Episode 69. How Philosophy Can Boost Your Career & Life – Dr Brennan Jacoby

Reframe & Reset Your Career: Job Search & Career Development Insights

Learning about philosophy may seem like a luxury in our fast paced world but it has a number of benefits for your career and life, including developing your critical thinking skills and the ability to solve complex problems. Dr Brennan Jacoby, a philosopher and the founder of Philosophy at Work, and I discussed this, his work with Philosophy at Work and much more on Episode 69 of the Reframe & Reset Your Career podcast.

In this episode, we will learn about:

How serendipity and chance can impact your career,

Plato’s allegory of the cave and how this inspired Brennan’s interest in philosophy,

The benefits of reframing and changing your perspective,

How philosophy can help manage uncertainty and decision making,

Stoic philosophy and controlling what you can control,

Strategies for dealing with failure and regret,

How doing philosophy can develop your thinking and problems solving skills and

Ways of creating space in your schedule to have time to think.

Dr. Brennan Jacoby is a philosopher and the founder of Philosophy at Work, a collective of philosophers that teach the thinking skills professionals need to think their best. Brennan holds a B.A., M.A. and Ph.D in philosophy, and his doctoral work analysed trust in the context of interpersonal relationships and corporate character.

Recent projects include helping Deloitte UK cultivate a growth mindset, supporting The Wellcome Trust to explore trust in healthcare, and enhancing curiosity across Sony Music’s global community.

Brennan works across industries and sectors (examples include groups from Herbert Smith Freehills, Sky, Sony Music, Slaughter and May, Hogan Lovells, Capital One Bank, Deloitte, Media Arts Lab, Ropes and Gray, The Guardian, Nike, and The Financial Times), and with global teams, having delivered sessions in the UK, Ireland, USA, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Denmark, Spain, Australia and Taiwan.

In addition to his role with Philosophy at Work, Brennan is a fellow at the Royal Society of the Arts. Originally from Detroit Michigan, he studied in Sydney, Australia and is now based in the UK.

Brennan talked with me about the benefits of philosophy and how it helps to develop your thinking and told me “complex problem solving, critical thinking and creative thinking are things that are needed for the future of work, for the fourth Industrial Revolution and that's what you get, those are the muscles that are built up when you do philosophy because you're given a tough challenge … doing philosophy is good for careers because we know that careers these days are so dependent on not just what you know but how you make sense of the data and also how you move from one thing you know to the next right or from one job to the next and so it's good not just for work but it's particularly good for careers because of careers being about how you navigate things right how you move from one point to the next.”

People & Resources Mentioned

Iris Murdoch – The Black Prince

Carol Dweck

Alain de Botton

The School of Life

Contact Brennan

Website (company): https://philosophyatwork.co.uk/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-brennan-jacoby-51807790/

Instagram (company): https://www.instagram.com/philosophy_at_work/

Reframe & Reset Your Career Resources & Contact Info

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YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ReframeResetYourCareer

LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reframe-reset-your-career/?viewAsMember=true

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*Reframe & Reset Your Career, including any comments made by the host and guests, is for informational purposes only and does not constitute advice of any description, including but not restricted to financial, legal, investing or medical advice.*