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Overview
Now, more than ever, we are being asked to navigate career changes deftly and frequently. The average employee tenure in America is just four or five years, and even those job roles often change dramatically within that span.
Our economy is now demanding that we create dynamic careers based on creativity, innovation, and serving others. We are being asked to move from careers that used to be based on linear, predictable ladders to trajectories that are now much more fluid and entrepreneurial.
No matter your age, life stage, bank account balance, or career level, you need to be able to pivot into your next opportunity. Whether your perfect-on-paper job has hit a plateau, you're considering taking on a a new role, or moving into a new company, or industry, or even starting or folding your own business, you need to learn how to make Plan B your new Plan A.: one thing remains clear:
Pivoting is a mindset and a skillset, and it is one we can all get better at. Using anecdotes from her own experience and the experiences of other successful professionals, Blake provides a 3-stage process that will teach anyone how to:
• Identify your existing strengths, interests and experiences, and defining what success is for you.
• Scan the horizon for new opportunities, skill you'd like to develop, and people and opportunities, without falling prey to paralysis by analysis.
• Reduce risk by running small job "experiments" that can provide feedback and help determine next steps in your career trajectory.
This book is sure to connect with anyone facing the daunting question of what comes next by providing a methodical plan to move forward, and repeat as many times as necessary. It is also relevant for leaders within organizations who want to engage and retain top talent by helping employees pivot internally, before seeking outside opportunities.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780698406704 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Penguin Publishing Group |
Publication date: | 09/06/2016 |
Sold by: | Penguin Group |
Format: | eBook |
Pages: | 304 |
Sales rank: | 922,173 |
File size: | 3 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
High Net Growth
I did stand-up comedy for eighteen years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four were spent in wild success.
-Steve Martin, Born Standing Up
I was sitting behind a card table in the sticky Texas heat at the South by Southwest Conference in 2011, signing copies of Life After College at a small launch party. The books were not even in stores yet-they were truly "hot off the press." The first person in line walked up to the table and, as I started signing, asked, "So . . . what's next?"
I stuttered and stammered through an awkward reply. Even though he had the best intentions, I could not help but feel a bit deflated. It was so strange. Here was this massive project, this life goal embodied in a bound stack of paper, sitting in my hands after three years of staring down my gremlins to write it, and people were already asking what's next.
The truth was, I had no idea. I had just started three months of unpaid leave from Google, and as regularly as brushing my teeth, I agonized over my own next career move as the clock on my sabbatical ticked down. Every day I struggled with what the right decision would be: return to Mountain View after my book tour, ask to work part time from New York City, or leave the company altogether? Should I make the safe, secure choice? Or should I take the risk of leaving and do the thing that terrified and excited me most by taking my own business full time?
Though I loved my time at Google-it was the best five-year MBA I could ask for-ultimately I felt I could make the biggest contribution if I pursued a new direction. I ran the numbers: I could support up to 35,000 Googlers at the time through internal career development programs, or I could leave and try to expand my reach and global impact to a far greater number, following my personal mission to be as helpful as possible to as many people as possible.
Some people measure their lives in terms of money, orienting their careers around acquiring wealth and material markers of success. Those who have accumulated financial wealth are considered high net worth individuals. But for the vast majority of people I encounter, money is not the number one driver of purpose and fulfillment. It is only a partial means to that end. A study by Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton confirms this: once people surpass $75,000 in annual net income ($82,000 in today's dollars), they experience no statistically significant bump in their day-to-day emotional well-being.
For many, money is nice to have, but not at the expense of soul-crushing work, if they have the economic flexibility to choose otherwise. The people I am talking about, and the ones for whom this book will resonate most, are those who are unwilling to settle for a career of phoning it in. They are willing to pay dues, but are not prepared to sit stalled for long, unable to see the value or impact of their work.
These individuals optimize for high net growth and impact, not just high net worth. I call them impacters for short. Impacters love learning, taking action, tackling new projects, and solving problems. They are generous and cooperative, and imbued with a strong desire to make a difference.
Impacters aim first and foremost for a sense of momentum and expansion. They ask, "Am I learning?" When their inward desire for growth is being met, they turn their attention outward, seeking to make a positive impact on their families, companies, communities, and global societies. Often these happen in tandem; by seeking problems they can fix and tackling them, impacters meet their needs for exploration and challenge, uncovering callings along the way.
Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, author of Mindset: The Psychology of Success, discovered in her research that the most successful people are those with a growth mindset. These are people who believe that their basic qualities are things they can cultivate through their efforts, rather than believing their gifts (or lack of them) are fixed traits. The truth, Dweck says, is that brains and talent are just the starting point. "The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it's not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset," Dweck writes. "This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives."
Maintaining a growth mindset is critical to navigating a pivot successfully. By seeing change as an opportunity, rather than a personal shortcoming or obstacle, you will be much more likely to find creative solutions based on what excites you, rather than subpar choices clouded by fear. Making career moves based solely on running from unhappiness and avoiding fear is like trying to fix a gaping wound with a Band-Aid; the solution does not stay in place for long. With a growth mindset, you will be open to new ideas, observant in your experimentation, deliberate in your implementation, and flexible in the face of change.
Fixed anything doesn't work for impacters, who are allergic to stagnation and boredom. Author Tim Ferriss captured this sentiment in The 4-Hour Workweek, saying, "The opposite of love is indifference, and the opposite of happiness is . . . boredom." It turns out that boredom itself can induce stress, causing the same physical discomfort as too much work: increased heart rate and cortisol levels, as well as muscle tension, stomachaches, and headaches.
For impacters, boredom is a symptom of fulfillment deficiency-of not maximizing for growth and impact-rather than a sign of inherent laziness. As University of Waterloo professor of neuroscience James Danckert wrote, "We tend to think of boredom as someone lazy, as a couch potato. It's actually when someone is motivated to engage with their environment and all attempts to do so fail. It's aggressively dissatisfying."
In her 1997 study, Dr. Amy Wrzesniewski, associate professor of organizational behavior at Yale University's School of Management, proposed that people see their work as a job, career, or calling. Those with a job orientation see work as a means to the end of paying the bills; those with a career orientation are more likely to emphasize success, status, and prestige; and those with a calling describe work as integral to their lives, a core part of their identity and a fulfilling reward in itself. Impacters fall clearly into the second category and aspire to the third, if they are not already there.
Impacters are not just asking What did I earn? but What did I learn? What did I create? What did I contribute? They measure their quality of life by how much they are learning, challenged, and contributing. If they are doing all three intelligently and intentionally, they work hard to ensure that the money will follow.
It is not that impacters are not interested in money-they are. They have no desire to live as starving artists. They know it is challenging, if not impossible, to focus on others if one's own basic needs are not met first. But when faced with the prospect of a career plateau, they would make the horizontal move, leave the cushy corporate job, or bootstrap their own business to prioritize growth and impact. A person who aims for learning and contribution may rank intellectual capital over financial capital if pressed to choose, but often ends up wealthy in both.
Take Christian Golofaro and John Scaife, who traded coffee and cotton in the open outcry pits on Wall Street for five years. Tired of the daily pressures of their jobs and looking for meaning beyond buying and selling commodities, they pooled their money in 2014 to start an urban farming business in Red Hook, Brooklyn. They sought to help revolutionize food production by bringing fresh, local, pesticide-free produce to New York City year-round. They were more inspired as impacters in their new business, SpringUps, than they ever were in finance.
Though he spent thousands of hours in high school and college preparing for a career in medicine, Travis Hellstrom decided to join the Peace Corps after graduation instead. He gave up his full ride to medical school and moved to Mongolia, where he served in the Peace Corps for over three years, living on two hundred dollars a month. When Travis reflects on the decision, he says, "It took a lot of soul-searching and being okay with disappointing myself and others, but I left my life and found my calling." After he returned, Travis pivoted again to nonprofit coaching and community management. Several years later, he parlayed that independent consulting work into a role as chair of the Mission-Driven Organizations graduate program at Marlboro University.
Impacters continue learning and contributing throughout their working lives, which often extend far past what is traditionally thought of as retirement age. When I asked Kyle Durand about his impending retirement from the military after twenty-seven years of service, his sentiments reflected those of many people I know who have no plans to retire in the traditional sense.
"I think retirement is an antiquated notion. The whole idea that you work for most of your adult life in order to eventually do the things you want is outmoded," Kyle said. "My retirement from the military is simply closing the chapter on that part of my career, but it is not the end of my working days by any stretch. Now I can shift into building my businesses full time. That is my future, part of my legacy. That is how I want to make an impact with the people I care about."
