Personal Brand Your One Big Thing

Anita Brick: Hi, this is Anita Brick, and welcome to CareerCast at Chicago Booth. To help you advance in your career. Today we're delighted to be speaking with Phil Cooke. And Phil is an internationally known media producer and filmmaker. And I would add brand expert. He is the author of several books, including One Big Thing, which is what we're going to talk about today. So thank you so much.

Phil Cooke: It's not a problem, Anita. I'm thrilled to do it. Anytime we can talk about helping people discover their purpose, I'm in.

Anita Brick: Let's start there. At a basic level, how would you define a person's “one big thing”?

Phil Cooke: Well, it's a great question. And the truth is, it's not necessarily a job. But the truth is, when I talk about discovering what you were born to do, what that one big thing is, it's really an overarching purpose for your life. So many people come up to me when I speak at conferences and events around the country, and they'll come up and say, you know what?

I'm 60 years old. I'm 70 years old. I've worked all my life. But the truth is, I can't really tell you why I was here. What was I supposed to do with my life? And very often people feel like a failure. The one big thing is more of that overarching purpose that you could express in a number of different ways.

Anita Brick: So what are some things to consider as you begin to either uncover, develop, or enhance your one big thing? Because “purpose” is kind of squishy. What does that mean?

Phil Cooke: There's kind of a wacky New Age thing to it, you know? But all of us want to believe that there's a reason we're here. What are we supposed to do with our life? Is there something bigger than just going to the office every day, getting married, having kids, just the usual stuff, and all those things are important, but we want to feel like there's some bigger, overarching purpose.

I came to the conclusion about one big thing, because I've spent 30 years working with nonprofit organizations. Some of the largest in the world. Right now, we're doing a massive project with the Salvation Army. In so many cases, these organizations get on the radar, they get noticed, they stand out not because they're pretty good at a lot of different things, but because they're extraordinary at one big thing.

And so I started applying that to people, and I realized that if you want to get on the radar, maybe you're an executive wanting to move up the ladder, maybe you're in business, you're an entrepreneur looking for investment dollars, or you want to launch a nonprofit for a great cause. Whatever it is in your life, write a book, make a screenplay, create a movie; whatever it is, you will never get noticed by being average or pretty good at a lot of things. The people that stand out in today's incredibly distracted and cluttered culture are people who are extraordinary at one big thing.

That was the reason I really launched this effort. I believe that there's so many people out there that have a dream burning in their heart. They have a desire to do something with their life, but they just don't know how to get noticed. How do I get in front of the boss? How do I get in front of investors? How do I get in front of that studio to make my dream movie? Whatever it is, they need to understand that being extraordinary. One big thing separates them from the pack and really does get them noticed.

Anita Brick: All right, so there was an MBA student who asked about that very specifically. How do you know what you were born to do, particularly if there are few things that you do well or well enough to make a living? How do you distinguish interesting pursuits from a true calling?

Phil Cooke: That's a great question. Well, there's a couple of ways. In the book, I asked four key questions to kind of help you tilt toward what that one big thing is in your life. I just wrote an article that's going to appear on the Fox News website next week called “Please Stop Following Your Dream." And I wrote it because my office in L.A. literally has a stack of screenplay well-intentioned writers have sent me who have no shred of talent whatsoever.

They have a dream about being in Hollywood. They have a dream about writing movie screenplays. But the truth is, they really stink at it. And so I think so many people have this romantic idea of this dream they want to follow, but they don't have any talent for it. A big part of my book is asking some key questions to figure out how we're wired, what we do have talent for and gifting for, because that's the direction I think we should go.

So, I mean, maybe you want to run through some of those questions. Let me know and we'll talk about what some of those things could be.

Anita Brick: Yeah. So here's someone who does well enough to make a living or make a good living at it. What are some things that someone who's kind of already doing well—what are some questions that he could ask?

Phil Cooke: OK. Some of the questions you ought to ask. Number one is what comes easy for you. Everybody seems to have a knack for something that most of their friends don't have. We've done an enormous amount of comedy programming in our company, Cooke Pictures in Los Angeles, and one of the things comedians always tell you is, you know, I was just the class clown. I was always the funny guy.

