I Know ALL about China

I had occasion three weeks ago to talk to the Post-Doc's at the University of Utah about CAREERS, pretty amusing given that I don't have a PhD myself. I started with the notion that I have four college degrees, from four nearly mutually exclusive "schools" (e.g. Sciences, Engineering, Humanities, and Business) with nine majors and minors, and that I've worked for extended periods in five fields, four of which I didn't study.

In other words, life happens while you're making other plans. Or said another way, it probably is better to learn how to learn than it is to learn a career path since we don't know the jobs of the next decade, let alone the jobs of the next forty years.

But one woman persisted and said, "what are the TWO things you'd say that I should study NOW?" And, literally without hesitating, I said:
First, you should learn how to work on a team, and especially you should learn how to work on a DISTRIBUTED team across significant distance where the culture, skills and tools are not monolithic. Second, you should travel, and travel with purpose for the next fifteen years. I recommended that she plan a three-week trip every three years to a different area, to meet with colleagues and work with them on a project in situ.

Then I asked where she was from, and where she had traveled already. And she was Ukrainian, and had been to most of the "Stans" before coming to the United States seven years ago. I said "you ought to go next to China" and she blithely replied that she already KNEW all about China.

Surprised, I asked how. She said she'd read books, talked to Chinese students at the University, and watched several documentaries. I then asked if she knew anything about the U.S. before coming. She brightened and said, "oh, yes. I had read everything, and watched movies and TV, and I was so eager..." Then I couldn't help myself, and I asked if her experience here was like she expected from what she "knew" ahead of time. Her answer, not surprisingly, was "Oh, my, NO!" I said she really ought to consider going to China, that it wouldn't be like anything she imagines.

Your thoughts?