The World Needs You: A New Mindset for Student Career Exploration

by J.P. Michel

We’re asking the wrong question. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is no longer serving our students.

This question perpetuates the myth that all students need to pick one job title — for life. The world has changed. The information age has created thousands of career possibilities. Artificial intelligence is causing major disruptions in almost every industry, and will bring about seismic shifts in the way we work.

To prepare students for this new reality, we need a different approach. In The World Needs You, you will discover how the transformative Challenge mindset has shaken the very foundations of career development. How? By helping students explore inspiring challenges to solve, instead of job titles to fit into.

Thousands of educators have used the Challenge mindset to broaden their students’ horizons and now, so can you. The result? You will have the freedom to do your best work, and your students will experience an innovative, motivating approach to career exploration that will change their outlook on their future, forever. To find out more, grab your copy today!

Early Praise for The World Needs

“The questions we ask frame our mindset. And as educators, the Challenge Cards give our students a different set of questions and language to define the impact they want to have on the world.”
—Christine Y. Cruzvergara, Chief Education Strategy Officer at Handshake

“For students to fully realize the value of their college or graduate school experience, higher education must be transformed to make career readiness mission critical. The Challenge mindset makes a valuable contribution to this transformation, unlocking us from traditional questions and approaches, with an innovative, motivating, highly engaging approach that can be used by students, parents, teachers, and career advisors.”
—Andy Chan, Vice President, Personal and Career Development at Wake Forest University

“Our role isn’t to crush students’ dreams. Instead, we can help them dream about possibilities and how to make the world a better place. These dreams can lead to identifying personal strengths and preparing students for hurdles they may encounter along the way. JP Michel’s Challenge mindset helps students dream through the lens of challenges to solve, so students can foster hope in themselves and others.”
—Norm Amundson, Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia; Lead Consultant with Doubleknot Works

187 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 18, 2024

Reviews

[Pat Tenneriello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Praise for the Challenge Mindset from a mid-career professional in job transition

As a mid-career professional undergoing a period of uncertainty, I found JP Michel's book valuable in my pursuit of re-aligning my meaning and purpose with my career. I recommend this book to professionals like myself who most likely were not taught in their formative years to think about the problems they could help to solve in the world, but rather what job title they could fit into. "Flipping the script" as JP Michel calls it, helped me to see clearly why the world needs me and needs each of us, a strong message of personal empowerment and responsibility!

Some of my key takeaways from the book:
learning the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivators
the importance of choosing courage over confidence
a reminder to look for meaning, which by definition will include struggle, rather than just happiness
Empowering myself to "write my story" instead of searching externally with a "find yourself" mindset
The importance of continuous curiosity and adaptability in a world that is changing more and more rapidly

[Ana Alves · Rating 5 out of 5]

The World Needs You reaches our sense of purpose. It shows us that life is more than an identity connection to a job title. More than that, it is about solving the challenges we deeply care about. A challenge like a north star that guides us towards a meaningful future. And more than what a happy future can offer, one full of meaning includes both the joys and the inevitable hardships.

Creating a meaningful career path that adapts to the changing demands of the job market and personal changes requires an innovative approach to career exploration.

The linear and overly simplistic view of the world and the matchmaking approach no longer serve us. Career paths are not as linear as they were in the Industrial Age and we require a perspective that enables us to adapt to those new complexities.

J.P. Michel shows us the power of catalysts, for a future of more empowered, autonomous and competent individuals. Instead of overprotecting youth from failure and narrowing their focus, J.P. encourages autonomy and active exploration.

My favourite part of the book is when J.P. guides us on how to access young people's inner motivation through intriguing and stimulating questions.

J.P. is a enterpreneurial, ambitious, resilient, creative, insightful and purposeful career leader who cares deeply about helping students reach their potential.

I highly recommend The World Needs You.

[Andrew Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been fortunate to meet JP Michel and learn directly from him about the Challenge Mindset - a paradigm shift in career education. For those who don't have the good fortune of meeting with JP himself, The World Needs You: A New Mindset for Student Career Education distills JP's philosophy into engaging and applicable action steps for those of us who want to be catalysts for change in how youth think about career exploration and preparation. In three parts, JP shares the difference between the traditional Job Title Mindset & his Challenge Mindset for career education, walks the reader through the stages of building a Challenge Profile, and lays out the attitudes necessary to be successful in this process.

Through anecdotes, and supported by research, JP lays out the why and how the Challenge Mindset will help youth take charge of the career education process, seeing how their experiences, knowledge, competencies and attributes can be applied to challenges they'd like to tackle in the world. This approach helps young people shift from a focus on what they want to be to how they're going to make an impact. If you care about youth and their future, I'd strongly recommend picking up a copy of The World Needs You...because it needs catalysts like you to make an impact.

[Katherine Jennick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of JP's Challenge Mindset. I regularly use his cards with students and they always provoke really interesting conversations. This book further reinforces the importance of approaching career based questions with curiosity. Encouraging and empowering young people to explore the world around them and discover what's most important to them is crucial as they embark on their own career journey.

[NaTasha Clever · Rating 4 out of 5]

A creative, refreshing take on career exploration and education. It got a little redundant at times, and the author was clearly selling a product, but the content is compelling.

[Andrew Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm on board with JP's whole mindset, but this felt somehow both long-winded and too brief.

[Dylan Bean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Challenges!