And what's interesting is they paid attention and they went into a career as successful comedians. I wonder how many insurance salesmen today were class clowns, but they didn't pay attention, and now they're miserable in a career they hate because they weren't listening. Go back to the prom committee or the homecoming committee. Remember when you sat around a table and everybody said, you know, Bob, you're good with numbers. Why don't you do the budget? Susan, you're very creative. Why don't you come up with a theme? John, you're good in front of people. Why don't you be the host?

Somehow we grow up, we go through our life and we forget about those voices in our past of people who noticed things that we were really wired to do. So I always say, think back to what you were extraordinarily good at, what you seem to have a knack for, what it doesn't mean you don't work, and football players will tell you, I always had a knack for catching a pass better than all my friends. Now, it doesn't mean they don't work hard and train, but it was something that came easy for them.

So I like to start there. What are the things that you have a knack for, that are easy? And then I kind of transition to what do you love? What's the first thing you think about when you get up in the morning? And the last thing you think about when you go to bed at night? Is there a dream? Is there a passion that you have in your life that you would love to accomplish with your life?

Try to find the intersection between things you have a knack for, things you're naturally good at, and areas that you really have a passion for and a dream to accomplish. The dream part is what helps you get through difficult times.

Steve Jobs is a great example. Numerous times he talked about the fact that when things went well, remember he got kicked out of the company he founded, but when things were bad, it was that passion that kept driving and kept him moving forward. There's a lot of things I'm OK at, I'm pretty good at but I'm not good enough to keep me going if I really have a setback or I get booted out or something terrible happens. So that passion is incredibly, incredibly important. How are we doing so far?

Anita Brick: We're doing great. So there is a follow-on question. OK. You know, I love this idea. I love the idea. And how do I determine if I'm blessed?

Phil Cooke: That's a great question. And one of the things that I'm a big believer in is you have to put the time into it. If you want to be a screenwriter and you think you're the best or you think you have potential, the question is how hard you work at it. When I was in college, I dated a girl. Her dream was to be a concert pianist, and she literally practiced for five hours a day.

Now that pretty much ruined our relationship, our love life. But I was so blown away by how committed she was. And today she's extraordinary because she committed the time and she practiced. Number one, you have to commit the time. You have to, you know, writers, right? Somebody told me the other day, you know, I want to write a book, but I just never seem to have the time.

Well, no, you don't. You don't really want to write. If you wanted to write it, you would make the time. You would create the time in your schedule to do it. Because writers write. And so if you have a passion, I definitely think you should commit the time. The other thing is, be aware of what other people are doing in that field.

Go to conferences. I'm a big believer that if we want to excel in our chosen area, we need to go to the place where the best ideas happen. Maybe that's a conference, maybe that's a graduate school experience. Maybe that's a group of friends that are focused in that area. Whatever it is, you need to understand what they're doing.

I read with great passion about how writers back in the ’20s and ’30s would assemble in cafes in Paris. They knew what each other was doing. They could kick around ideas. It was a brilliant time to be a writer and a brilliant place to be a writer. Where is that place for you? And who are the people that can challenge you and ask tough questions and help encourage you to go to the next level in your career?

Anita Brick: I love that: go to where great ideas are, because sometimes you hang out with people who tell you you're great, but they're only mediocre.

Phil Cooke: Oh yes, the world is filled with well-intentioned enablers who are keeping us mediocre because they're constantly saying, oh, you know, Bob, you're doing great. We're so proud of you. They don't really know. I want somebody that knows when I stink, who knows when I'm good and can tell me the difference.

Anita Brick: Good point. So there were two related questions about being realistic. So one person, a weekend student, said, some of my friends and family are telling me that my dream, my OBT, is unrealistic and I should give it up. On the other hand, I have multiple classmates asking me to be on their New Venture Challenge team because they believe in me. Who should I believe?

Phil Cooke: Oh, go with the people that are wanting you to be on their team. First of all, I believe in brutal honesty. I think if we're going to succeed, we need to be ready and try to encourage absolute brutal honesty. I think, like I said, with pursuing your dream, there's so many out there that are trying to be good at something they just don't have a shred of talent for.

