Hard career choices have been a recurring theme this year in consultations with clients. We should say anguishing career choices, because these forks-in-the-road involve significant personal trade-offs, and the stakes are high. This week we offer practical input for high achievers making hard career choices.
Must Success Cost So Much? Many high achievers find success exacts a high personal cost. Yet, successfully bridging work lives and private lives is found among those who do three things well: adapt well to change, handle career disappointments well, and find a position that is a good fit for them. Three questions help identify the right fit. Do your skills match what the position entails? Will you enjoy the work? Do you feel your work and moral values will coincide? The most frequent reason for lack of enjoyment on the job is a dislike of various work characteristics. For example, a technically competent person may be promoted to management, but finds he or she is not prepared for managerial challenges. Self-understanding and emotional intelligence, therefore, are essential characteristics among high achievers who successfully bridge work and private lives. Results of a study of more than 2,000 executives are presented in this Harvard Business Review article.
(If the article does not open immediately, please try this link first https://hbr.org before opening the article)
The search for work/life balance is at best an elusive ideal and at worst a complete myth. Prospering in high profile careers is a matter of carefully combining work and home, so as not to lose yourself, your loved ones, or your foothold on success. It involves giving both work and home their due—over a period of years, not weeks or days. Based on interviews with almost 4,000 high achievers worldwide, Harvard Business School researchers heard stories and advice reflecting five main themes: defining success for yourself, managing technology, building support networks at work and at home, traveling or relocating selectively, and collaborating with your partner.
(If the article does not open immediately, please try this link first https://hbr.org before opening the article)
Parents (particularly women) face particularly difficult trade-offs. Stepping off the fast lane because of family demands can entail heavy financial penalties-even for short-term career interruption. When seeking to return to a former career path, the prospects for full re-engagement are daunting. A “nonlinear” career trajectory may be a more likely prospect after a pause. The results of a study of more than 2000 women are presented in this Harvard Business Review article.
A different take on how to make hard career choices. Harvard Law graduate turned Oxford-educated philosopher explains a different way to think about hard career choices. Instead of viewing choices as either/or propositions, where options are weighed, one against another to produce a ‘right’ answer, Ruth Chang presents a different choice framework. Hard choices are usually perceived to be big—where the stakes are high and the outcomes uncertain. Hard choices cannot be weighed on a scale of pro/con or right/wrong, because future outcomes are unknowable. Instead, she suggests hard choices give us an opportunity to act on our most cherished values—we create our own reasons. A choice is a creative act of becoming the author of our own lives, a special opportunity to become distinctive. Listen to or read a transcript of this TED talk.
We hope you enjoy reading these articles along with us and that you find them informative. Please forward this to your friends and family.
J. Mark Nickell & Co.
Disclosure – The articles mentioned in This Week with J. Mark Nickell & Co. are for information and educational purposes only. They represent a sample of the numerous articles that the firm reads each week to stay current on financial and economic topics. The articles are linked to websites separate from the J. Mark Nickell & Co. website. The opinions expressed in these articles are the opinions of the author and not J. Mark Nickell & Co. This is not an offer to buy or sell any security. J. Mark Nickell & Co. is under no obligation to update any of the information in these articles. We cannot attest to the accuracy of the data in the articles.
