Dear Liz,
I'm an avid follower of yours although I admit that the first time I read one of your stories, I thought "That's a pie in the sky outlook." Now that I've read at least fifty of your columns, my viewpoint has shifted. Now I know what you mean when you say that we can take control of our own careers, if we are willing to.
I work for a large consumer packaged goods company. I've been here for five years, since I finished my MBA. I work incredibly long hours. The work is fine. It's very quantitative - we are a food company but our conversations revolve around market segments, launch schedules and pricing models.
Our group is on the hook to increase sales and margins every quarter. We fight our competitors every day for market share. It is a brutal business but I have done well in it. I've been promoted twice in five years.
My wife has been asking me if I'm happy working so hard and with so little time off. I've been saying "Yes, yes, I'm fine" for two or three years. Last Friday I had an "Aha!" that woke me up. We just launched a new snack food line that is going to be very popular but that requires a special fixture in retail stores.
Getting the new fixtures from our supplier has been the biggest headache in launching the product. We still have thousands of fixtures on backorder. I was able to make some short-term adjustments to our standard vendor payment terms and make other adjustments to get our supplier to hurry up with our back-ordered fixtures.
Toward the end of the day Friday I came out of a meeting where we had been allocating the scarce supply of shippable fixtures. I got in the elevator. Our division president was in the elevator. I don't really know him. His name is Blake. He is my boss's boss's boss.
Blake doesn't know me personally but he knows I work for him. He knows my face. He asked "Got any good news on those fixtures?" and I said "Yes! We're already past the worst of it. We can ship half of the back-ordered fixtures this week and the other half next week." That was good news. It was a breakthrough. The day before we hadn't had any idea when the fixture crisis might be resolved.
Blake said "Make it happen. Your job depends on it." He didn't even look at me. He looked at the elevator doors. I was stunned. I thought "What an a**hole!" Blake threatened my job to motivate me, in case I need that kind of motivation. Then he didn't say another word until the elevator reached his floor. He got out of the elevator silently.
I went to see my boss, Rachel. I told her what Blake said. "Just ignore him," said Rachel. "He's all bluster. He doesn't even know your name. He's already forgotten the conversation. Besides, if he had it in for you I would protect you."
I just stared at her. I appreciated her concern for me, but I am a thirty-six-year-old adult with a child of my own. I don't need my boss's protection. I don't want to work in a place where people say "I'll protect you from our boss" or where they say "Your job depends on it." It's so sick and wrong.
That was my wake-up call. I'm done giving every brain cell and waking minute to a company that doesn't value me in the slightest. I'm nothing to the people who make the decisions here. Blake showed me his true colors and Rachel did, too. They are both part of the problem.
Rachel is a sweetheart but a nice boss who offers to protect people from fearful bullies doesn't make the wrong company worth working for.
Now I don't know what to do. I know that I have to leave this job, and I have to decide what I want to do next. I want to branch out and work in a different industry. I'm not sure how to begin my research. I want to work in a place where the people care about something besides making more money.
I am tired of empty suits, back-stabbers and the Money First mentality. I feel like an idiot for wasting so much time on this hamster wheel. How do you recommend that I begin my career change process?
Thanks,
Noel
Dear Noel,
Congratulations on your great awakening! It can feel like a shock to the body when the message "You are wasting your time and your talents in this job" is delivered.
It can knock you for a loop in a big way, but as you have already discovered, the nudge you got in the elevator pushed you back on your path. It was a tough message to receive, but a blessing all the same.
Don't feel bad about your time on the hamster wheel. You learned a ton on the wheel and gained muscles and credibility that will give you lots of latitude as you make your next move. Lots of organizations and causes can benefit from what you know about audiences and market share and pricing models.
You have more to offer the world than a tasty new snack treat (not that there's anything wrong with snacks)! Your job now is to listen to your own heart and mind. What are your dreams? What do you love to do and know you're good at? Start with your mission and your passion. Then ask "Whose pain can I solve doing what I love to do?"
God Bless Blake, a great teacher, for showing you who he is. Don't waste your emotional energy holding any anger toward him. He isn't worthy of your anger, Noel. Poor Blake is mostly suit and hot air.
Who knows how far down below the surface the real guy is buried or whether he will ever emerge? Blake has nothing to do with you. He did his job. He reminded you that life is not forever and that you get to decide how to spend every second of it, and also must decide.
We all announce our priorities and re-commit to them every day. We demonstrate what we care about through our investment of our most precious resource -- our time.
Now that you have zoomed up in altitude, don't put yourself in a new box too fast. Don't short-circuit your reinvention by deciding what your new career will be based on strictly practical factors or worse yet, the result of any test or equation. Listen to your body, and your friends.
Give your reinvention time. It is a physical process and it has its own pace. You are lucky because you're employed.
I predict that you'll find a lighter way to do your job now: still committed, but not lost in your job description. The real Noel is in the driver's seat now!
A job that takes all our waking time is a smokescreen. We work ourselves to death as a hedge against having to look in the mirror. If we are always working we never have to stop and look. Most people don't dare ask "What do I want in my career?". Instead, they say:
- Why think about that? I have a job. I guess it's good enough.
- I can't think about change! I have a mortgage to pay.
- It's not important to do work I enjoy. It's just my job. So what?
- It's not my fault I have this stupid job. The deck is stacked against me.
- You don't understand what I'm up against. I don't have a lot of choices.
Deciding that you deserve to have the life and career you want is the biggest step, and that step is already behind you. Relax! Work in the garden and ride your bike. Dance to the radio and get a journal. Your reinvention will unfold. Enjoy the ride!
All the best,
Liz
Questions and Answers
Is Noel going to quit his job?
That's the plan, but Noel is going to launch a stealth (under-the-radar) job search while he's still got his current job. Noel is going to cast a wide net. He's going to explore lots of different options. This is his big chance to find the career path that will grow his flame!
I'm in the same situation as Noel. What should I do?
Get a journal and write in it every day or as often as you can. Get together with your friends. Don't make a quick job change just to get away from your current situation -- that could take you from the frying pan straight into the fire.
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