So brutal honesty is important. However, where the criticism comes from really matters in your career, my parents had no clue about media. They had no clue about directing television programs or films. They had no clue about documentaries. I love them, but their criticism, I put, you know, in a different category. However, filmmakers that I knew who were extraordinary at their craft, I paid attention.

So I think in this case, this student's case, if she's actually—he or she is actually surrounded by people who respect their work and their talent so much, they actually want her or him to be a part of their team. I say absolutely, go with that. Always understand where criticism comes from and be able to categorize that.

Anita Brick: Go with the best ideas are and then make sure that when people are giving you feedback, that they really are in a position to do that.

Phil Cooke: Absolutely. The credibility of the source matters.

Anita Brick: Absolutely does. OK, so there was another evening student this time who said, how do I know if the risk to go after my one big thing is worth taking? Is there an analysis that we can do? OK, so this is an MBA school. We love our matrices. We love our formulas. Yeah. Is there something that you can do? I mean we started talking about some of the questions. Are there other questions that take it even to a deeper level?

Phil Cooke: When it comes to your one big thing and making that happen in your life? There are no safety nets. There's not a government program to ensure that it's going to happen for you. There's not a graph or a bar that you could calculate that will make it work. It is a risk. There's no question about it. That's why one of my big sections in the book is how to make that transition in a strategic way, not a stupid way.

So many people, it dawns on them what their one big thing could be, and they just go up to their boss and say, hey, I'm quitting, I'm going to go pursue my novel, or I'm going to pursue launching a business, or I'm going to pursue whatever. They get out there and they find out they have no support, they don't know how to make the transition, and they fail.

I wrote my first two books coming in at 6 a.m. in the morning. I didn't change anything about my job. I kept doing my normal job, but I came into work at 6 a.m. so I could have two uninterrupted hours to work on my books, and I wrote the first two books that way. So when I was ready to transition, it worked.

So I think that a big part of it is there is a risk, but there are things you can do to mitigate the risk and help you get from where you are to where you want to be. And I think that's incredibly, incredibly important. But you know what? You can't grasp it. But here's the thing. I want to get to the end of my life and look back and not have any unanswered questions.

I want to lay on my deathbed and think, you know what? I gave it my best shot. Whether I failed, whether I succeeded, I want to know that I opened that door and I gave it a shot and I tried. Otherwise, I know so many people that get to the end of their life and they're filled with what-ifs. What if I had done this? What if I tried that? What if I had the courage? Failure is OK because at least it closes the door on that part of your life and you can move on. People who have the what-ifs are the most miserable people in the world.

Anita Brick: You're right. It's funny you should say that. There was a weekend student who said that she was concerned about not being bold enough. What is your advice on upping my boldness without going over the line into being stupid?

Phil Cooke: That's a question I struggle with every day. I don't know if there's an easy answer for that. I often say the key is being bold with grace. Grace and being gracious is an incredibly important part of this. Being bold in a graceful way is the way to go because people can't argue with that. People love confidence. I really encourage people to have the confidence to go out and step out and pursue your dream, but be gracious in the way you do it. I think that is probably the best formula you could probably have.

Anita Brick: OK, so what does that look like? In practical terms?

Phil Cooke: It means I don't have all the answers, and I'm going to go out and ask some very tough questions. It means that I'm going to take a risk, I'm going to try this, but I'm going to be prepared before I do. As a writer, for instance, I got a book sent to me just the other day from a writer who wanted me to help publish and eventually help market her book.

The book is filled with misspellings. It's horribly written, and I'm wrestling constantly with that question of how brutally honest should I be with this person? And so I do think if you've done the preparation, have the confidence to step out and try that risk and be bold. I had a conversation with a guy last night. The people that you step on on the way up are the same people you will meet on the way down. Trust me, I live and work in Hollywood. I see arrogance on a daily basis. It may work for a short time, but it does not make for a long career.

Anita Brick: So it sounds like she can be bold incrementally.

Phil Cooke: That's a good word. I do believe that confidence is incredibly important. Maybe it's because I live and work in Hollywood, but I see insecurity raging, insecurity on a daily basis, and insecurity undermines the very thing you're trying to achieve every time. And so I think confidence is the key, and confidence comes out of being good at what you do.

Being prepared, seeing the handwriting on the wall, being, you know, insightful enough to see how the markets are changing, how the world is changing, and then you can step out with confidence and make a difference.

