# How each generation found their way into their profession

- **Episode:** [141](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/141.md) (2024-10-31)
- **Type:** other
- **Tags:** career-path, education, maths, profession
- **Time:** 3:40–10:25 (start 220s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/141?t=220](https://truthliesandwork.com/141?t=220)

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[3:40] Leanne Elliott: Honestly, I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I enjoyed maths in school. I used to sit in the back of the class. I used to find some of the classroom time a bit boring, so you sit in the back of the class and just do sums and algebra and just geek out. Um, but I was never really that focused in school. I kind of just flew through it. And my maths teacher said, you know, you're actually quite good at this, like maybe you should think about doing it. My wife's an accountant. Um, and I didn't want to like set on a job when— as soon as I left school. So I thought I was interested in economics and like I wanted to understand how it all worked in finance and business. Um, and then I went to sixth form And I was hoping to go to university and study economics. And when I went to sixth form, it was just too structured, like school, um, and I just thought, this isn't for me. And I thought, I'm just gonna go for accounting and see how it was. It wasn't what I was expecting. That's why I'm now so passionate about it. I did think that I would just be sat behind a laptop crunching numbers. I didn't realize it was as personal as it is, and you get to meet the people that you do, um, and I didn't realize that you could make an impact, as big an impact as you can. And that's now what's made me so passionate about it and why I love it so much. But why I ended up into it, I kind of fell into it because I enjoyed maths
[4:53] Al Elliott: I blame the guy who was my best mate at school. I think we had, we both had the idea that we were going to be journalists. And I don't know whether it was like a rivalry thing or whatever, but one day he turned around and said, Jeremy, you're always arguing, you should be a lawyer. And the idea just stuck. And I was probably 14, maybe 15 at the time. And yeah, at those points where I kind of had to have a vague inkling as to what I was going to do with my career, it kept on leading me in law directions. I suspect I was probably influenced by TV shows, Kavanagh QC. I don't know if you remember that one. I used to watch it quite a lot. And the idea just stuck. And so when I came to do my degree, I did a law degree. You don't have to, to become a lawyer, but I did. And then went the path of, yeah, okay, apply for the training contract, get the training contract, qualify as a lawyer. And that's where I stuck for the next 20-odd years. If you are to believe social media, then there seems to be a huge difference between how Gen Z and Gen X approach meaning and purpose in their job. A lot of older people say that Gen Z value purpose in their work much more than the older generations. But is this true? Let's start with Jeremy, our Gen-X lawyer. It depends, one, where you find meaning, and two, whether that meaning aligns with whoever you're working for and how well that is articulated. A lot of the places I've worked have struggled, I think, to articulate what their own purpose is. The Simon Sinek thing, you know, what's your why? And it was certainly latterly something where I was struggling to discern the why, both for the wider business and also the team I was in, the legal team within the business. And then my why within that team. In the past, I've done work which was related to public transport, railways, the Underground, that kind of thing. And this stuff was relevant to how these things ran, and so there was going to be an impact on people. So if that's where you find purpose, then professional services that align with that purpose will be right for you. I mean, when it comes to being a lawyer, it's so broad that you probably can find your own purpose there somewhere. At the other end of the spectrum, there are human rights lawyers, there are criminal lawyers. We were talking about Rumpole of the Bailey, who famously never prosecuted and always defended
[7:56] Leanne Elliott: Yeah
[7:58] Al Elliott: There's family law if you want to get into the nuts and bolts of seeing what happens when relationships fall down. I think you've got to be a particular type of person. I think you've got to really love and want to do that sort of work. But again, if that aligns with you, then yes, you can definitely find it. My challenge or my invitation To individuals is to spend a bit of time figuring out what your purpose is, but also to the corporates to get a bit clearer, actually in some cases a lot clearer, as to what their offering is. The corporate mantras that should live rather than just live on the wall, that kind of thing. The bits I enjoyed most were where you could Visibly see the difference you were making with clients. So it was when you'd have the meetings with the client's presence and it felt more personal rather than— particularly in my area of law where the clients were the individuals rather than the companies, but you could see the effects that all this was having on them. For good or bad, and you were trying to make it better. So, some of my favorite discussions were not the ones about, well, if you do this, then this is going to be the tax consequences, and so we should do this and put this company here, but make sure you don't do this, da-di-da-di-da. It was where you'd take a step back and you'd say things like, all right, okay, so we've done all this structuring. You have done Extraordinarily well. You've got wealth in the tens or hundreds of millions. What's it all for? What are you going to do with this now? What's the purpose of this after you die for your family, for your grandkids? Is this generational wealth or is this just fun money for the next 3 generations so that they never have to work? It was Getting down to that, at, uh, you know, seeing, seeing the very real-world effects of what you were doing, that was the stuff that I really enjoyed