Chapter 8
Why You Are NOT Stuck in Your Career: The Power of Change
My favorite fruit is grapes. Because with grapes, you always get another chance. If you have a crappy apple or peach, you're stuck with that crappy piece of fruit. But if you have a crappy grape, you just move on to the next one. Grapes: The Fruit of Hope.
—Demetri Martin
Do You Feel You Are Stuck?
Most of my clients can easily identify when they are stuck. The problem comes in figuring out why they feel stuck and what they can do about it.
The Why of Stuck: Quit Being Helpless
“But I am stuck, Dr. Bray,” Lisa yelled at me. (Yes, she did yell!) “I can't leave my job because I have kids, a mortgage, bills, car payments, and responsibilities …” … Blah, blah, blah. Lisa then proceeded to list every reason she could remotely think of why she was stuck in her life. They were all good reasons why she couldn't change her current situation. “Help me get unstuck!” she pleaded.
So I went drastic with her. She needed to be reminded of her power to choose in order to change the paradigm of her career.
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Embracing Change
In many of my seminars, I ask participants to raise their hands if they perform their current job the exact same way they did five years ago. Only about one or two out of every hundred people raise their hands. I then ask them to compare how they performed their job three years ago compared to today. Only about 30 percent say they do their job the same way they did three years ago. So, according to my rough poll, that means the job you do today is going to be significantly different in less than three years. This means you will need to continually learn, improve, and adjust your skills to meet the needs of a changing role. Change is a constant. The problem is most of us don't like change.
You're Not Stuck—You Can Change Positions within Your Company
Recently, I worked with an individual who has been in banking and finance for over 20 years. In that time, he has been in three completely different segments of the banking industry that had no direct relation to one another. He shared that he “never expected his career to be so full of change,” but he now sees those changes have been a benefit to his career and income. He has become more experienced and valuable as an employee with each new set of responsibilities. So remember—you are not stuck, but you might need to do some changing.
You're Not Stuck in One Career Forever
My clients often tell me—“Change wouldn't be hard if I knew the next job or promotion was going to be better than what I have now.” I always tell them—“Start the journey and you'll figure it out as you go. Make a choice, move ahead with confidence and the road will appear.”
“I have taken three career assessments, three personality tests, and met with two career counselors,” Andy told me. “According to all the interviews I've done, they tell me it is clear I would make a fantastic accountant. Nearly every assessment and test is pointing me toward this type of work. But to be realistic, Dr. Bray, I don't know if being an accountant really fits my personality. I like the numbers part and the process aspect, but the thought of sitting at a desk all day is not what I want to do for the rest of my career. I have worked as a volunteer firefighter in the past and that was a job I really enjoyed. I know accountants make more money than firemen, but I'm not sure what I should do. I'm stuck. Which direction do you think I should go?”
I didn't need to think before I responded to that question! If any career counselor within a 10-mile radius of me could have heard what I said, they would have rolled their eyes in disgust and shoved a career assessment right down my throat to gag and silence me from ever speaking such career heresy again. I told Andy, “You may be well suited to several different jobs. So you can take either job, you can take both jobs, or you can find some completely different job in a totally separate market segment. Why? Because, like most people, you are not going to have just one career for the rest of your life. Life doesn't work that way anymore. You will likely have numerous jobs and they are all going to have positive and negative aspects to them. As you progress through your career, you are going to identify what things you like about each job and what particular aspects you don't like. With each new job, you should be moving toward getting more of the positives and less of the negatives. That is called career development. It's part of the process of finding your Best Job Ever!
“If you want to be a fire fighter, go be a fire fighter. If after three or four years of running into burning houses, you decide you want to get an accountant job and sit in a safe building, then make a change at that point. Will there be consequences to that way of thinking? For sure, but they will not be as bad as you think. One of the Big Five accounting firms may not hire you, but I know lots of mid-sized companies that would hire a fire fighter accountant. As a fire fighter, you may initially make $15,000 less per year than you would as an accountant but that may be worth having had your stint as a fire fighter. I would take $15,000 less to have the chance to run into a burning building and save someone!”
To clarify, I'm not saying everyone needs to jump ship and leave his or her company. You may have just as many opportunities inside your current organization as you would outside of it. I worked for a Fortune 100 company for 12 years and had six different positions, some of which I sought and some of which came looking for me. The key for me was not to get stuck, but to expand my skills and increase what I could offer the organization. The same goes for you. As you progress throughout your career and increase your competencies, the time will come when the positives far outweigh the negatives and you'll find yourself happy and fulfilled with the work you are doing daily.
The Truth About Being Stuck
You are not stuck. You have the power to choose and to change.
I will say it 10,000 times: you are not stuck in one career field for the rest of your life. The knowledge and experience that you collect, the expertise and skills you master can be related to numerous different fields. The leadership skills you develop in sales will be just as effective for being a leader in the technology field. If you have been successful in customer service and now want to move into the marketing department of your company, it is possible. In fact, more and more organizations are assigning brief work stints in different parts of the organization to give future leaders a broader sense of the company. It is much more common in the last decade to see successful individuals move to different parts of an organization. The key is, you need to be a successful employee so that other doors will be opened for you. You also need to have done some networking within that department so they know you and you know them. Yes, it may be more difficult than taking the traditional route but transitioning to other departments will serve you well as your career progresses.
Look at your career more as a climbing wall than as a ladder. You may need to step down, move sideways, and then climb back up.
For example, a Fortune 50 company I recently worked with promoted a very successful salesperson into the product department. He brought valuable expertise and knowledge to a department that didn't have much interaction with the field force. By collaborating with the field force to gather feedback, he has helped that department make a significant difference in what they offer other parts of the organization. He brought together two departments that had previously worked in a silo mentality. It helped the company and helped his own branding and career.
Another example is Kate, who decided to return to the workforce after 20 years of staying home to raise her children. Not sure what she could offer a company and a bit timid about her skills, she took a lower-level position in the communications department. Within three years, she had been promoted twice. Everyone wanted to work with Kate on projects. Not only were the projects always successful, everyone also enjoyed working on her team. She laughed and told me, “This is nothing compared to the mayhem of having three kids under five years old for 24 hours a day. An angry executive is easy to handle in comparison. I learned valuable lessons at home that have served me well in corporate America.” Companies have quickly come to understand that many of the skills that have made an individual successful in the past are transferable to other parts of their organization.
- Do you feel stuck? Yes or No?
- What are the top five reasons you feel stuck?
Now that you have identified the reasons you feel stuck, you are prepared for Part Three, which will empower you to make whatever changes are necessary to become unstuck.