‘I’m not sure how to get from today to where I want to be,’ shared a colleague who is considering transition. She’s had a series of big jobs. She is a type A, fast-tracker. Her dream is to create a new marketing platform for an industry that she’s been in for years. The idea is disruptive and engaging and new. Sounds awesome, right? She carries the financial responsibility for her family among other demands. The result? A lot of ambiguity about how to transition. I wonder if there is any magic to how we transition? Continue reading…
People: transition’s holy grail
“I think I don’t have the right reference groups for what I want to be doing in my life,” shared a Focus Group participant. We were discussing the support structures necessary to navigate transition. Another woman shared, “I think people who have been through it before and for me sometimes it’s people who are actually new to me.” Wow. On balance these ladies sought new, more objective supporting casts as they made their way through transition. Best friends. Mothers. Siblings. Many came up short. Who constitutes your support structure in transition? Continue reading…
Adding more….
“We’ve arrived at this process in an additive way,” offered an articulate woman at a dinner I attended earlier this week. We were talking about a key process for a finance organization while perched high above New York’s East River in a gorgeously appointed pre-war apartment. “We started with a good focus but kept adding items as people joined. Each ‘add’ was in response to an issue raised by a new participant.” The result? An unwieldy thirty step process that arguably undermined the original goals. Have you ever experienced something like this? Additive. Continue reading…
The courage of questions…
“What are you getting out of it?” asked a Focus Group participant rhetorically. “It’s like….you got a paycheck, you got investments or whatever it was. But in the big scheme of things you just look at what matters. And that shifts over time. Based on where you are in your life.” Eight ladies were discussing their transitions. Each person at the table was at a different place. Kids. No kids. Recently married. Divorced. Budding entrepreneur. Teetering financial stability. Regardless of their personal circumstances everyone had gotten to the same spot. Questions. About themselves, their passions. What questions are you asking yourself? Continue reading…
Transition’s Enabler….
As you look forward into the New Year have you been considering transition? Maybe you’re rebounding from a 2013 job loss but you’re questioning if you want to get back into the same thing. Maybe you’re someone who has prioritized other’s needs over your own and now find yourself ready to re-prioritize. Maybe you are realizing that you need to regroup because your long sought after career choice isn’t all that you thought it might be. Whatever the drivers transition simply represents a point in time when we’re faced with a decision: to change or to transition. Which path will you choose?
Beginnings…..
“What is transition?” asked a woman who was giving me feedback on one of my project’s just prior to the end of last year. Her question was sincere. It’s a question that I get often. It always gives me pause. Transition. How would you define it? Continue reading…
A gift for you this holiday…
“What will be the fullest expression of your greatness?” Sounds jarring, doesn’t it? It isn’t meant to be. The New Yorker’s Philip Gourevitch stated in a Postscript piece eulogizing Nelson Mandela, “It was in the negotiations of apartheid’s end that Mandela’s greatness found its fullest expression.” The instant I read the sentence I loved it. Why? I believe that every person, no exception, has a greatness quotient. Our toughest work? Bringing it forth. Continue reading…
Holiday gifts….
“What are you getting out of it?” offered a Focus Group participant. She was describing her rubric, the screening technique that she’d adopted to view her options. This slant was a new non-negotiable for her, designed specifically for her transition. “There was a time,” she said, “when I was getting divorced. I had a serious financial situation. I needed to keep the job.” Now, years later, she described her quick decision to take a ‘package,’ ending a multi-decade marketing career inside a large employer. Her adult siblings became thoroughly unglued by her decision. To her it was an obvious choice. The only choice. Does her calculus hold true for you? What are you getting – or giving this season? Continue reading…
A Beginner’s Mind
“Katie’s Chinese?” said my nine-year old in a quizzical tone. Total disbelief hung in the air. “Adopted? Are you sure?” He and my daughter were discussing a neighborhood playmate, a child that they’ve known for close to a decade. Their exchange humbled me. Could these two really have not seen any differences as they laughed & played with this beautiful little girl? Their conversation got me thinking about the impact of what we see, and don’t see, in transition. 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…