Jade stepped out on her apartmentās patio to survey the city peeping through the river fog. For the next three weeks, her apartment would be taken over by a couple from Chicago, arranged through AirBnB. Her Uber was ten minutes away, according to the app, to take her on the first step to Cuba. Her editor at the cityās major daily had assigned her to do a story on how the recent trade policy changes impacted medical care practices for both that country and the United States. U.S.-made prescription drugs, once under embargo, were now saving peopleās lives in Cuba. Cuban medical practitioners had some advice on public health policy to share in return: Cuba had the highest average life expectancy rates in the regionāalmost 79 years.
When she graduated ten years ago, Jade had dreamed of traveling to foreign countries and reporting on important stories, but her chosen field of journalism was in great upheaval. Although college prepared her with the fundamental skills she needed, the massive technological changes and industry-wide job hemorrhaging left behind an uncertain career path. In the last ten years, she had held jobs with nine different employers and had dozens of side contracts to gain experience and make ends meet.
Along the way, she realized that, in order to create the career she wanted, she needed to look at new media jobs. In truth, the jobs were both exciting and daunting because she would have to personally morph to learn new skills. Jobs like website designer, media app developer, growth hacker, emerging media editor, audience strategist, blogger, and podcaster seemed to be everywhere. While she experimented working at startups in some of those roles, she also started a blog called JournEmerge, about the experiences of journalists and their journeys as they adapted to the changing world. Ironically, her shift to new kinds of journalism landed her a traditional role at one of the worldās largest dailies. A hiring manager followed her blog and Twitter feed and reached out to her when a spot opened up.
From her feedback on her blog, she knew life could have ended up very differently, as one person who left a post on her blog said. āHi, Iām David, and thanks so much for your blog. My story is a lot like others on this site. I just didnāt see it coming. I was so clueless. When I got my pink slip and went out to sit in my car, I noticed the new-car smell. Only that morning Iād loved the smell, but now it felt like a chain around my neck.
āI donāt want to sound overly proud, but I thought I was immune. I had been nominated for three Pulitzer Prizes, won numerous investigative awards, and worked in Tokyo, Beijing, London, and SĆ”o Paulo. None of the writers on staff had as much global experience, and only a few had won as much journalistic recognition. Well, clearly that didnāt work out.
āThe paper hired a young newsroom chief who kept asking me about my social presence and what I was doing to promote my stories. Honestly, at the time I thought that was ridiculous and completely ignored her. Not a good idea.
āFortunately I got a job pretty quickly with an international consulting firm. They thought my global experience, especially living in Asia, and writing skills would make me a good analyst. Looking back, they should have, but I just wasnāt ready to leave my old mindset behind. I still wanted to report independently and with ruthless truthfulness.
The clients didnāt always appreciate those values. I bombed out after only 18 months.
āFinally I had that apocryphal āahaā moment. Two pink slips inside of two years will do that for you. Either I had to change, or my kids would be on their own for college. I had promised them a college education, and I am not a person to renege on my promises. I contacted the boss who had laid me off, took her to lunch, and asked her to mentor me.
āShe was incredibly gracious and spent a half-dozen sessions with me. Her mentoring helped me see the new world of media. Not long after, I got a job with a global research firm and Iāve been there almost seven years. My kids have both now graduated. I just wanted to let your readers know that it is possible to transition at any age. You just have to be open.ā
David and Jadeās stories are like those of so many of us who prepared for careers that have ended up far away from our original vision. With an eye toward the future, still early in her career, it was easier for Jade to adapt as her industry shifted. David took longer to let go of a world that no longer existed. Your story may be different from theirs, but no matter what company, field, industry, or geography you are in, to be ready for tomorrow, you will need to stretch beyond your capabilities of today.
Who Do You Want to Be Tomorrow?
Gallup reports that the majority of us are disengaged at work. Pointing the finger at leadership for this state of affairs is easy to do. According to the Gallup Chairman and CEO, Jim Clifton, āOf the approximately 100 million people in America who hold full-time jobs, 30 million (30 percent) are engaged and inspired at work. So we can assume they have a great boss. At the other end of the spectrum are roughly 20 million (20 percent) employees who are actively disengaged. These employees, who have bosses from hell that make them miserable, roam the halls spreading discontent. The other 50 million (50 percent) American workers are not engaged. Theyāre just kind of present, but not inspired by their work or their managers.ā
Engagement, then, is all about the bosses, if you believe Gallup. Logically then, the only options you have are to change bosses or stay in an unhappy situation.
We disagree.
Engagement is not a one-way street and not all on the shoulders of the boss. Thatās like saying a marriage is all up to just one partner. We believe you have the power to change from disengaged to engaged and to realize your career dreams, no matter what kind of boss you have. Why leave your development, your happiness, and your career in the hands of someone else? Engagement scores have not shifted dramatically in the fifteen years Gallup has been measuring them, in spite of millions of dollars of training for managers. Something needs to change.
Studs Terkel, author and Pulitzer Prize winner, said, āWork is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying.ā Work is integral to a fulfilling life. Your only job satisfaction should not be direct deposit. You can find meaning, be engaged, and build a stunning career. Boss optional.
Earlier in her career, Barbara worked closely with Fred Rogers, a childrenās advocate and television host. Fred was completely engaged in his work and personally responded to every letter from the children of the world who wrote to him. After nearly four decades of work, suffering from cancer, Fred started working from home. He asked the staff to continue to send him the letters, and he answered his last letter the day before he died. This is more than a strong work ethic; this is engagement at its most empowering and compassionate.
Imagine if everyone, yourself included, was as engaged in your work as Fred Rogers. And we can be, regardless of present or past work situations, education level, or even childhood expectations. Perhaps you are the first generation to complete college, just as Barbara and Karie are in our families. The future you could imagine for yourself might have been defined by the experiences of your parents. You wouldnāt be the first to get advice from your parents that limited your future. Leonard Nimoy, the late acclaimed actor who played the character Spock in Star Trek, was told by his Ukrainian-born father, Max, that if he wanted to pursue acting, he needed to get a practical skill that would serve him well throughout his life. āLearn to play the accordion,ā Max Nimoy urged. āYou can always make a living with an accordion.ā Fortunately for Star...