Christian, John, Travis, and Kyle pivoted in new directions that were more aligned with their values, interests, and goals, even though there was not a guarantee of success. As impacters, they saw these changes as opportunities for growth and recognized that their ability to learn and adapt would help them land on their feet no matter what. This helped them maintain a positive outlook throughout their pivots, knowing they would benefit from following their instincts and aspirations instead of societal expectations, no matter the outcome.
As I was writing this book, many of the people I initially interviewed returned six months or one year later and said things like, "Don't bother putting my story in the book. I am pivoting again."
This manifested in a variety of ways: they got poached by another company for an even better role; their company folded, got acquired, or got sold; they decided not to pursue a new skill or industry after all; they realized entrepreneurship was or was not for them; or they shifted their business into a more promising new direction.
Hearing these updates did not surprise me, nor did it mark their initial pivot as a failure. Instead, they are prime examples of what it means to be high net growth and impact individuals. I expect to hear that impacters are pivoting and adjusting dynamically at every turn.
For a directory of people featured in this book and what they are up to now, visit PivotMethod.com/people; for audio interviews and episodes from the Pivot Podcast, visit JennyBlake.me/podcast.
Career Operating Modes
An essential facet of the Pivot mindset is self-awareness. How are you currently showing up in your day-to-day work? Are you operating at your desired energy levels, creative output, and impact? I have observed four primary Career Operating Modes among pivoters: inactive, reactive, proactive, and innovative. The first two are impacter stressors, the latter two are sweet spots:
Inactive: Does not seek changes; paralyzed by fear, uncertainty, and self-doubt; covers up career or life dissatisfaction with unhealthy habits, such as numbing out with excessive amounts of food, alcohol, TV, video games, and so on; feels and acts like a victim of circumstances.
Reactive: Mimics others' models for success without originality; follows instructions to the letter; waits for inspiration to strike; "phones it in" at work; feels unhappy, but does not inquire into why or what to do about it; lets fear overrule planning for the future and subsequent action steps.
Proactive: Seeks new projects; actively learns new skills; is open to change; improves existing programs; makes connections with others; takes ownership even within existing leadership structures; has a giver mentality, willing and interested in helping others. May not be fully using innate talents, but is exploring what they are and how to amplify them.
Innovative: In addition to proactive mode qualities, fully taps into unique strengths; focuses on purpose-driven work and making meaningful contributions; is energized by a strong vision for new projects with a clear plan for making them happen; does not just improve existing structures, but creates new solutions to benefit others.
Impacters thrive in situations where they are able to be proactive and, even more so, innovative in driving their career forward, implementing new ideas and creatively solving problems, stretching to the edges of what is possible for themselves and the companies they start or work for. When impacters find themselves in inactive or reactive operating mode, they look to pivot again toward a new, more engaging opportunity.
Although it is true that some people may work in inactive or reactive mode for their entire careers, this is not a life that impacters can stomach. The boredom, anxiety, and feeling of standing still becomes increasingly intolerable, often manifesting in physical symptoms such as headaches, getting sick more frequently, or worse.
At these critical pivot points, impacters must recognize this tension and take action. Otherwise the unhappiness from staying still for too long compounds, making the career confusion feel insurmountable, and taking it from conundrum to crisis.
Though they may get restless more easily, impacters do have a distinct advantage: by seeing career boosts and setbacks as learning opportunities, all outcomes become fodder for growth. Nassim Nicholas Taleb captures this concept in the six-word title of his book Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder.
Antifragile organisms do not simply withstand change and survive it; they become better because of it. A glass is fragile. If you drop it, it breaks. A tree is resilient. In strong winds, it sways but stays standing, more or less remaining the same. Organisms that are antifragile actually benefit from shocks. Taleb invokes Hydra, the creature from Greek mythology: when one of Hydra's many heads is cut off, two grow back in its place. The tough-times clich is true: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. According to Taleb, antifragile organisms "thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors," and "love adventure, risk, and uncertainty."
