When You Know What You Want

Both my daughter and I are 'on the market' again looking for a new position. Because #2 is only on her second full-time, post-college role, everything must feel quite new to her. Interviews, resume prep, and cover letters are all very freighted and important. I think it must be especially fraught, because she is at that point in her career where it feels as though the next few roles set her on a trajectory, either by industry or specialisation. I suspect no amount of coaching will reduce the worry that the next role will permanently set the pattern of the rest of her life. I mean... it won't. Good luck telling a 20-something that.

I'm at the other end of this spectrum. After decades evolving from technical training to writing to design to management to change, I now know what I love, I know what makes me want to get up and go to work, I know what I'm good at and what I should never be trusted with. It's easy to position my experience in the market, price what I do, and be confident in my ability to deliver on the promises I make to potential clients. I've written countless cover letters, participated in any number of interviews on both sides of the table. I can afford to be comfortable and confident and take my time to find a position that is mutually beneficial.

I also feel like my ambition melted away over the past few years. It's hard to say when this started. There is a really good case to be made that the moment DrC and I decided to buy a boat, sell everything else, and sail away, the burning ambitions I had in my youth started to take a back seat to living for now, for these people, for this experience. There is no question that I became self-aware of the shift when DrC received his cancer diagnosis. This latest baff up the backside of the head with my heart konking out basically nailed my interest in taking over the corporate world into a coffin of youthful indiscretions and fanciful dreams.

But it might not just be our repeated brushes with mortality.

My first leadership role, I recruited into my team two very senior techncial writers. I felt so lucky to have them as their combined experience was measured in decades. They patiently raised a Baby Toast into a competent team leader, strategic thinker, and capable manager. At the time I was baffled by their lack of ambition. When I began to consider succession planning, they made it clear that neither of them had the slightest interest in my role. In fact, they specifically encouraged me to recruit into the team someone with less writing and training experience but good planning and project management background. This person could and would be my logical successor. After I hired that person, they groomed her too into an excellent leader so that when I left, the reins passed over seamlessly.

What I understand now is that both of them were Career End Game. They loved their work, enjoyed the role they held, were comfortable in the compensation offered. Two wonderful people who at the time seemed so old to me (but I now realise are about my current age) had balanced their needs economically, professionally, and personally and found a niche working for me that made them happy and fulfilled. It's not that they couldn't move up through some professional ranks; It's that they neither wanted to nor needed to do so.

I think I too am now Career End Game. I legitimately love what I do. I don't want to stop doing it, because every day I find something about the work I do that engages me, completes me, scratches a need either emotionally, intellectually, or egotistically. On the other hand, as I hit the market I'm not looking for something bigger, better, or at the next level of pay and responsibility. What I do adds value, turns on the lights behind other people's eyes, and creates opportunities for companies to simply Do Better by their people. What else do I need right now?

The wisdom of David and Diana is now so obvious to me. I'm also aware now of how they must have perceived me, all wet behind the ears, eager and energetic, but eminently 'trainable' as their leader. I recognise in retrospect their endless patience as I tried so hard to help them when in actuality the lessons they had to impart to me were the truly valuable ones. There's a time to push and shove and put in the hard yards and demand the next opportunity. But if you are very lucky, you'll also experience a time where you find your niche, strike the right balance between what you do and why you do it, fall into your avocation.

Good luck Mera! This is your time to go hard and fast and far. Your light is bright, and you'll find something where you can stretch, growth and find more of your talents. The whanau is all right behind you, as always, believing in you and wanting the best for you.

“My life is pretty well at peace, and the profession is more of an avocation. It's a calling, if you like, rather than a job. I do what I feel impelled to do, as an artist would.” ~ Jonas Salk