tony Award for. Had he not given the time to take on this task, he may have never had an experience like such.
Therefore, this helped me reflect on some of the goals I have set myself for the future. Although I plan to begin working at a larger firm, I learned that it is important to maintain an open mind and try to seize opportunities that have potential to teach me something new. In addition, he told me that it is okay if these opportunities we take fail. He reassured me that no one thing is going to be a fatal blow, as our life continues despite missed opportunities. Finally, he mentioned to me that while going through my career, it is important to be inquisitive. There is a lot that we are able to learn from different people, so it is important to ask questions, be an effective listener, and despite whether you work for or with someone, encourage individual’s to be transparent, so you are able to meet their needs to the best of one’s abilities.