Are You Too Old For a Change?

"Wanted, CEO of Not For Profit group, offices in all major cities towns and regions of the world. Workforce of 3 million, annual budget of 2 billion. Serving over 1 billion clients per year. Dealing with worldwide geopolitical events, you will need good stamina, much travel and meetings involved."
Can you imagine what you would need to take on this kind of role? What type of skills would you need? Well, this past while, a 78 year old cardinal took on this new job: Pope.

I think it is amazing that anyone would do this, not too mention someone who is 78. I realize his situation is quite unique, but think of the wisdom, life experience and knowledge that he brings to this position. Unfortunately we do live in a young world. In 1980, 45% of CEO's were between 60-69 years old. By 2002 that statistic had dropped to 25%. However, I take consolation in the fact that someone like Cardinal Ratzinger is now taking on his new role. What courage and openness it must take for his peers to recognize what he has to offer. It does give me hope that there are situations where this is possible.

I get questions all the time? Am I too old? Is it too late? While there are different challenges and there are certain jobs with age restrictions, there are many examples of those who have been able to transition later in life. It is more difficult to do this at 45 than 25, but not impossible.

However, the age of our mind is way more important. I know some very youthful 60 year olds and some very old 43 year olds.


Along the road with you...

Taking Pride In Your Work?

I was taking the train recently, this is a common occurrence in my life, not that I don't like planes, it's just that on short visits there is no more efficient way to travel.
Observation #1: When I got on the train I noticed one of the stewards named Ronald. He was well dressed with his tie in place, shoes polished and generally a pleasant demeanor.

Observation #2: I overheard Ronald ask a colleague if he could help take tickets because he needed to help the next car that was getting behind.

Observation #3: Now I have to confess, the third observation was brought on because I put my shoes on the seat in front on me. Ronald not only noticed this, but he mentioned it to me in a gentle way, dusted off the seat in front of me and even brought me a magazine to put under my shoes so that I could rest my feet and keep the seat clean.

You have to remember; in his role he is not paid more to perform better, so there is not the same level of self- interest. Because of this, it is more and more unusual to experience this type of job performance in almost any type of service you experience. The overall feeling that I sensed that day was the Ronald cares.

It was a Sunday and I am sure he would rather be with his family or maybe golfing but instead he was involved AND interested in doing his best. I would suggest that he generally enjoys his work or at least takes pride in himself and the kind of work that he is producing.

Last time I looked I didn't see the president of VIA looking over his shoulder; Ronald he was doing it because he took pride in his work. So who wins with this? By having satisfied customers and repeat business, VIA wins. I win with a more pleasant trip. Ultimately Ronald is the big winner, both intrinsically and in the probability of him being promoted in his career.

The next time you are on VIA rail look for Ronald Langevin. He's the one who cares.


Along the road with you...

10 Coolest Jobs

A recent survey produced by AOL and Salary.com was conducted to gage people's attitudes towards the sex appeal vs. the financial prospects in career choices and survey says these are the 10 Coolest jobs:
1. Firefighter
2. Flight attendants
3. CEO
4. Reporter
5. Interior Designer
6. Event Planner
7. Nurse
8. Teacher
9. Doctor
10. Lawyer

To be frank, I was surprised how common the titles sound. Surely there are other positions that are more unique and have more sex appeal. I think it speaks more to our culture's familiarity to these professions than to their coolness factor.

Here's a water cooler conversation, ask 3 of your peers to name the top 10 professions in the workforce. They would most likely give a short list. Most people don't tend to know the options out there. No one thinks of Wine Merchant (buying and sampling wine), or Mystery Traveler (touring cities and reporting on them), or Brand/Product Namer (getting to name some of the world's most popular products). The more we know and are aware of can be helpful in avoiding limitations when making career decisions.

We spend a good deal of our time helping our clients figure out what to do with their education and experience. With tools and frameworks and our depth of knowledge of over 30,000 job titles, we determine the 10 coolest jobs for them. I have to say there is a wonderful range of options. You just need to move beyond your own bias and knowledge base and start to reach out. Are you thinking you may need help with your top 10? Book a consultation and find out what your options really are.


Along the road with you...

Career Assessment Tools

If you have followed the Olympics the last few years you will have noticed a country far away with a limited amount of people winning lots of medals (no, not Canada). Australia came 4th in the world 17 Gold, 16 Silver, 16 Bronze. The US was number 1, and Canada came in 1 medal above Turkey (I am not joking!)

This was a huge improvement over the 1992 Olympic games where Australia came 11th in the medal standings, US was second, Canada was 12th and Turkey was 24th. Needless to say Australia is doing something much better in its Olympic program and has the results to prove it.

What are they doing you ask? Well, one key factor is that kids take an athletic assessment test that recommends which sports they play. Other factors include financial support of the athletes and the infrastructure that was built for the Sydney Olympics. Australia has a number of sport scientists who have developed a comprehensive testing system that can put you through 30 tests and compare the results to those of peers and elite athletes. This database will then produce a report that produces ranks of sports, and even positions-cool!

The key here is that it is a comprehensive process and there is lots of data to support the results. My experience is there are a lot of good tools but very few great career assessment tools. The benefit is the ability of the process to be used as an objective benchmarking element to help make wiser decisions sooner. In our process we have tools that help pinpoint the right careers and positions but tools are just one part of the road to success. It is the coaching that takes the tools and produces real results.

G'day mate I'm off to a barbie...

The Two Biggest Mistakes Managers Make

The results are documented in a book called First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently, by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman (Simon & Schuster, 272 pp., $28.35). According to the study, many managers make two key mistakes:

1. They assume that each person can learn to be competent in almost anything.

2. They believe each person's greatest room for improvement is in their weakness.

Great managers, however, do not help people overcome their weaknesses so they can do a competent job, because competency does not lead to excellence. Which would you prefer, a "competent" surgeon or a great surgeon?

It can be dangerous to focus on improving an individual's weaknesses. This can take an enormous amount of energy on the part of the manager and the person being managed.

Obviously, we all can improve; however, having a strengths-focused philosophy increases the likelihood of success and is much more profitable and enjoyable for all involved.