Michaels CEO tells young workers to stop daydreaming of success and ‘get moving, take some action, take some risk’

In an uncertain economy where workers are keeping their heads down amid layoffs and hiring freezes, many may forget that the biggest career opportunities can come from taking risks. However, Michaels CEO David Boone is here to remind young workers that fortune favors the bold—sitting around daydreaming of a career won’t actually move the needle. “Just get moving. The universe rewards doing things in action versus analyzing and thinking about things,” Boone said in a recent interview with the WSJ. “Get moving, take some action, take some risk.” Although Boone started his career three decades before today’s college graduates, the Gen X CEO suggested he can relate to the same career anxieties as Gen Z. Having graduated from Canada’s McMaster University in 1992—a sluggish year for hiring and consumer spending following the recession—finding his first 9-to-5 job “did not come easy,” Boone explained. He took a summer gig that turned into a contract, then full-time role. It wasn’t something he was interested in, but it was a good company to work for amid a “tough market,” and Boone recognized the value of jump-starting a career no matter the conditions. The Michaels leader worked his way up at his first post-college employer, Canadian retailer Loblaw Companies, for more than 15 years. And eventually, a major opportunity to join TD Bank’s leadership would force the up-and-coming CEO to make a drastic career choice: stay comfortable in his current role, or uproot his entire life to start a new job in the United States. It was a big leap, moving from the major metropolitan area of Toronto to the laid-back coastal city of Portland, Maine. But Boone knew the chance to lead as executive vice president of marketing at the $196 billion bank was too good to pass up on. With the stamp of approval from his family, the executive took the job and charted a new course. And if it weren’t for taking that risk, Boone says he may have never ascended to CEO of the craft supplies