By his own admission, Thomas Ricketts, AB’88, MBA’93, the Chairman of the Chicago Cubs, has "a pretty interesting and unique career at the moment."
Ricketts recently shared anecdotes from his unconventional job with second- and third-year undergraduate students at the College’s annual Taking the Next Step event. Strangers greet him on a daily basis, he quipped, often citing their age before they even tell him their name: "Mr. Ricketts, I'm 71 years old, please win the World Series before I die!"
The Cubs’ leader was one of 230 UChicago alumni who volunteered their time to provide invaluable advice to College students preparing for their future careers. About 500 students escaped the cold in the Chicago Marriott on Jan. 9 to meet alumni and learn how to navigate life beyond the quads. Taking the Next Step gives direct access to alumni across numerous professions through informal lunchtime conversations and panel discussions.
John W. Boyer, dean of the College, addressed students and alumni as they settled in for a working lunch.
“I’m grateful that so many of our alumni understand the importance of offering their advice and support to current students, and even going beyond that,” Boyer said. “What’s unique about this event is that our current students can meet alumni in many fields who bear witness to the power and efficacy of the University’s impact on their lives, and the value of their education.”
"The founders of the University of Chicago had the conviction that the values of scholarship and learning ought to leave something and grow beyond itself,” Boyer continued. “Education, although valuable unto itself, could also truly enrich the lives of others."
The 2016 gathering, now in its 19th year, featured alumni from 20 industries such as urban planning, publishing, information technology, social innovation, consulting, advertising, law, and finance. What began in 1988 with a couple hundred students has grown into the largest career event in the College.
Ricketts, who is also the chairman of investment bank Incapital LLC, said in his keynote that his University of Chicago education has been "a really critical part of my success."
In addition to his duties getting the Cubs one step closer to winning their next championship since 1908, he is a board member of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, the Field Museum, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, the Executive Club of Chicago and the Wood Family Foundation.
Through lessons drawn from his personal experiences, Ricketts outlined four pieces of advice for the future generation.
First, don't expect your career to be linear. The old image of climbing the corporate ladder is outdated and misleading. Nowadays, opportunities come and go so quickly that job seekers need to be more nimble about perceiving, and embracing, opportunity wherever it appears. "Your career will be up and down and every other direction," he cautioned.
Second, be really honest with yourself. This means not only choosing a job you love, but also choosing a job you're good at in order for that job to turn into a sustainable career. If you wander down the wrong path, don't get stuck. "Don't be afraid to make a change."
Third, be on a quest. "No matter how you do it, do something that has higher meaning for you." Finally, and most important, always treat others well.
"The first half of your career will be defined by your accomplishments. The second half will be defined by your relationships," said Ricketts. "You are not scalable. You are a finite person with finite means. You can't do it by yourself."
For many students, Ricketts' life was a testimony to the art of the unconventional career. Third-year Rishabh Krishnan was excited to learn how the lifelong Cubs fan turned his passion into a meaningful vocation. "It's about being a little more adventurous," Krishnan said. "He was very influential about the possibility of looking at something that might not be a traditional career."
Alumni in the Government and Policy panel echoed Ricketts' advice to be prepared for a non-linear journey. They shared tales of the winding path they took to get to their current jobs, including unpaid internships, fellowships, going back to school and even moving back home temporarily.
"There's a lot of pressure to know what you want to do right away," admitted third-year Cairo Lewis. "But here I learned your first job doesn't have to be permanent."
The roundtables and panel discussions throughout the day gave students insight into panelists' rookie mistakes, possible barriers in their career path, things they wished they'd done differently, what keeps them motivated, misconceptions of the job and how their industries have evolved over time.
Bob Levey, AB'66, who has moderated the Journalism panel for 19 years, noted that while the business of journalism has changed his advice for pursuing it hasn't. "The same qualities that got them into the University of Chicago will provide the bedrock for a journalism career," said Levey, a journalist and consultant who worked at The Washington Post for more than 36 years. "Being a careful reporter, confronting questions they've never confronted before, approaching them patiently and without bias, researching deeply and diligently, and writing smoothly and attractively."
Marketing manager Laura Oppenheimer, AB'06, exemplified the power of personal connections. "One of the best parts of speaking with students is being able to stress that networking isn't a dirty word." When she learned that the student she was speaking with had an interview coming up at a company where a friend of hers works, she offered to put the two in touch. "To me, this is one of the biggest benefits alumni can give current students: connections in the working world who want to see them succeed."
—Prof. Jacqueline Stewart
