Find Your Passion & Fuel your Profession

The reality for far too many people in the workforce today is that they feel trapped in their jobs. They want to do something else, they feel their skillsets aren’t being fully utilized, or overall they feel a disconnect with the company they work for. If you read enough career management articles and blog posts, most of them will tell you to find something else, quit your job, make the change, you only live once, etc. The truth for a lot of folks is that they simply can’t do that. They can’t (or maybe won’t) for one or more of the following reasons:

• The job provides a nice work/life balance
• Their current commute is very manageable
• The first two points are important to them as they have parental or elder care responsibilities
• They enjoy the people they work with (not necessarily for)
• They have been with the company a long time and don’t want to give up their pension or other accrued retirement benefits
• The medical plan is great and it supports their current personal situation
• They are scared of change and “starting over”

I know that at first glance, some (or all) of these reasons may look like excuses from the outside looking in. The truth is that without fully understanding a person’s circumstance, these may all be very valid reasons to not change jobs and no, that isn’t a cop out. People reach certain major milestones in their lives (student debt paid off, 1^st child, sick kids/daycare, 1^st child to college, aging parents, etc.) that drive a lot of their career decision making.

Here is the thing, it is my opinion (and it is only that, an opinion) that in most cases, there is no such thing as a perfect job. There is no ultimate job and company were you get to use your full skillset day in and day out AND you have a great boss that gives you autonomy and independence but provides a great level of coaching and guidance AND the company has a super inclusive benefits package AND you have a phenomenal work-life balance AND you have the most awesome co-workers ever AND you are paid top of market wages. Usually one or two of these things are a bit out of alignment or have some imperfections, so we all have to figure what the most important things are to us. The great thing about going through is exercise is that the final outcome or decision might not be that your job sucks or that you have to change, it is that once you realize what is important to you, you may realize that your current situation might not be that bad!

Here is the real beauty of all of this – there are ways to make your current job better and it is something that you can fully control. I am a big believer in aligning yourself with your profession (assuming it is your chosen profession). So, if you find your overall job is not giving you everything you need, it may not be a matter of moving on, but of finding your passion and fueling your profession. What I mean, it that you need to find ways to get more involved with others in your profession. Perhaps it is via professional development lunches, dinners and other networking events. It could also be through chamber of commerce events, via a volunteer board of directors or even start out by connecting via social media. Get out of your comfort zone and your office and look beyond the four walls of current office. There is a great big world out there that you can be a part of that will enrich your overall work experience. Think of all of this as building and enhancing your professional brand.

Other ways to give back to your profession, that you can own and drive, include doing things like speaking and presenting at the aforementioned events as well as at conferences. Do you have something to share? Then speak about it! Give back to your profession. Align with your profession. Fuel your profession by finding your passion! Take all those great ideas you have and things you want to try and speak about them. Position yourself as a person of knowledge and ultimately influence in your profession. Develop your brand and accelerate your exposure through LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Start a blog and write about some of these things. There are many great ways to move beyond the mundane if you are feeling trapped. Take control of your career. Remember, you own your career and your profession – fuel them! As always, I welcome your feedback and comments.

Photo courtesy of arztsamui/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It’s My (her) Prerogative

In the words of Bobby Brown, “It’s my prerogative, I can do just what I want.”  (for those of you that grew up in the 80’s try and get that out of your head now).  Or perhaps those are the words of Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo?  Last week I blogged about the Yahoo decision to revoke work at home arrangements and bring everyone back together under the same roof at Yahoo.  My initial goal with this post was to present a balanced approach to this situation and look at both sides of things – that is, the impact to the employees and the business imperative in doing so. After having read numerous opinion pieces about this and many blog posts, I can say that for the short term I have swayed a bit more to the company stance on this one.

Now, I have heard all the arguments such as the impact to parents, the fact that Mayer is copying Google, this will stifle the hiring of talented individuals as Yahoo’s competitors offer work at home arrangements and that work at home employees are in fact highly productive, etc. To those arguments I say:

Re. copying Google – Hard to argue with success
Re. impact to parents – Is the greater impact not having a job?
Re. talent hiring/productivity – Do we really think that this was a knee-jerk reaction by Mayer based on complete subjectivity and that she isn’t aware of the data?”

As I wrote in my last post, there is a lot about this situation we don’t know. (And good on Yahoo for not responding publicly). I am providing opinion based on assumptions that Mayer has communicated the business rationale and an end vision/desired state as a result of these changes. It is incumbent upon Mayer and her leadership team to articulate and lead this change. Yahoo is in a precarious state that requires its leader(s) to make tough (re. unpopular) decisions to move the business forward. Mayer has made the first of these decisions and I would hope her focus is that by doing this she will not only move Yahoo forward, but also eliminate the need to reduce her workforce i.e. layoffs.

I think that China Gorman said it best on her blog post, when commenting on the fact that she too agrees with the data around work at home arrangements and their benefit; however, as she puts it, it is all great “….except when management has lost line of sight into employee productivity. Except when the culture of work and communication has gotten inefficient and lost its discipline and rigor. Except when out of sight truly is out of mind.”

At the end of the day, it is Mayer’s (as CEO) prerogative to do just what she wants. Hopefully she is leading Yahoo through this change and not commanding it. Until we know more, we have to give her the benefit of the doubt that she feels this is the first step in turning Yahoo around in its innovative capabilities. This may only be a short term change as well until such time as the leadership has a better handle on its company capabilities and people strengths.  Despite the outrage, there are worse fates that being asked to come into work in person vs. working at home. Having been on both sides of the position reduction desk before, let me tell you, neither is fun to be a part of, especially when you are the one being “reduced.” However, given the choice between work at home or no job, I know which one I would take – especially if I knew what the “big picture” was in all of this and that there was a company trying to be saved here. As always, I welcome your comments and feedback.

Photo credit Jason Junker/Amazon