Fortune 500 companies are dying faster, so the old climb-to-the-top career path is broken. Instead, develop deep skills in design, writing, engineering, or coding, then freelance or contract directly. Middle management and generalist degrees won't protect you anymore.
Another thing when we were growing up, be a doctor, be a lawyer, it's the way this six figure income or get a job at a big company, work your way up to C suite. Well, the average age of a company on the Fortune 500 right now is under 10 years old. And just 20 years ago, the average age of a company in Fortune 500 was over 50 years old. Companies are just simply not around as much anymore. And because of it, that notion that you're going to be able to work at a company forever and work your way up the corporate ladder to just doesn't make sense anymore. Instead, people know that if they are good in a specialized skill set, like being deep into an art or deep into a science, that they can market that specialized skill set direct to employers in a freelancing capacity. What do I mean by that? I get asked all the time by parents and grandparents, what should I tell my children to do in this crazy world that you're painting for me? And what I say is go deep into an art. Be a designer, be a writer, be creative, do something that the computers and the machines can't, or be an engineer, code and operate the machines. But do not get a job in middle management, do not get a degree in liberal arts, do not be a jack of all trades, master of none. Because the reality is it's much cheaper for your boss to tell somebody in India or Costa Rica or China what to do.
