Got the mid-career scaries? Facing layoffs? Afraid of “falling behind”? Join mid-career coach Selina Yankson and I on Wednesday for a frank and helpful chat on LinkedIn Live. You can sign up to attend, or watch the recording afterwards, here.
I’m 42, now, which means my career has taken some detours. I’ve been a barista. I’ve trained people. I’ve worked in banking and investment. I’ve been a journalist. I’ve been a manager. I’ve been a comms guy. I’ve worked for good causes. I’m a father and caregiver. And now, somewhat to my surprise, I’m a successful entrepreneur. Still, it’s unlikely I’d have believed you, if you said all this was in store when I was 15. That’s when my career began, delivering newspapers in the neighborhood where I grew up.
Along the way I’ve had to learn a few things. First: Fear is something you need to manage. The fear of doing and trying new things. The fear of failure. The fear of losing control and losing power. For someone like Don Draper on Mad Men, the main goal of mid career was to get to the corner office and have a lie down. Once people knew you for delivering, you could collect a paycheck and have a rest. He was always resisting efforts to take away his power. These days, someone like Don Draper wouldn’t last ten minutes. Somebody else would have figured out how to do what he did. A consultant would have pointed out that his power games were nonsense. He’d be out on the street. I’ve learned fear of change is a waste of time. Fear of layoffs is a waste of time. In fact, I tend to think the best thing for my career was the Covid-19 pandemic. I had to face down paying New York rent without a safety net, and then, they closed my shared office. I had to figure out so many things. There wasn’t much time for looking down. I had to walk the tightrope. I don’t mean to sound callous about the pandemic, either. It’s been horrific and I’ve been lucky. I’m grateful for the luck as well as the fruits of my labor and my privilege.
There’s another big thing I’ve learned. This is a career market where your ability to learn new skills will be decisive. One of the biggest new skills people are learning is how to communicate. Whether it’s writing or preparing themselves for broadcast. You’re a one-person brand and your value comes more than ever from being comfortable with that. Amidst all this is the ability to know your unique value. What do you do better than anybody else? Is it concentrate on a piece of text and make it amazing? Is it lead a group of people together to right an injustice? Is it shepherd a complex project with a lot of difficult people? Or do you have a great product people love, and want to use, more than anything?
With so many questions and new concerns, mid-career is a lonely place to be for many people. You might be taking two vacations a year and ticking all your boxes. At the same time you might feel a little lost. What’s your purpose? How can you connect it with how you’re earning a living? Selina and I will be talking through some of this stuff and more on Wednesday. I hope you’ll join us. I know it’s going to be a fascinating conversation. It will be all the more fascinating if you join us and weigh in with your questions and concerns, in the comments!
Navigating Mid-Career Transitions
