Here is an excerpt from the column by Thomas Friedman of New York Times with the title The Start-Up of You – “Hoffman argues that professionals need an entirely new mind-set and skill set to compete. “The old paradigm of climb up a stable career ladder is dead and gone,” he said to me. “No career is a sure thing anymore. The uncertain, rapidly changing conditions in which entrepreneurs start companies is what it’s now like for all of us fashioning a career. Therefore you should approach career strategy the same way an entrepreneur approaches starting a business.” he is referring to LinkedIn’s founder, Reid Garrett Hoffman, one of the premier starter-uppers in Silicon Valley — besides co-founding LinkedIn, he is on the board of Zynga, was an early investor in Facebook and sits on the board of Mozilla — through his book “The Start-Up of You,” co-authored with Ben Casnocha. Friedman says the subtitle could easily be: “Hey, recent graduates! Hey, 35-year-old midcareer professional! Here’s how you build your career today.” How relevant and valid are these statements given the discussions we have been having in Iceland? I cannot imagine a better place to be having this discussion, Iceland does not have a huge market, it is an island, if we are to rebuild this country for the future what should it look like? Those were the questions I was asking myself after the Collapse of the Financial System in Iceland in 2008. I am biased towards action and I invested in myself and Entrepreneurship, the jury is still out if that was the right decision or not, but I have never felt more energized, motivated and passionate about what I am doing (you can tell from the daily blog post, 24-7-365 on Twitter, Facebook, Email et cetra et cetra).

Startup Iceland Conference is a fantastic way to be inspired, connect and start on the Entrepreneurial journey. The word Startup has been hijacked by the technology based early stage companies and initiatives but I believe otherwise. Here is the definition:

The word is about setting things in motion, Startup Iceland Conference is about setting Iceland in motion. It has to be a community effort, and it is about the Ecosystem. When a single group of people in a community try to move things we have seen it always leads to sub-optimal results. The entire community has to contribute to make the initiative really make a difference. So what are you waiting for? what action have you taken to take charge of your career? your life? Startup Iceland Conference is an event created to celebrate this spirit… so go register for the workshop and take charge of yourself. You owe it to yourself.