Benjamin Todd

We have seen people take on projects they weren't equipped for early in their careers, like starting a new non-profit, when they would have been better off getting some good mentorship in a well-respected firm.

So while gaining career capital should be a significant priority for most people early in their careers, as your career progresses it becomes harder to strike the right balance between impact and career capital.

Ultimately, getting this balance right will often come down to the quality of the opportunities you've found, as well as your beliefs about the urgency of global problems, and how old you are.

The earlier you gain career capital, the longer you have to use it.

How can you get career capital in any job?

You don't need to change jobs to build career capital.

Just as you can have an impact in any job through donations or advocacy, you can build career capital in any job if you use your time well.

We'll explain how in appendix 2.

Conclusion.

You may not be sure how to best contribute today, and you may suspect that you have few valuable skills.

But that's fine.

Although we like stories of people who achieved apparently instant fame and early success, like the Forbes 30 under 30, they're not the norm.

Besides those who just got lucky, behind most great achievements are many years spent diligently building expertise.

We've seen people transform their careers by doing things like learning to program, being mentored by the right boss, and going to the right graduate school.

If you build valuable career capital, then you'll be able to have a more impactful, satisfying career too.

We've now explored which options to aim for long-term and how to work towards them.

In the next chapter, we'll explain how to narrow them down.

Apply this to your own career.

1.

Given the longer-term paths you'd most like to take, what steps might most accelerate you toward them?