LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner says most people never ask themselves a question that's vital to career success
Since becoming the CEO of LinkedIn in 2009, Jeff Weiner has developed a reputation as one of the US' top executives. It's not only for helping take LinkedIn to a market cap of $32 billion, but for his oracle-like management insight.
In a recent interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which the two discussed the media mogul's career and OWN cable network, Weiner made an aside to explain that he had found that most people never ask themselves a vital question.
"When people ask me about the way to maximize their likelihood for success or achieving their career objectives - and it sounds like an oversimplification - but it starts by asking yourself the question, 'What is it you ultimately want to accomplish?'" Weiner told Winfrey.
"And it's amazing to me how often I'll sit down with someone who's five, seven years into the throes of their career and they're not happy, and what's happened is they've been swept up in an extreme of opportunism, a hot job, or a promotion, or more money, as opposed to taking the time to ask themselves what it is that they want to do," he said.
Weiner explained that when someone finds the sweet spot where passion and skills meet, which results in a purpose, it's remarkable how quickly people who ask this question turn their careers around.
"As soon as you have that moment of clarity, you start to manifest it, explicitly and implicitly," he said. "And it's not in some New Age way - it's very real. It's a very real thing."
You can watch part two of three of Winfrey's interview with Weiner below, courtesy of LinkedIn: