Mid-Career Change

I just read an excellent article, “The Existential Necessity of Midlife Change,” by Strenger and Ruttenberg in the February issue of Harvard Business Review. As some of you know, I wrote my masters thesis and doctoral dissertation on mid-career adults.

Many of the mid-career professionals I interviewed had contemplated or completed a midlife career change. These career changes can be highly rewarding and inspiring. Or, they can be disastrous financially and emotionally.

Strenger and Ruttenberg emphasize the importance of being realistic. It is unlikely that an ophthalmologist can become a successful concert pianist at the age of 40 without any precious musical training. Playing piano may become a wonderful hobby, but an unwise career choice.

I counsel executives to look for opportunities where their experience uniquely qualifies them. (Strenger and Ruttenberg clearly agree.) In a competitive world you need advantages that are hard to duplicate.

Do you know your strengths? You should take every assessment instrument (from Myers-Briggs (MBTI) and FIRO to the Campbell Interest & Skills Survey) you can. Self-knowledge is critical when considering a midlife career change. Fortunately, most of you already have more self-knowledge than you did 10 or 20 years ago. But, you can never have too much self-knowledge. We all have blind spots; get feedback.

Strenger and Ruttenberg go on to talk about the organization’s role in helping its mid-career professionals deal with these issues. If your organization is committed to organizational and individual development, this is an important part of talent management.

For more information on this and other organizational and individual effectiveness issues use the Search function on my blog, and read my book, “Strategic Organizational Learning” (available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble bookstores, or my website www.mikebeitler.com). There are also many free resources on the Free Stuff page on my website.