“We love you! We love you!” recalled Audrey Zabin in an interview on WBUR’s Kind World Series, “Remembering Karim: A Lifetime of Kindness.” She was summoning the words of a Lebanese gentleman, Karim, who was an attendant at a nondescript gas station in Cambridge, MA. Karim was an incredible man – part attendant, part therapist, part chef. A deep listener. Patrons at the gas station offered to help when Karim faced what would be a losing a battle with cancer. A rent-free apartment soon appeared, one that was more accessible to the station. So too, the funds required to return his body to Lebanon where his wife and children still remained. Are there many people you know who would garner such support from relative strangers? Continue reading…
Transition’s scope
“What kind of transition? Career? Or a job?,” said a business acquaintance of mine during a conversation we had earlier this week. I was giving him an update about my work. He seemed genuinely interested in the blog. But he couldn’t reconcile the notion of transition outside of job-related issues. Ever notice how many people go there? Maybe jobs are safe ground. Objective. Sometimes opaque. I should mention that he is a marketer. Market segmentation is his world. Is transition only about jobs? Or is it broader? What exactly does transition entail? Continue reading…
Defining moments…
“Find a way,” shared Diana Nyad in a recent interview. Nyad is the 60+ year old distance swimmer who recently completed a historic swim between Cuba and The United States. The phrase, it seems, served as her mantra for close to 53 hours in the water. She went on to offer that it allowed her to, “get through this one minute.” A minute that could have held a cramp or a pain or an emotion. Her swim was exactly that – a series of minutes. Could your transition benefit from such a simple perspective? Continue reading…
Options?
‘It has a lot to do with how women see their options,’ observed a leader of gender studies at an esteemed Boston university. She participated as an industry expert in last spring’s Research Jam. This remark was in response to our discussion about when & why women choose to transition. Her perspective was incredibly simple. Do women perceive that they have options? Some do. Many others don’t. In your world what role do options play? What would happen if you expanded your aperture for options just a bit? Continue reading…
Transition’s detours
“They’re probably ones that I would have said at some point in the last six months or ones I could say tomorrow or next week,” shared a focus group participant. She and her co-participants had just discussed adjectives that ‘characterize transition.’ The surprise? Regardless of the reason for the transition – job loss, divorce, career change, or life events related to parenting – the adjectives were all the same. Scary. Rewarding. Embarrassing. Liberating. Freeing. Confusing. Exhilarating. Uncomfortable. Unnverving. Overwhelming. Shameful. Empowering. Have you ever surfed transition’s emotion buffet? Continue reading…
Transition’s Required Armor
“You just start thinking about other things that you can do. You think about your dreams and your goals. You see it and it gives you hope. And energy. You feel energized,” said Vicci Recckio, member of the Benson Babes. The group, all participants in the Benson Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine, was featured on an NPR piece entitled, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Coat. Their catalyst? A coat purchased from a thrift shop for $10 and shared among participants who were undergoing cancer treatments. A coat? Could a coat really provide hope, energy? Continue reading…
Assessing forward progress…
“What has been the most difficult part of your transition?” asked a friend in a shaky voice. Her tone underscored her status. She sounded on edge. My guess was that she was reeling from yet another setback. Ever been there? I was momentarily silent in response to her question. Which parts? In my mind several were vying for the preeminent spot…most difficult. Continue reading…
Transition’s creative barrier…
“Have you started cleaning closets?” asked a business school classmate of mine immediately after I started my transition. She shared that another classmate, who had been a high-ranking executive in the financial services industry, did exactly that for two months following her acrimonious departure from an employer. My friend viewed this activity positively, a cleanse. Was it? Is cleanliness or organization an accompaniment to transition? Continue reading…
Bringing Transition Into Focus
“Take yourself out of autopilot,” encouraged Janice Marturano, a former executive at General Mills and now head of the Institute for Mindful Leadership. Her plea was part of an overall recommendation towards purposeful pauses featured in, In Mindfulness, a Method to Sharpen Focus and Open Minds (NY Times 3/23/2012). She reasoned that with mindfulness, “overtime you’ll feel more focused and connected to yourself and others.” Reverse autopilot. Could that concept benefit you? Continue reading…
A decade’s lesson: maintain relationships
“I figured out how the guys do it,” screeched an exasperated friend following a conversation with a former colleague. Over the course of the call my friend learned about a common practice in the financial services industry…parking certifications. It seems that if a person leaves a large firm to ‘work’ in a consulting capacity said professional can hold onto their certifications. Not so if that person simply becomes unemployed. ‘That’s how the old boys network does it,” she fumed. “They park someone’s certs and say they are ‘consulting.'” She was beside herself. From her perch….this ‘parking’ courtesy wasn’t often extended to women regardless of their vocation after leaving a large firm. Continue reading…