Anita Brick: It makes sense. And I think as long as you push out farther than you've been before, that's bolder than where you were yesterday.

Phil Cooke: Well, I tell my staff that mistakes are OK if the mistake happens because you're stretching out. If the mistake happens because you're trying something new, if the mistake happens because we're expanding our territory. If a mistake happens because you're doing the same old thing, or if the mistake happens because you're not paying attention, that's intolerable to me. But I actually encourage my team to make mistakes when they're stepping forward and trying something new.

I want to be innovative and mistakes will happen, but at least you're trying to change the paradigm and move into new territory. And that's an exhilarating thing.

Anita Brick: Makes sense. There was an evening MBA student who said, you know, there are lots of things out there. I'm a little afraid of choosing one thing. Even more to the point is, how do I choose a job that allows me to actually live my one big thing?

Phil Cooke: Well, good question. I do think early on, particularly in your 20s, don't pick it too soon because you want to see what the options are, see where your talent lies, and really test it and find out what you're good at doing. Now, once you've made that choice, you feel like, OK, I've got a handle on what my one big thing can be. How do I pick a job that helps me do that?

One of the things that I'm a big believer in is finding a place that really encourages growth. You know that old line about going where you were celebrated, not where you were tolerated. For a number of years early in my career, I worked at a place where people made fun of my ideas.

They didn't like what I was offering. They were stuck in the old ways of doing things. They were extraordinarily traditional, and I was hitting a brick wall. Every day I would come into the office. It was a good job. I made a good salary. It had great benefits. There was a lot of upside to it. However, when it came to my one big thing, I was pushing and pushing and really hitting a brick wall.

So I would say, number one, make sure you pick a job where your employer, your boss, whoever you report to appreciates what that one big thing is in your life and wants to see you grow. I want to be surrounded with people. And let me say this for a second. Too many of us are surrounded by people who are incredibly negative, and when they're not negative, they're just complacent.

They don't really care about our dream. They don't really care about helping us get to the next level. And I don't want to sound like, you know, a self-help guy. But the truth is, people who achieve extraordinary things are surrounded by people who believe in that dream. And I think we should be far more intentional, whether it's in the workplace, in our family, in our friends.

Put it this way, stop complaining about your problems to people who can't help you solve them. How many times do we go to Starbucks with a friend or somebody and just vent? But they can't do anything about that. They can't do anything about that circumstance. I want to surround myself with people who believe in my dream, who believe in my one big thing and want to help me achieve it.

And I think we just need to be much more intentional about that. So in this guy's job, find a job that would help you do that, people that appreciate that, people that will help inspire you if you inspire them, I think makes a dramatic, dramatic difference.

Anita Brick: I mean, it's a great answer. I think you've already answered the next question, because an Executive MBA student said that I help a lot of people and they rarely provide anything to me in return. Am I choosing the wrong people to help or am I expecting too much?

Phil Cooke: Two answers to that. One is certainly there is something that comes out of helping people who can't help you back. I don't want you to go through life feeling that if they don't slap my back after I slapped theirs, there's nothing to this. That's why we love our company. Cooke Pictures loves working with clients like the Salvation Army.

They're constantly on the lookout to help people who can't possibly return that favor. And that's a wonderful thing. However, when it comes to your career, your calling, your one big thing, whatever you choose to call it, you definitely want to surround yourself with people that are feeding back into your life, that are helping you achieve that next level.

That's the way to grow. As I mentioned before, we live in this digital, distracted, very disrupted culture today and it's very difficult to achieve your dream by yourself anymore. There was a time when a guy like Henry Ford could go out and do something great. Orville and Wilbur Wright could do something great pretty much on their own. Today the world is so complicated that we need a team.

And so I believe with all my heart, your skills in dealing with people will be far more valuable to you and more important than your skill in whatever it is you do for a living. You may be an economist, you may be a business leader. Whatever it is you are, however good you are at that, that pales in comparison to how good you could be working with people, because they will ultimately help you achieve that dream so much better.

So being a part of a team and learning how to work in the context of a team will be transformative in your career and in your calling.

