The Career Adventurers Fieldguide

What fellow career adventurer's say:. On careers: a job is where you look at the clock, leave promptly at five, and report to other people. A career is one in which you fully own your responsibilities. Even though you may have other people that you answer to, you are clearly responsible for the results that you produce in your own niche in the organization. I never went after a job; I always went after a career. On personality: personality fit is the key to a happy and productive work life. Also, understanding other people's personalities and their different styles, and being able to be flexible enough to work with their style to get the most out of the relationship. On redundancy: take a step back and say, OK, this is an opportunity to really think about what you would most like to do. What kinds of things do you excel at, what are you passionate about? Think about and focus on those things, and you are much more likely to find yourself in a next role in which you can be successful. Think of it as an opportunity to assess yourself and move on, as an opportunity for change. On mentoring: potential mentees naturally want to seize an opportunity.
But they ask too much too quickly, which is a turn-off for people in positions of power. However, if you really understand the process, plant seeds early on in the relationship, and just get yourself in, you can work on developing something bigger over time. The high points: I created the idea of recreating the Seurat painting, "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte". We had people dress as in the painting. Thousands of people came to see and photograph the scene. All of the press, including international, covered the event. My client was thrilled. The low points: I was the CFO of a company that was being sold. I knew that the end of my job was coming, and I was scared out of my mind. Yet I saw all of these other people getting huge rewards. I was getting virtually nothing, and I was contributing more than my share. On retirement: the old idea of blood, sweat and tears, followed by a shift to golf carts, green grass, cruise lines, gated communities, shuffleboard, and old people doesn't make any sense because we live too long now.