According to a study of 700 American millionaires found that their average Grade Point Average (GPA) was just 2.9. A Boston University researcher followed valedictorians and salutatorians into adulthood. Although the researcher found that most did achieve traditional markers of success, none of these students who graduate at the top of their high-school class revolutionized the world.

Accordingly, these academic high achievers - everyone who graduated from college with an average GPA of 3.6 - went on to earn a graduate degree in most cases and half them landed in top-tier professional jobs.

But how many of these number on high-school performers go on to change the world, run the world, or impress the world? The answer seems to be clear: zero, said Eric Barker in his book Barking Up the Wrong Tree, where he cites the Boston University research.

While these top students generally become successful, they rarely achieve the kind of success that alters the course of History. Students who struggle with formal education, however, are more likely to get there. To be clear, a study of 700 American millionaires found that their average GPA was just 2.9.

According to Barker, this phenomenon is due to two different factors. The first one is that while schools reward students who consistently do what they are told, life rewards people who shake things up.

The Boston University researcher, Karen Arnold, explained: Essentially, we are rewarding conformity and the willingness to go along with the system. Top students basically found out what the teachers were after and delivered it consistently, but they didn't search their own way.

While top students are used to playing by the rules, world's most influential thinkers and leaders have come up with an out-of-the-box solution to some political or scientific issue. Being an expert on something that is already working well never made anybody famous. Instead, leaders have come up with a new approach or a new invention that has revolutionized the world, not to conform with what is already there.

According to Barker, in school, rules are very clear. In life, rules are not so clear. So a certain amount of not playing by the rules is advantageous once you get out of a closed system like education.

The other reason is that while schools reward being a generalist, the real world rewards passion and expertise. Barkers explains that although you might be fascinated in some particular subject in high school, eventually you'll have to move on to another subject. On the contrary, things work differently in the career world. There you have to focus on one particular domain and you are expected to excel at it.

As high school doesn't allow intellectual students who enjoy learning to follow their passions, that is why the struggle with the education system. One successful entrepreneur once said, if I had a 4.0 at graduation, it stood for the number of parties I went to the night before rather than my GPA. Instead of trying to please other people, entrepreneurs follow their passion or look for something that fascinates them and then focus on that opportunity. That explains the high dropout rates among entrepreneurs.

According to Barker, Valedictorians often go on to be the people who support the system - they become a part of the system - but they don't change the system or overthrow the system.

This study doesn't meant that if you were a top student, you won't achieve big time success. What you might learn from this study is that following rules doesn't work in the real world the way it does in high school. To be able to succeed, you have to take risks and persevere. While entrepreneurs love risks, they like to control the outcome. Great entrepreneurs focus on removing as much risk from their endeavor as possible and they only take risks that are worth it, where they feel they have an advantage and they can influence the outcome. You need to bet to win, not to take unnecessary risks. It's not about a leap of faith or the thrill of gambling, but of investing in something new that is calculated to get good results.

Although entrepreneurs must have self-discipline to maximize their resources, entrepreneurs must challenge the system but they need to do this with excellent execution skills.

They do say that Dr. Google knows it all, and now it even helps you find a new job. The search giant has launched a new feature that allows users to search relevant job postings and lists them in results. As you soon as you search for a job in the U.S. version of Google, you'll see such results immediately. you just need to search for jobs near me or something similar.

Users in the U.S. can search for a term like teaching jobs or jobs in the area, and Google will display listings from sites like Monster, LinkedIn, WayUp, DirectEmployers, Career Builder, Glassdoor and Facebook. The company provides a variety of filters to narrow down results by title, category, date posted and type.

After filtering down jobs by a number of different criteria, there will be reviews and ratings of the employer from trusted sites next to a description of the role. If job seekers are logged into their Google account, Google will also show you how long your commute would be from home, and allow searchers to turn on alerts to receive email notifications when new jobs become available.

Before creating this job list, Google has to remove all the duplicate listings that employers post to all these job sites. Google will link you to the one with the most complete job posting. Then, its machine learning-trained algorithms sift through and categorize them. The search results use a form of artificial intelligence that categorizes and lists the job postings from all the different sites. Once jobs match your profile and you choose one, Google will direct you to the job site to start the actual application process. We hope this will act as an incentive for sites to share all the pertinent details in their listings for job seekers, said a Google spokesperson.

As to the job application process, Google doesn't involve itself in the process itself. The application process is handled by the website Google directed you to.

With this new experience, we aim to connect Americans to job opportunities across the U.S., so no matter who you are or what kind of job you're looking for, you can find job postings that match your needs, said Nick Zakrasek, product manager at Google.