Anita Brick: Really, really good point. And there's another evening student having trouble with that. And he said, Hi Phil, I think of myself as an idea person, but I found that when I bring up ideas at work, I'm tagged with that idea and asked to run it. I find that I have more busy work to do and less time to think things through.

Am I expecting too much? Do I need to change how I'm thinking? I feel like I'm not sure if I need to bake my ideas before I bring them up, or if I'm just in the wrong place.

Phil Cooke: Here's my recommendation there. And that is probably because I work in the media business, particularly in Hollywood. I run into idea people, and I say that in quotes, “idea people,” all the time. Everybody you meet at a party, well, what do you do? Well, I'm an “idea person.” Idea people are a dime a dozen. It's the person that knows how to execute ideas that really matters.

Somebody once said the guy that invented the wheel, that was no big deal. The guy that invented the other three, that was genius. Execution really, really matters. And so what I encourage people to do is don't just be an idea person. My employees come to me with ideas all the time and I tell them, look, I don't want just a new idea.

I want a plan for how to make that idea happen. Otherwise you will get stuck. The boss, naturally, is going to flip it back to you because it's just something new. He's not ready and prepared for this. I would say before you pitch that great new idea of yours, think about it for a little bit. Sit down and think, OK, here's how this thing could be executed.

Here's how it could happen. If you go to the boss with that, very often they will then assign a team to it, or create a team to it, or help you lead it, whatever, because suddenly they grasp how that idea could become reality. Ideas are great. I'm a big believer in creativity and innovation in ideas, but I believe that we also should think about it enough so that we have a plan for making the idea, at least in the early stages, make the idea happen because that's what employers are really looking for.

They're not just looking for another idea. Trust me, they get them all the time.

Anita Brick: You're absolutely right. Because an idea, although it may take time to bubble up from your brain, isn't where the work really is. It is that execution.

Phil Cooke: Yes, there's a lot of areas where people had better ideas, but because they could not execute, they've been lost to history or they become a footnote to history. Let me be bold and intimate and forthcoming here. I think one of my biggest mistakes in my career was not learning that early enough. I had plenty of ideas.

I had plenty of movies I wanted to make and television programs I wanted to produce and ideas about different things. But I did not spend enough time in my 20s figuring out, where do you get the funding for that idea? Where do you find the distribution for that idea? And so some of the seemingly boring mechanical things that I wasn't even remotely interested in, I discovered far too late, were actually the keys to making those ideas happen.

I can't emphasize that enough. It's not just the idea that works, it's the guy that can make that idea, bring it to market.

Anita Brick: Very, very good point. In fact, someone asked a question—an alum asked a question. He said in the end of the book, you talk about how difficult it can be to do one's own job. In your experience, when did you use your one big thing to ride out a challenging time in your personal career?

Phil Cooke: I was fired at 36. I was working in a production company in the Midwest doing great. We were in a great school system. My daughters were doing fine. We had a nice house. I was thrilled to death to be there. I mean, I was a little uncomfortable with the job. I could start seeing handwriting on the wall.

I eventually was fired, and I realized that to do what I did for a living, I couldn't stay in that town in the Midwest. I had to move either to New York or like to go to the next level. It caused a massive, massive uproot in our whole lifestyle. My two daughters were getting ready to start school. You know, my wife had friends. We were involved in a local church. There was just a lot of stuff going on, a lot of roots.

But it was that one dream. And let me say this, I think that if you have a one big thing and a dream or a calling in your life, if you're married or if you have a significant other in whatever capacity, they need to be on the same page with you. Because had we, my wife and I, not agreed and been fully supportive of what that one big thing was for me, it would have been very traumatic for us. And I don't know that I would have ever made the move to California. My career would have never taken off. Chances are, I'd be doing some ancillary thing because I could not have continued in that career.

Two things. That one big thing will help you through those difficult transitions in your life. There's no question about that. Pursuing it makes a dramatic difference. But number two, your spouse, your loved ones, the people that you care about, the closest people to you, they need to be in agreement on that thing. Because I've seen, particularly in the entertainment and media industries, I've seen so many marriages ripped apart because after a few years, that one big thing wasn't happening and one had the passion, one didn't have the passion, and it caused, you know, a marriage to fall apart.

