My Dad started work at 14 years of age as a telegram boy. Being from a large family of 11 kids meant that in those days and those circumstances it was necessary for him and his siblings to help provide money to put food on the table. He never really knew what he wanted to do for work. But he studied and sought to better himself and answer some of the questions about what his work options might be.
In 1971 he joined an organisation that he ultimately worked for more than 26 years, spending many of those years as the CEO. He did what most men of that generation did -worked hard, moved his way up the ladder and ultimately retired from the same career he’d entered as a young man.
For my Dad, and many people of that generation, careers followed a relatively predictable pattern. You chose a profession, trade or organisation, you worked hard, progressed steadily and earned a little more each year. A steady income and stable position were often the goal, with the end result being a good retirement.
Today, careers look very different, particularly for leaders. For many people, the question is no longer simply how to build a successful career. It's how to build a career that remains fulfilling, sustainable and aligned with who they are as life and circumstances evolve.
That's why so many leaders find themselves asking questions previous generations may never have needed to ask.
Is this really the life I want?
Is success supposed to feel like this?
If I were starting again from here, would I choose the same path?
Careers are now longer, less linear and far more fluid. We change organisations, industries and sometimes entire professions. We take career breaks, build portfolio careers, start businesses, step sideways, step back and then accelerate again. At the same time, what matters to us changes. Our families change. Our energy changes. Our priorities change. We change.
And yet, many of us are still using an old career rulebook.
Work hard. Keep progressing. Take the next opportunity. Say yes when the promotion comes. Keep moving forward.
At some point, a career can become a series of sensible decisions that made perfect sense individually but, when you stand back and look at them together, have taken you somewhere you never consciously chose.
That is one of the reasons I wrote my new book.
When we create the space and have the right framework to consider and discover what you have learned from the path you’ve already travelled. What still fits? What have you outgrown? What matters more to you today than it did ten years ago? What strengths do you want to use more? What are you no longer prepared to sacrifice? And if you were designing the next chapter intentionally, rather than simply continuing the one you are already in, what might it look like?
My Dad’s career suited the world he was navigating. Ours requires something different.
We need to become much more active designers of our careers. Not because we should constantly be searching for something better, but because we need to keep checking that the life we are working so hard to build is still one we actually want to live.
That is the work at the heart of my new book.
The book is coming very soon. If these are questions you’ve been asking yourself too, join the waitlist and be the first to find out the launch date.
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