The Best Career Advice From a CEO's Lunch With an Intern

Back in 2014, a story made the rounds from the Austin startup scene: a college intern invited his company's CEO to lunch. The CEO said yes. Over sandwiches, the intern walked away with thirty years of career thinking, compressed into one conversation.

Whether the story happened exactly that way is beside the point. The advice the CEO shared has aged well:

Take risks early. The CEO's biggest regret was not joining startups sooner. Early in your career, the cost of a wrong bet is low and the learning is enormous — an early-stage company teaches you more, faster, about business and about yourself.

Own your employability. Nobody is coming to manage your career for you. Build a diverse, adaptable portfolio of skills and competencies that can survive changing market conditions. Employability is a personal project, not an employer's promise.

Choose firms that see the world differently. Big companies offer international scope but can become comfortable traps that underdevelop talent. The CEO's advice: look for firms working hard to reinvent the future — and avoid businesses whose models exist mainly to defend the status quo.

Work with people you enjoy. The closing line is the one worth pinning up: challenge yourself continuously, and build a portfolio of experiences — because the people you spend your days with will determine most of your satisfaction with the path you chose.

An intern, a CEO, and a sandwich shop. Some of the best mentorship in a career happens exactly like that — unplanned, unscripted, and over lunch.