Jodi Kantor

I mean, students and young people, they're telling me they're searching for employment, which we think should be a social act, an act about conversations and handshakes.

And they're not meeting anybody.

So I wanted to give them something better.

And I thought, what feels true?

What feels durable, even as things are really changing?

What can really help people?

What can be an alternate to all this bad advice?

And I looked around my life and I looked at my work and all the people I've covered over the years and I said, great careers are made from marrying two things, a craft and a need.

The people I see who are successful and happy at work are practicing some sort of craft and

They're good at something that other people aren't good at.

They have a special skill or expertise.

Surgery is a craft.

Running a restaurant really well is a craft.

Directing a play is a craft.

Setting up investment really well, a craft.

By the way, we talked about like how careers are made of tasks and, you know, are you happy at 1130 on a Thursday morning?

All those tasks you're doing at 1130 on a Thursday morning ideally add up to the performance of a craft.

Craft gives you authority, right?

It protects you from some of the cruelties of the job market because you can be fired anytime, but your craft, once you learn it, and especially if you spend years and years honing it, it can never be taken away.

Then there's need.