Amazon CEO Andy Jassy shares career mistakes that Gen Z can easily avoid in his 20s

• Amazon CEO Andy Jussy I’ll tell Gen Z to stop worrying About knowing what a career in your 20s looks like. Instead, he encourages young people to focus on learning what they want to do. Before starting his nearly 30-year career on Amazon, he tried to work in sports casting, soccer coaching, investment banking and more.

Few topics can cause more debate than what your 20s should look like. Some people consider 10 years to be a A chaotic struggleothers consider it a An unusual window of opportunity.

But from the perspective of Andy Jassy, ​​Amazon CEO, Gen Z should put pressure on himself and realize that he doesn’t have to plan his entire life by his 20s.

“I have a 21-year-old son and a 24-year-old daughter. One thing I see with them and their peers is that I feel they have to know what they want to do for their lives at that age,” Jassy said on the podcast. How leaders lead with David Novak. “And I really don’t believe it’s true.”

And while you’re thinking about what you want to do in your career, AI is especially important. It completely changes the work situation-Jussy knows the struggle firsthand.

After graduating from Harvard in 1990, he attempted many career paths, including sportscasting, product management, and entrepreneurship. He also worked at retail golf stores, coached high school soccer and tried out investment banking. Eventually, he decided to go back to school and try out an MBA to explore entrepreneurship. Only after graduation Harvard Business School Did he win a breakout role for Amazon just a few months before he turned 30?

“I’ve tried a lot, but I think it’s important to learn early on what you want to do.

luck I contacted Jussy for comment.

The value of failure – and ask questions

Exploring interest is one thing, but for Jassy, ​​now 57, there may be nothing more important to succeed than asking questions. There is a high quotient for “reason” – or “whyq” is what he said would help his career flourish on Amazon.

“We ask why and why not,” Jassie said. I wrote it in his latest letter To shareholders. “This helps to dismantle the problem, get to the root cause, understand the blocker, and unlock doors that we think were previously unable to get in.”

Jassy acknowledged that being curious and working with the right mindset could be a great stepping stone for a career, especially with Gen Z.

“It’s embarrassing how well you do, especially in your 20s, and it has to do with attitude.” Jassie said In an interview with LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky.

And while finding success has an ultimate element of opportunity, it can involve multiple set folds, but by taming it at a day at a time, you could ultimately land a shot in the corner office.

“I feel that my journey and adventures are a lot of luck, and I think one of the things I did best is not to overthink it,” he added to David Novak.

CEO who has come to the top a long way

While the road to the top of a corporate ladder might seem like it requires a career path that focuses on hypers, in reality, Jussy is just an example, so the journey can be long and wavy.

After graduating as an undergraduate, Reed Hastingsco-founder of NetflixHe served in the Peace Corps as a high school mathematics teacher in Eswatini, a small South African country. Only after his return he returned to school and after studying computer science at Stanford University he helped establish a high-tech company that exceeded $500 billion.

Plus, Walt CEO Bob Iger Disney I started his company Career predicting the weather He has become one of the most notable media executives as an on-air meteorologist for a local television station in Ithaca, New York.

And even Jussy’s own mentor, Jeff Bezosgot his start with a typical teenage job: flipping a burger at McDonald’s.

“If you take it seriously, you can learn responsibility at any job,” Bezos said. I said To Cody Teets, author of Golding Opportunities: An Amazing Career Started at McDonald’s. “You learn a lot as a teenager working at McDonald’s. That’s not what you learned in school. Don’t underestimate its value!”

This story was originally introduced Fortune.com