How do people end up with the jobs they have?

A friend of mine recently said she'd been worried about her cat. When I asked what was wrong, envisioning broken bones, diseases, pit-bull terriers, she continued. "She seems depressed. I think she's angry with me."

My friend found, with little difficulty, a person she was sure could help. Not a vet, but a pet psychic, a person who, through spending time with animals, touching them, talking to them and more, feels able to effectively communicate with them. The pet psychic provided - at no small cost - a detailed report to my friend, who was satisfied with the results.

Good grief, I thought, how does one become a cat whisperer? If you can be a cat whisperer for a living, you can be anything. There are people who formulate antidepressants for pets. There are people who taste pet food.  There are people whose sole means of income lies in designing dog clothes in every size from Yorkshire Terrier to Great Dane (doubles as a horse blanket), and that's just pets.  What about citrus fruit colourer? Lighthouse keepers? The voice over chaps for cinema trailers? Somewhere out there, there is someone whose job is comprised, at least in part, of naming lipsticks and nail polish colours.

The mind boggles at how many forks on the road of life there are and the possibilities for different careers.

Of course things have changed a lot over generations. Being a brush maker for a living is probably unlikely now, and earning a living as a creator of applications for smart phones only popped into existence in the last decade. But regardless of the time we're living in, our careers shape our lives. How we support ourselves and pay our bills influences our interests and conversations, and becomes part of our identity. Clearly our ideas change as we get older or we'd all be firemen, ballerinas or spacemen. How many of us follow the career path we wanted in primary school when the teacher asked us what we want to be when we grow up?

Finding a job that is both enjoyable and pays well is a common goal. However, this enticing combination can be elusive. Generally, you are considered lucky if you have a job that falls into either category. If you make a lot of money, at least you're well-compensated for work you don't enjoy. If you love your job, at least you get to have fun even if the money isn't so easy to come by. However, for a lucky few, there are careers that encompass both. A high salary is a fairly easy to calculate, but the enjoyment you get from a career will vary from one person to the next.

Career paths are not always straightforward and it can be difficulty to equate what you learn at school to particular jobs. My own career path is a good example.

I left school with one “O”Level in Theology, it was a monastery school and I am dyslexic!  My academic achievements came latter; I now have a degree and amongst other acknowledgements of my skill I am a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

When I left school I had no idea what I was going to be able to do. I was interested in the countryside and farming so went to agricultural college and worked on the land before developing my interests in marketing. The combination of the two has taken me around the world. I’ve been a charity CEO for a dozen years and I’ve worked in over 30 countries. In Taiwan I worked on native art, in Zambia cattle ranching, in Singapore with social exclusion  and in the Netherlands ex-cons.

Throughout my career I’ve drawn on what I learnt at school. Not necessarily directly, I don’t think I’ve ever needed to recite the Kings and Queens of England but I have for example used my maths and science to create a field fridge in Africa. It is not just the straight academic skills that I have drawn on. Much of my leadership comes from my time at school.  I learned to work with others and tolerate or even welcome difference.

Every day is a school day. I learn something new every day. The challenge is to apply it.

Cram these essentials into every marketing message.

I've spent much of my career working on getting my message across. Specifically, what you should say to get people to donate something, try something or buy something. Sometimes I've succeeded and sometimes I've failed, but over time the same four critical components emerge again and again.

I've concluded a great message at its essence packs four complementary purposes into one powerful whole:

• It connects with other people based on their values
• rewards them with a benefit they seek
• asks for a specific action to get that benefit and
• sticks with us in a memorable way.

It has taken me a lot of practice to CRAM this into my head. If you're in the business of persuasion, you must CRAM your message into every key interaction with your target audience.

1. Connect to things your audience cares about. I mean core desires like saving time, feeling good about themselves, helping others, etc. You want to always answer the question, why should someone else care? Why is what you're saying personally relevant?
2. Identify and offer a compelling reward for taking action. What benefit will result for the people who listen to what you say? Good rewards are immediate, personal, credible and reflective of audience values. 
3. Have a clear call to action. Good actions are specific, feasible and are easy for people to visualize doing. So much of messaging falls down on this point. Make it extremely easy to get on board with what you’re asking of them.
4. Make it memorable. We don’t want simply to make an impression; We want to make a lasting impression. What makes something memorable? It’s memorable if it’s different, catchy, personal, tangible and desirable. But a word of caution: memorable elements should always be closely tied to our message. Think of all the advertisements that were so funny or memorable that we told a friend about them, but when asked what product the ad was for, we were not sure. We don’t just need a memorable idea or picture; we need an idea or picture that makes our product or cause memorable. Tell a vivid story or use a unique messenger to drive home points 1-3.

Has CRAMing ever worked for you? What would you add to the list?