A simple answer: Find something you truly enjoy and something you’re naturally good at.
But here’s the catch—how do you know what you’re good at before you’ve even had the chance to try?
My message is refreshingly simple, yet powerful:
“If you’re good at what you do and you really like it, you’ll be the best.”
For this post, I’ve decided to leave it in speech mode for faster reading. Enjoy!
Good afternoon everyone, and welcome.
My name is Paul Renaud, and I’m happy to be here today.
Thank you for joining my presentation, which is called:
The best career advice I’ve ever received
Let me start with a short description of what I do.
I’m a Leader of teams.
What I do is work with management and executive teams that are stuck.
They don’t trust each other.
They don’t communicate well.
They don’t work together.
And when that happens, productivity drops.
So, they bring in someone like me—an outside person—to help them reconnect, communicate, and work together again toward a common goal.
That’s why I call myself a Leader of teams.
It sounds easy—and sometimes it is.
But when you put a lot of smart people with different opinions in one room, getting them to cooperate can be very tricky.
My 35 years of business experience have taught me a lot about people, teamwork, and leadership—and I use real-life examples to help teams move forward.
Let’s start with my favorite expression—and the best career advice I’ve ever received:
“If you’re good at what you do, and you really like it, you’ll be unstoppable.”
Simple. Elegant. Powerful.
So why is it so hard to reach?
Why is it so difficult to make the right choice?
I received this advice from a close friend of mine, Jim Hubley, the CEO of a telecommunications company. He had an MBA in Marketing and was one of the best leaders I’ve ever worked for.
Q. Do you know when I heard this advice?
When I was 47 years old.
Q. A little late, right?
This advice matched my goals. I always wanted:
- To be good at what I do
- To be recognized as a leader
- To be a great people manager
- To become a CEO and travel the world
But I thought success meant something else.
I thought I had to:
- Work harder and longer than everyone else
- Be smarter than everyone else
- Go to the right school
- Have the right connections
After 27 years in business, in 2012, I changed my career.
My career path looked like this:
Customer Service Representative →Sales Representative → Sales Manager →
Marketing Manager → Commercial Director →Marketing Director →
CEO of a startup
All of that while living in 10 countries over 20 years.
Career-wise, I was okay-ish as a commercial executive—but something was always missing.
I had a lot of starts and stops.
Why?
- I was often in the wrong place at the wrong time—a round peg in a square hole
- I didn’t stay long enough to build strong allies
- And yes—I failed more than once.
Other jobs I’ve had:
Here are other things I’ve done in my life:
- Delivered two newspaper routes at age 12, on my bicycle.
- Worked at McDonald’s
- Delivered electrical supplies
- Worked as a cook
- Ran a window-washing business
- Volunteered at hospital foundations in Canada and Hospice Casa Speranței
- Member of the Rotary Club
- Freemason
Sounds impressive, right?
Looking back, I realize something important:
I didn’t try enough different things early enough.
So… Do you want to hear my secret?
Try !
T-R-Y
1 word!!
Try even if you think it’s boring.
Try something different.
Try even if you’re bad at it.
Try even if you fail miserably.
And then—MOVE ON and TRY the next thing.
GOOD vs. LIKE . Please listen up!
Here’s a short list of things where I rated myself:
- Am I good at it?
- Do I like it?
Topics GOOD? ` LIKE?
1.Music yes no
2. Plumbing no no
3. Building a house yes no
4. Accounting no no
5. Finance yes yes
6. Sales yes yes
7. Research yes yes
8. People skills yes yes
9. Planning skills yes yes
10. Consulting yes yes
11. Teaching yes yes
12. Good listener? Yes yes
13. Public speaking yes yes
14. Dancer yes no
15. Artist, painter no no
16. Software coding yes no
17. Reading fast yes no
18. My own business yes yes
19. Psychology yes no
Now notice something important – where I wrote YES and YES.
That’s the intersection.
That’s where passion meets ability.
But it took me a long time to figure that out.
And that is why I wish I had started trying earlier, even things that looked boring—because you never know!!
Let me give you a few role models:
Olympic gold medalist David Popovici, like Chris—the hero of my book Demigods, Aliens and Ordinary People—lost many, many races before he started winning.
Here’s a typical day that most people don’t see:
- 5:00 am –7:00 pm: Pool
- 8:00 am– 5:00 pm: School
- 6:00 am –9:00 pm: Back in the pool
Six days a week!
That sounds exhausting.
But here is the key:
When you’re good at something and you like it, even hard work becomes easier—and sometimes even fun.
For them, it’s not torture.
It’s passion.
That’s when:
- Time flies
- Doors open
- You improve
- You win
- You feel confident
- You stay focused
So, here’s what I want to leave you with today:
Embrace every experience you have the courage to TRY—even if you fail.
TRY.
Try and see if you can get good at it.
Try and see if you like it.
Q. Now let me ask you something.
Q. How old are you?…
Don’t wait until you’re 47 like I did.
Don’t wait until you have 27 years of experience.
Start now.
Test things.
Explore.
Experiment.
TRY
And if you don’t like it?
No big deal.
Don’t get upset.
Don’t get frustrated.
Just MOVE on.
Why?
Because you haven’t found it yet!
And that’s okay.
Keep going.
My topic today was the best career advice I’ve ever received:
“If you’re good at what you do, and you really like it, you’ll be unstoppable.”
Now you know my secret.
Try it. Try now!
Every single one of you can start today.
Everyone here can TRY!
So… What are you waiting for?
REMEMBER – You won’t know unless you TRY!
Good luck and see you soon!
Thank you.