And that's just a tragic and terrible, terrible thing. So it's incredibly important that whoever you love, you need to be in unity with them about what that one big thing is for them or for you. Whatever that overarching dream is, you really need to be on the same page.

Anita Brick: Very, very good point. Because if you're in unity, then you can ride it out much more easily than if you, in addition to the setback, you also have to contend with a contentious environment at home.

Phil Cooke: Oh, I know brilliant executives, brilliant executives who did not have that unity with their wife, tragically the cause of divorce. Now he's living in a one-bedroom apartment in a skanky part of town and trying to keep pitching his idea and make it work. And he's pretty much derailed his whole career simply because they were not, you know, of one mind, if you will.

They weren't together on this thing. And so agreement on something that important, I think is so absolutely critical it can absolutely derail your future.

Anita Brick: Very important. Thank you. Thank you for bringing that up. Change gears just a little bit. Time for like two more questions?

Phil Cooke: Of course.

Anita Brick: OK. Good. So another alum said your book talks about using your one big thing to improve some part of the world. This may sound like a naive question, but how do you do that while making sure that you can support your family?

Phil Cooke: No, that's not naive at all. It's a great question that people wrestle with a lot, particularly in the nonprofit world where I'm very familiar. People are always struggling. And the truth is, in most nonprofit organizations, you can't make the kind of salary that you make in the mainstream business world. It's a different scenario. And that's a case where your one big thing is so powerful.

Ultimately, the question is, do you want to get to the end of your life and realize you made a lot of money, or get to the end of your life and realize that you made a difference, that your life was significant? It's a very difficult trade-off. But I do think if you feel strongly about whatever that social cause is that you're interested in, there are organizations out there that would allow you to have, you know, be fulfilled in that in a very powerful way.

You won't make the salary in most cases. Now, let me say this, though. I wrote an interesting article the other day that I think is circulating around online that if you want to beef up your resume and have an absolute killer resume, one of the best ways to do it is spend some time doing nonprofit work. There's some amazing opportunities out there, and when you bring that to bear on your business resume and an employer realizes that, oh my gosh, you've done, you've orchestrated and strategized a plan for installing 100 water wells in a remote part of India, that says something about your management, your strategic ability, your marketing. That says a lot about things in your life. So I really encourage MBA students to go out there and get some nonprofit experience, because it's a remarkable thing, and it can really make a difference in your resume.

Anita Brick: You could have that be your full-time work. You could have it be a project. Someone I used to work with, she was in the midst of a transition, and she took off a month and went to Africa to teach basic marketing and financial skills to people who were starting businesses, and that became this pivot. She didn't quit her job. She took a vacation to do that.

Phil Cooke: Yeah.

Anita Brick: That's great. Changed everything.

Phil Cooke: I actually want to start—I have a dream myself about starting a, if you want to call it, a short-term missions program for professionals. I know so many organizations. I was with a guy who has a nonprofit radio station in Bangkok. He said I'd give anything to have three weeks of a web developer’s time. I'd love to have a marketing strategist’s time to help me.

And so there's so many opportunities for professionals. And I'm not talking about just digging water wells and stuff. There are opportunities for professional people to dramatically help nonprofit organizations. So we worked with a wonderful organization called Mercy Ships that outfitted an ocean liner to be a hospital. And it's 18 surgical suites.

It's massive. It's just—doctors wait in line to be able to go over and give their time to do these, because they're in places where they see stuff that they never see. In the US this is guerilla medicine, and it's such a challenge for them that it causes them to raise the bar and their excellence, or the quality of what they do.

Nonprofit work can make a dramatic difference in your own career.

Anita Brick: Well, with your dream, if you need some help, just let us know. Let's

Phil Cooke: Yeah, I just may do that. That would be fantastic. I just may.

Anita Brick: Keep it, keep it up, keep it up and keep it as an invitation.

Phil Cooke: OK.

Anita Brick: One final question. OK. We like to wrap things up with some really tactical practical advice. What are 2 or 3 things that a person could begin to do today? To either uncover that person's one big thing or create visibility around it?

Phil Cooke: A couple things. One of the things that I think that is so interesting to me that people rarely think of is one of my questions in the book, which is, what's the thing that drives you nuts? Very often, the key to finding your one big thing is something that makes you crazy. I met a woman a few years ago that hated that girls, young teenage girls, would get pregnant and their family would walk away from them.