This new capability places Google in competition with Indeed.com, which is a popular search engine - with over 200 million unique visitors each month - that compiles job postings from different websites. Whether it poses a threat to Indeed.com, it is obvious it doesn't threaten other websites that match the job postings with the searcher's experience. LinkedIn and WayUp, for instance, suggest positions that matches the user's profile.

Rather than a competitor, this project is about collaboration. LinkedIn, Monster, WayUp, DirectEmployers, CareerBuilder, Glassdoor and Facebook are some of the partners Google is working on for this project. The search giant has helped websites by instructing them on how to make sure that their job posts come up in Google.

This new search results are part of the Google for Jobs initiative at the company, aimed at matching job seekers with employers. Although they do provide a service to job seekers, the search giant is not trying to compete with websites like Monster or LinkedIn as it has no intention of letting employers directly post job openings on its search engine, according to an interview Nick Zakrasek - Google's product manager for this product - gave to TechCrunch. We (Google) want to do what we do best: search. We want the players in the ecosystem to be more successful, said Zakrasek. Anything beyond that is not within Google's scope of action, he added.

In the interview, Zakrasek said: Finding a job is like dating. Each person has a unique set of preferences and it only takes one person to fill this job.

Google's statements were backed up by Monster.com's CTO Conal Thompson, when asked how this cooperation with Google will change the competitive landscape for job sites. Google's new job search product aligns with our core strategy and will allow candidates to explore jobs from across the web and refine search criteria to meet their unique needs, he wrote. Yes, as with anything, there will be some challenges and adjustments to existing job posting sites; the biggest perhaps being for those that are currently driven by SEO.

Recent research from Bloomberg predicts that Gen Z-ers will account for 2.47 billion people of the 7.7 billion inhabitants of planet Earth this 2019 - that is 32%, and surpasses the 2.43 billion figure for Millennials for the first time.

From the world of arts to politics, social habits, careers, and food, the generation of millennials has heavily impacted every aspect of society. Technology and internet have played key roles in the evolution of this culture, represented by people born from the mid 80s until the early 2000s. Now that this generation is at their prime, they are changing the rules of the game in society.

Studies show that millennials are more likely to own a mobile phone and a laptop, which increases the interconnectedness of this demography despite geography, culture and religion. According to the Huffington Post, the millennials, With their unprecedented access to data and education, will be a driving force toward either cultural integrity and globalization which means that this culture has to be taken into account as they are the future, they are the ones who hold the leader roles and they represent the work force.

In their careers, millennials focus on a work-life balance, social consciousness, production of meaningful work, finding a creative outlet and immediate feedback to encourage productivity and purpose.

Millennials, however, need guidance in their careers. Although they might want to revolutionize the workplace, they are still some cards on the table they need to play. Here are some tips for millennials in their careers:

First of all, think of your career as a series of experiences. Millennials are always eager to get immediate compensation. They are used to posting something on social media and getting feedback right away. They are used to shopping online with a few taps on their phone. They are used to immediacy and thus they want to get recognition as soon as they enter the workforce. This is not the way careers work, however, and it takes time. The way to think of your career is a collection experiences whether you stayed with one employer or worked for 10, or you had a bachelor's degree or a master's degree or diversified your expertise. The gist of it all is that you need to view your career as a learning path and you have to be a lifelong learner. This is a way to get compensation out every job you had or course you took because you focus on how this has enlightened you. This experiences expand your knowledge and expertise.

In the past, people were willing to work for a boss; today they want to work for a mentor, said Mike Maughan, head of brand growth at global insights at Qualtrics. It goes back to the idea that they're looking for career trajectory.

Never settle for a job that doesn't motivate you!

They might accuse millennials of being self-entitled and of having job-hopping reputations, but the thing with millennials is that they need gratification that goes beyond covering their monetary needs. They need to be passionate about what they are doing to feel content. Therefore, don't settle for a job that gives you any less; otherwise, you'll never be happy.

When you graduate, you are going to feel a lot of pressure to get any job to pay the bills and that won't last long if you do, according to research. Besides, companies are not interested in having someone that is only there to make money when they could hire someone else that is actually passionate about what they are doing and they are going to give it all they've got.

Motivation can do great things. When you are passionate about your job, you are not in the office just to see the hours pass, but you actually try to do your very best and it comes naturally because you enjoy it. That is the best way to propel your career forward.

