Where purpose goes to die

"Princeton is where purpose goes to die.”

These words from a soon-to-be graduate didn’t particularly surprise me – but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t alarm us all.

Elite universities (or “Famous Colleges,” as my friend Seth Godin prefers to calls them) should be launch pads for ambitious talent to pursue work that creates meaningful impact. Instead, as this sobering piece in The New York Times highlights, grads are funneled into prestigious corporate jobs that put profit before purpose, and personal gain over public good.

In short, they're choosing to embrace the status quo rather than to challenge it.

At Harvard, about 60% of last year's graduating class took jobs even they would label as "selling out" —a term that used to be disparaging, but apparently, no longer is.

Of course some justify corporate jobs as a means to earn-to-give later.  But deferring purposeful work for a few decades isn’t just about delaying impact – it actively undermines it.  As my business school professor Mihir Desai says: "If you spend 15 years at the hedge fund...you become a different person."

Why is it that the people with the most security – social, financial, educational – are most risk averse?!

We need new paths, policies, narratives that celebrate purpose– not after a person makes millions and is ready to ‘give back’, but right out of the gate.

Elite universities can expand (and mandate!) purpose-driven curricula like the wildly popular courses from Arthur Brooks at Harvard and Laurie Santos at Yale, Justin McDaniel at Penn.

Career services can ask: “What impact do you hope to have?” Instead of “What jobs are on your list?”

As parents, we can broaden the conversation about success to include meaning and fulfillment beyond credentials and careers.

The concentration of human potential at these institutions is extraordinary. The missed opportunity to channel it toward purposeful careers is, too.

Young people’s idealism is one of our most precious global resources. It’s time to stop wasting it.

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Photo credit: Jeff Hinchee, New York Times