We’ve all asked our parents or older people in our lives for job advice at one point or another; some might help you format your résumé or cover letter, while others might tell you to apply for a role by just “calling Taylor up.” But if you’re Sasha and Malia Obama, you might get advice that’s a little more cued into today’s working conditions thanks to a dad who is talking to workers nationwide as part of a Netflix show. Thankfully, former president Barack Obama is willing to share his career advice with more than just his daughters.
Sitting down with LinkedIn editor-in-chief Dan Roth, Obama described how Studs Terkel’s famous 1970s book Working, which explored the meaning of work among American employees, inspired him to give “a window into people’s lives” in his new Netflix show, Working: What We Do All Day. Obama touched upon restructuring the way we distribute wages and our education system so that more people have a greater sense of agency in their work; how we can better achieve work-life balance; and his best advice for helping young workers rise above the noise.
He said he and Michelle tell his children all the time that work is sometimes “just a grind” that’s all part of being an adult. Nodding to Gen Z’s push for better pay, he noted that it’s “spot-on” for Gen Z to want fair compensation and recognition for work that will hopefully give them more satisfaction and agency as they move up the career ladder.
But “we’ve become so money-obsessed and work-obsessed and status-obsessed, that so much of what’s important in life may not come through your work,” he said, explaining that young workers should strike a balance that finds meaning in volunteering, family, friendships, and civic engagement. Young people should look for interesting work they can throw themselves into without it becoming a “substitute” for other aspects of their lives. That’s exactly what Gen Z wants—they’re known for wanting to make work-life balance a top priority, even if they are struggling to achieve it.
Obama’s most important advice to young people though, is to “just learn how to get stuff done.” He explained to Roth that while many people are good at describing a problem or where things went wrong, not as many people are good at just tackling the issue. “What I’m always looking for is, no matter how small the problem or how big it is, somebody who says, ‘Let me take care of that,’” he said, adding that it’s about projecting a can-do attitude he promises employers will notice.
It’s also about bringing that energy to the small projects rather than jonesing for “the plum assignment,” he continued, explaining that sometimes aceing the assigned projects is a better way of getting noticed if you’re “killing it.”
If you’re a young worker who wants to be both successful and happy, he added, you should “worry more about what you want to do rather than what you want to be” instead of having goalposts like being a congressman by 20 or having a certain amount of money by a certain age.
Of course, that might be easier said than done for a millionaire like Obama; sometimes, new grads choose fields that pay well but don’t cater to their interests just so they can afford the cost of living or their student debt. But Obama noted that the most successful people often follow their interests and end up having “an extraordinary career because they’re just interested in the thing itself,” citing Bill Gates pursuing his interest in computers as an example (although Gates recently advised Gen Z to relax more than he ever did).
“If you are absorbed by what you’re doing, one of two things is going to happen,” Obama said. “You’re going to get really good at it, and whether you’re rewarded, recognized, you get the positions that you want or not, the journey will have been a good one.”
