World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma joins us to share his advice to young people finding their career paths and the adults supporting them. Yo-Yo considers how investing in your interests at a young age—before you're too old!—pays dividends down the line.
Jean Eddy: Welcome to Youth Career Readiness, the one-question podcast.
I'm Jean Eddy.
Michael Horn: And I'm Michael Horn.
Jean: And this is the podcast where we talk to people across careers about their professional journeys and what advice they would offer.
Michael: To help all middle and high schoolers explore, experiment with, and discover careers.
Jean: Michael, today's guest is one I know we're both pinching ourselves about. He's none other than the world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Yo-Yo is best known for his mastery of classical music, but he's also recorded everything from bluegrass to traditional Chinese melodies. He's even recorded hits with Miley Cyrus and Sting. Not surprisingly, he was named as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2020. We're in for a good one today.
Michael: Indeed, Jean, as a once aspiring musician myself, this is certainly a pinch me moment on my end. And Yo-Yo, first, thank you so much for joining us. The question we'd love to ask is what lessons did you learn early on in your life that middle and high schoolers should carry forward in their lives and careers?
Yo-Yo Ma: So I'm 69 years old, so I don't know why you want to listen to me about anything, but I can share with you what I've learned before I was 21.
So I can tell you one thing before you're 21, anything that you learn, you probably remember for the rest of your life. If you memorize something, you will remember it when you're 50.
After you're 21, it gets harder. Now, you tell me something and say, like, what did someone say?
So my advice is this. Think of anything that you put in your brain now as a bank account that you withdraw for the rest of your life because it's there forever. It doesn't get depleted. So if you put a lot of great stuff in your brain now, and if you are interested in something, go toward it.
And if you don't know how to do it, find someone who does. And that person is your guide into that thing that you're interested in. And do that.
I promise you, you'll lead a really interesting life.
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