805. The 10-Month Scholarship Has Lasted 20 Years

Diana Wu David

“But it really is: what is it that you need to know? What aspects of your life are going to allow you to be really resilient and to give you the resources to have that experiment-trial-and-error mentality─so that you can take small bets and see how it goes? And then double down on what’s working and build a community of people who will support you to do that and hold you accountable.”

Diana Wu David is the author of “Future Proof: Reinventing Work in the Age of Acceleration,” a book about how to adopt more agile mindsets and practices to prepare yourself for success in a fast-changing world, across a 100-year life. Diana is an adjunct professor of leadership at Columbia Business School’s EMBA Global Asia and for the Financial Times Non-Executive Director Diploma for independent board directors. Her company, Sarana Labs, helps companies and senior leaders build competitive, future forward organizations.

The Most Impactful Turning Point?

“In 1999 after working in a consulting job at Price Waterhouse Cooper for a couple of years in their tech-media and telecom practice, I decided it was time for a break and planned to go abroad. On a lark I applied for and won The Luce Foundation Scholarship. After an internship in Hong Kong where I worked with artists, journalists, doctors and many other fascinating people, I was supposed to return to the United States and work in consulting again. I felt like I had only scratched the surface, so I decided to stay and got a job at a startup media company. My cross-cultural fellowship of 10 months has now lasted 20 years.”

The Most Powerful Lessons Learned?

1. We are conditioned to pursue what’s important to other people, not necessarily ourselves.

2. So much of our education conditions us for obedience, not to try new things or to break the mold.

3. The training we receive in high school or even four years of college is almost obsolete by the time we graduate because the marketplace is changing at an exponential rate.

4. By understanding your values, what really motivates you, and crafting a story about what you truly love, while you develop a strategic network of supportive people, you can indeed carve out a life on your own terms.