PwC US CEO shares advice on career advancement through self-directed learning

Paul Griggs, the US chief executive of PwC, has shared career advice in an interview with Business Insider. Griggs started at PwC as an intern and worked his way up to lead the firm's US operations. He says a quote by Benjamin Franklin guided him: "Energy and persistence conquer all things."

Griggs told reporter Ana Altchek that getting ahead requires more than completing your assigned tasks. He compared two workers. One stops thinking about work before the weekend. The other spends 20 minutes looking into an unfamiliar problem first. Griggs believes the second approach makes a real difference.

He encouraged employees to stay curious and look for chances to learn, even when nobody has asked them to. He says these same principles still apply to workers today.