Once you get the job you want, focus on making a big impact right away. This will get the company to pay attention to you and give you their support. As you are more involved in the company, you'll get more projects, more responsibilities and you'll start mastering your job, landing better projects and proving yourself. This, in turn, will increase your pay, title and you'll get the best gigs.

Whether you succeed or fail, if you take risks, you'll learn and this is a good way to move forward. If you do manage the situation, you will improve your confidence and improve your reputation. These days being an entrepreneur is the way forward and taking risks will make you look better in the workplace and will allow to become successful. No entrepreneur has ever said they've never taken a risk in their life. 

You might have heard tons of career advice such as do what you love, always be the first one and the last to leave, or go the extra mile. That sounds great in an idyllic world but they are forgetting something: nobody cares about your career more than you do. While you might think that giving it all you've got will automatically propel your career forward, this is not usually the case. You cannot wait for others to recognize and reward your brilliance. That is why you must keep looking to improve your possibilities and that will make you valuable to anyone around you. Here are some pieces of advice that will get you moving to start Jan 2019 in the right way to build a solid career:

If your boss is not a good leader, try to find a mentor, someone who are good at their job and get them to lead you. Try and learn as much as you can from them, ask for advice and watch how they work, so you take what you can from it and make some progress.

When you want to learn some skill, look around for someone who is already good at it. Then just watch what they do, and copy it. Find what works for you, and modify it to your own abilities and style. - John Caprani.

In a new job, accept those first few invitations to lunch or happy hour. If you decline them, for whatever reason, they will stop, and you may find yourself an inadvertent outsider. - Laura Cooke, marketing communications director.

Try to make the next person's job down the line easier. For example, if you are working on a project that goes through different hands, see what kinds of things you can do on your end that will make the process flow easier for the next person who performs the next step. - Richard Gary Butler, artist and writer.

Richard Gary Butler also quoted Stephen Covey‘s best seller The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. Learn the art of sharpening the saw or the axe, before you begin the job at hand. In all our jobs, there are various tools that we use through the process. Proper maintenance to all these tools, including the tool of oneself, will make the job flow easier and you will be more productive. Trying to do work with inadequate tools or ones that require maintenance, will make the job harder and less productive.

Don't look too busy. I've seen smart and dedicated employees fail to get promoted, because they have taken on too much, working too hard, and appeared too frazzled. If you appear stressed, people will think you aren't prepared to take on more, and you'll miss opportunities for new and innovative projects. - Mira Zaslove, product manager at Cisco.

Always take the high road and avoid hallway conversations about your boss and how ineffective he is.

Never, ever cook fish in the office microwave. - Ryan Harvey, institutional investment consultant.

As you move up, your future success depends on doing unassigned work and responsibilities. Anyone who made it past the hiring process can do the assigned job at the company, but it takes a lot more to deliver value to the company that wasn't assigned or even thought of. - Victor Wong, CEO of PaperG.

Understand when people see you check your phone at every call, then don't answer when they call, they then know you put them on a low priority. - Mike Leary, psychotherapist in private practice.

Help others even if there is no direct benefit to yourself. It takes so little energy to answer questions, provide referrals, open doors, etc., for people who need your help, even if doing so offers you nothing immediate in return. Your efforts will be rewarded in the future in wholly unexpected ways. - Scott Wainner, entrepreneur, founder at Fareness.

Entitlement is a career killer. Focus on staying grateful and working hard rather than feeling that things are owed to you. If you do this you will look for opportunities without falling into the entitlement mindset that many people fall into. This will help you build the habits necessary to succeed. - Scott Miker, author, speaker and small business advisor.

The network of people you know who leave your current company are often times more valuable to you than those with your company. - James Schek, published writer.

The weaknesses that you're unaware of will hurt you the most. This is your blind spot. You must determine your hidden weaknesses and work to overcome them, and you're going to need the help from others to do this. - David Osborne, published writer.

Ask your boss what his biggest problem is, and make it go away. - Victoria Backaitis, published writer.

Don't just look up - look laterally as well, because people with diverse experience usually progress faster than people with more experience. - Vikrant Vaidya, technical lead (consulting) at Jaguar.

Richard Gary Butler also gives traditional advice like making yourself visible to your managers: To increase your value and make yourself more visible, do more than what is expected of you, go the extra mile, and do this with enthusiasm. If you only do what is expected of you and nothing more, you are just another employee. But if you go beyond expectations, you bring value not only to yourself, but to your company. Your manager will also enjoy having you on the team.

But then he gives more interesting advice: Learn and apply the value of proper interpersonal skills. In all of life, especially on the job, we are in contact with people. How we treat those we meet every day, or even intermittently, will determine your true success.