The idea sparked from Vennie Gore, a guest speaker for the leadership academy at the Union.

As Vice President of Auxiliary Enterprises, Gore oversees the university, ranging from the resident hall system to the events at Breslin Center.

Because of the amount of organization and leadership he is responsible for, Gore was invited to share his life experiences with us to give us insight on our paths toward leadership.

Many of the topics he discussed were very intriguing. Before his current job, he worked for at least five different companies. Despite all the change, he ended up working at the same university he attended.

He described how job shifting was common for many because, early on, most people don’t have a clear vision of what career they want.

To me, this was pretty surprising because, although I know many college students change their majors multiple times, to think people would be willing to change their occupations after college seemed risky.

One piece of advice truly stuck with me when Gore said all experience is “relative.” In short form, he basically described how many jobs, despite their different names, have very similar natures.

The example he used was comparing the MSU culinary service to a hotel’s dining service, and he said the nature of these two jobs essentially are the same.

He described the only difference was the quantity of food served. Using this comparison, he drew up the idea that by working for a school culinary service, a person could gain experience that later could be applied to a different occupation, such as restaurant work.

Gore then elaborated on this idea by explaining how important experiencing everything was. He said the first time someone tries something, everything is extremely unfamiliar.

However, once someone has gotten a feel of how an occupation works, the experiences which share a similar nature suddenly become very easy to adapt to.

It’s because of this idea he encouraged us to try everything, because although, at a glance, everything has its own category, the knowledge each experience brings helps build upon skills that will become useful in the future.

I definitely could attest to this based on my experiences. Ever since elementary school, I have played the piano.

Although arts and literature weren’t exactly in the scope of jobs my parents had in mind for me, playing the piano inadvertently helped me later on.

The amount of memorization required to play the music helped my memory.

Because of how much finger dexterity was required, piano also paved the way toward a computer-based field, since typing fast was second nature to me.

On a more personal level, playing piano helped me become more aware of tune and pitch, allowing singing on those occasional karaoke nights to become a fun experience.

Better yet, the advice Gore provided came at a very good time for me. Because I am so busy bouncing around different majors trying to figure out what I want to be, this idea dispelled my fears about decision making.

For so long, I thought once a major and job was decided, everything became set in stone and there was no turning back.

However, thanks to Gore’s advice, I now see there are always more things people can add to their skill sets, and these experiences will help us grow and will allow us eventually to get to the job we want most.

My environmental professor shared a similar story with me.

He explained that originally, he was part of the MSU football team. He then became a geologist, and after working in iron-based research for many years, he decided to become an environmental professor.

Even though he didn’t have a specific career plan in mind, he ended up finding his way simply by trying out different occupations and eventually finding what fit for him as he continued to develop new skills.

Even though I was never too fond of trying different opportunities and exploring uncharted territory in fear of failure, I now understand that no matter what path I take, all the experiences I try will open the door to bigger possibilities in the end.

Henry Pan is a guest columnist at The State News and an environmental engineering freshman. Reach him at panhenry@msu.edu.