NYU Stern Professor Says This Is the ‘Very Worst Career Advice’ She Has Received — And Her Students Get It ‘All the Time’

Business leaders from Steve Jobs to Richard Branson have emphasized the importance of following your passion in your career. However, NYU Stern School of Business professor Suzy Welch says that the advice to do what you love is out of place in the real world. 

“The very worst career advice my students get all the time, and I certainly got, was to do what you’re passionate about,” Welch said in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal. “What dumb, dumb advice.”

The management professor said that many dreams collapse under real-world conditions. Some people simply aren’t suited to the jobs they idealize — they lack the necessary abilities or temperament for a field. Without the right ingredients, it becomes impossible to transform enthusiasm into a sustainable career. 

“I hate it because you have to be good at it also. You have to be good at it, otherwise it should be a hobby,” Welch said. “There’s also your emotional wiring. Some jobs require different kinds of personalities. Your personality is actually how the world experiences you. And the sooner you face into that, and know how the world experiences you, the better.”

Welch says these are the kind of students who launch successful careers

Over decades of work as a journalist, educator and speaker, Welch has sharpened her ability to spot the early markers of who is likely to thrive and who is at risk of fading out. In her NYU classrooms, she sees that students who lean into their strengths and choose roles that match who they really are ultimately push through and succeed. 

“They know themselves well,” Welch said. “They are trying to do work that’s at the intersection of their values and their aptitudes and their interests.”

The graduates who go on to thrive are usually the ones willing to take big chances, even if it means they might fail. Welch said they are more open to risks and at ease with setbacks. They are the young workers who tell themselves, “I’ll take my biggest swings now, before I have a mortgage,” and keep getting back up. Eventually, others start betting on them, Welch said. 

Meanwhile, graduates who struggle usually choose careers that don’t match what they are actually good at. They chase roles that look impressive from the outside or that their parents pushed them toward, rather than ones that fit their real strengths, Welch said. 

Other career advice

Welch is not alone in urging young people to focus on their strengths, not their dreams or passions. Actress and entrepreneur Reese Witherspoon shared in an Instagram video earlier this year that the path to meaningful success is about self-knowledge. She urged people to figure out what they do uniquely well and then pursue that as hard as they can. 

“Everybody has dreams. Doesn’t mean you’re going to be that thing. You are supposed to do what you’re talented at,” Witherspoon explained in the video. “It’s your job in life to figure out what your specific, unique talents are and go chase them.”