Love risk and uncertainty? Huh? Aren't these things to be mitigated, if not entirely eliminated? Not if you want to be antifragile in a world that is ruled by them. Impacters find ways to thrive in uncertainty and disorder. Rather than merely reacting to randomness or becoming paralyzed by it, they look for opportunities to alchemize what is already working into what comes next.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Pivot is the New Normal 1
Piviot or Get Pivoted 4
Changing Careers in the Age of the App 8
Connect the Dots Looking Backward 10
Pivot Method at a Glance 13
High Net Growth 18
Career Operating Modes 23
Trust Your Risk Tolerance 25
Two (Many) Steps Ahead, One Step Back 29
Stage 1 Plant 33
Plant Overview 35
Chapter 1 Calibrate Your Compass 39
What Are Your Guiding Principles? What Is Your Happiness Formula?
Create Your Compass 40
Identify Your Happiness Formula 46
Your Body Is Your Business 47
Reduce Decision Fatigue 49
Meditate to Activate Your Best Instincts 50
Chapter 2 Put a Pin in It 53
What Excites You Most?
What Does Success Look Like One Year from Now?
Avoid the Tyranny of the Hows 55
Vision Cloudy? Start Somewhete 56
Clarify Your Vision Statement 60
Summarize Knowns and Unknowns 62
Chapter 3 Fuel Your Engine 65
What Is Working? Where Do You Excel?
Identify Your Strengths 67
Work-History Highlights 70
Chapter 4 Fund Your Runway 75
What Is Your Timeline? How Can You Earn Extra Income?
Build a Solid Financial Foundation 76
Pivot Finance 101 77
Income-Anxiety Seesaw Awareness 84
State 2 Scan 87
Scan Overview
Chapter 5 Bolster Your Bench 91
Who Do You Already Know? Who Can Provide Advice?
What Can You Give in Return?
Expand Your Sphere of Influence 93
Build a Network of Collective Brainpower 94
Career Karma: Seek Reciprocal Success 104
Chapter 6 Bridge the Gaps 107
What Skills and Expertise Will Take You to the Next Level?
Mind the Gap 108
Learn How to Learn 108
Limit Linear Thinking 111
Investigative Listening 114
Be Discerning About Your Learning 119
Chapter 7 Make Yourself Discoverable 123
How Can You Add Unique Value and Build Visibility?
Define Your Project-Based Purpose 124
Platform and Leverage 125
Revel in the Work Others Reject 130
Leapfrog: Work Backward from Two Moves Ahead 130
Let Others Know You Are Looking 133
Stage 3 Pilot 139
Pilot Overview 141
Chapter 8 Get Scrappy 143
What Small Experiments Can You Run?
What Real-World Data Can You Collect?
Aim First for Quantity, Not Quality 145
What Makes a Strong Pilot? 146
Incremental Pilots Within Organizations 152
Reduce Risk with Redundancy 153
Travel Pilots to Shake Up Stagnant Thinking 157
Chapter 9 Pause, Review, Repeat 161
What Worked? What Didn't? What Could You Do Differently?
Pause and Review 163
Take Incrementally Bigger Risks 164
Stage 4 Launch 169
Launch Overview 171
Chapter 10 Build First, Courage Second 173
When Will You Make the Big Move?
What Are Your Linchpin Decision Criteria?
Identify your Launch Timing Criteria 174
Pivot Hexagon 183
Know When to Hold Versus Fold 186
Your Gut Has a Brain 192
Pivot Scales: Comfort Versus Risk 194
Chapter 11 Flip Failure 197
What Will Move You into Action?
Rejection as a Stepping-Stone to Success 200
Mine Failure for Strengths 201
You Can't Make Everybody Happy-So Stop Trying and Start Living 202
Separate Decisions from Difficult Conversations 205
Don't Wait for Perfect Conditions 207
How Do You Know Your Launch Worked? 209
The Continuous Pivot 211
Stage 5 Lead 215
Lead Overview 217
Chapter 12 Are You Listening? 219
How Can You Facilitate Engaging Career Conversations?
Your Interest Matters More Than You Think 221
How to Use the Pivot Method Within Organizations 226
Pilot Creative Internal-Mobility Programs 229
Conclusion: Celebrate Complexity 235
Checking in at the Last Resort 237
The Courageous Life 238
Afterword: What Happens After You Pivot? 241
Acknowledgments 249
Post Pivot: Online Resources 255
Pivot Method Quick Reference 257
Launch Criteria Checklist 259
Resources for Companies 261
Pivot 201: Recommended Reading 263
Notes 265
Index 271