Summary: How not going to law school was one of the best choices internet success David Goldberg ever made.
Nowadays, if you are getting into law, it won’t be a light decision. The market is hard, you have to want it enough to struggle to get it. If you are pondering whether this commitment is right for you, consider the choice Dave Goldberg made.
As a son of a law-school professor, it seemed natural to him that he would use his Harvard undergrad degree to propel him into law school. But he took two years off to travel, see the world, and work as a consultant for Bain.
Just two weeks before law school set in, he says, “I came to the realization that I didn’t really want to be a lawyer. Sometimes the things you decide not to do are actually the biggest things to do in your career.”
Cryptic advice, requiring, perhaps, a smidgeon of daring. But that, at least, he had, and went on to explore a career in music, a passion for him, working as part of the team that provided fresh and unknown music to Starbucks, before going on to start his own business online that offered great unknown music to a broader audience.
Finally ending up as the CEO of SurveyMonkey, the soul searching decision to get off the legal track worked out well for him.
Note though that he did not choose the easy track, but the adventurous track, one with less certainty and requiring more persistence.