Their boyfriend would suddenly get nervous and leave, kick her to the side of the curb. They're on their own and this woman just hated it. Hated it. She started building a home to take these girls in, help them to get counseling, help them to get good advice. Help them get back in school. Help them get a job. That one little home that she started has now built into an international, global series of homes all over the world that takes in girls who have gotten pregnant, lost everything.

They've been kicked out of their family. There's nobody to turn to. She's really developed a global operation, not based on a dream. She had, not based on a passion she had, but based on something she hated. You know, Mother Teresa, I don't think, was having a picnic working in the slums of Calcutta with lepers. That wasn't something she probably ever looked forward to in her life.

When she saw it, she hated it so much. So it could be a great social cause. It could be an iPhone app that's missing, or it could be something about the organizational structure at your job. It could be something that drives you nuts. I've often felt that many, in many cases, I think we might have been put on the earth to accomplish that thing that rubs us the wrong way.

That thing that just makes us crazy could be the very thing that you were born to fix. That's one big, practical piece of advice. Stay aware. I spoke about this at the Sundance Film Festival a couple of years ago, and a college student came up to me and she said, I have struggled for years trying to figure out what my purpose in life was, she said, after you talked about that thing you hate, I went back to my room, my hotel room.

I wrote down four things that just drive me crazy. Once I got them on paper, I realized they all come from the same source. You know, it was like a window opened, and suddenly I figured out what I'm supposed to do with my life. So very often, the thing you hate the most could be the one thing you were born to solve.

That's important. The next thing about getting on the radar is I think strategy matters. This is not just a random thing. It's not just about writing a great book and expecting everybody to love it and make you a bestseller. Trust me, I know that from experience, I would say 3 or 4 things that would help you get on the radar.

Number one, when you figure that one big thing out, trigger your connections. Oddly enough, we all have people that we probably couldn't think of off the top of our head, but if we really sit down, we think about people that either have funding or financing, have professional relationships, or have a connection to someone who could help us. And let me say this: don't ask people for a job.

Ask people for advice. You know what? When you ask somebody for a job or ask them for money or an investment, it's awkward. It's uncomfortable. But I discovered in Hollywood, I could call the most famous producer out there and say, you know, can I just take you out for coffee? I'd love your advice about this situation I'm in, and trust me, 90% of the time they say, you know what? I can help you with that. Here, let me help you. Because there's no pressure all of a sudden.

So ask people for advice rather than asking them for a job or asking for the money and trigger those kinds of connections. Don't burn your bridges, you know, whatever you do, whenever you make a transition in your career, never, ever, ever burn your bridges because you never know who from your past could help you. Many times I've had bad experiences with clients, but because they went out of their way to mend that fence and to make sure that relationship was intact, years later they came back to me and gave us some of the biggest projects we've ever done.

The last thing I'd say is always keep your resume polished. Because I work in Hollywood, I work with freelancers for a living. Hollywood, the movie business is built on freelancers, and freelancers are the guys on the set. You can always tell them because as soon as the director yells cut! They whip out their mobile phone and start arranging for their next job. They wake up, wake up every morning unemployed. They're always thinking about who I know, who I can network with. How do I keep that job?

The problem is, when we get a full-time job, most people start to sit back on their laurels. They've got the benefit program kicked in, they've got their salary coming in, they've got a full-time job. Suddenly their resume gets dusty. They stop triggering connections, they stop being open to relationships. And suddenly when they get downsized or fired or laid off, for whatever reason, they're caught on their heels and it takes them months to even recover.

In today's disruptive economy, never think of yourself as a locked-in, full-time employee. Always keep the door open. Always keep the resume polished. Always be looking for another opportunity because you never, ever know when that door could open to the greatest opportunity you've ever, ever experienced.

Anita Brick: What a great note to end on. Thank you so much. Wonderful.

Phil Cooke: Oh, this has been thrilling to you. Good questions.

Anita Brick: Well, thanks. Thanks, it was really fun. It was really fun. You've got great stuff on your site. So I want to just call it out if that's OK. It is www.PhilCooke.com. And thank you all for listening. This is Anita Brick with CareerCast at Chicago Booth. Keep advancing.