What I Told The Globe and Mail About Staying Resilient in Times of Change
I was once interviewed by The Globe and Mail for a feature on career resilience. Though that conversation took place years ago, its message feels more relevant than ever.
In a world where change is the only constant, career resilience isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s essential for success, and sometimes even survival.
As I said in that interview:
“If you identify too closely with your job title, you’re in trouble, because that changes. But if you know who you are and what you stand for — your values — you have a north star to guide you.”
That still holds true. When you know your strengths, gifts, and natural talents, you can connect them to needs in the world and craft a vision for your life and career.
With that self-knowledge, you can link your strengths to needs in the world and create a vision for your life. “Artists, leaders and entrepreneurs tend to have something in common: a guiding vision and potent point of view. When you have a guiding vision, it is much easier to make choices and decisions about where to channel your time and energy, by asking yourself, ‘Will this opportunity help me achieve my aspirations?’”
Read the Complete Globe interview here
Four Career Resilience Strategies
1. Think Creatively.
When you hit a roadblock, don’t get stuck in the problem — focus on the desired outcome. Whatever we focus on, we amplify. Seek out fresh perspectives, ask better questions, and stay curious.
2. Nurture Your Social Network.
Close friendships, having conversations that matter, and breaking bread together are vital to our health and well being. The story of the Pennsylvanian Rosetans in Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers is a wonderful example.
3. Remember you always have power.
When I work with with clients I like to remind employees who feel disempowered by systemic challenges — that leadership is about choice. We always have the power to choose our attitude, set the tone, and treat others well, regardless of hierarchy.
4. Make yourself invaluable.
Working longer and harder isn’t working the way it used to. Thanks to technology, cheap outsourced labor, and increasing numbers of new graduates, there is always someone who will do our job faster, quicker, and cheaper. Lynda Gratton, a professor at London Business School and author of Glow, says to be invaluable, you have to work with more energy, more enthusiasm, and most important of all, more innovation. You need to glow. She says people who glow have mastered three distinct areas of their life:
- A co-operative mindset. They have built deeply trusting and cooperative relationships with others. Consult people outside your normal networks and with totally different mindsets.
- Jumping across worlds. They have extended their networks beyond the obvious to encompass the unusual. When you extend your network, you will come across people whose experiences and views differ significantly from your own. The further you “jump across worlds” to communicate with people from vastly different profiles, the fresher your perceptions will be.
- Igniting latent energy. They are on an inner quest that ignites their own energy and that of others. Ask questions that spark energy, to engross and interest others as well as your own curiosity. Create visions that compel. These are visions of the future that you and your colleagues can buy into, that encourage others to imagine the future and to become excited about being involved in that future. Craft meaningful and exciting work.
Gratton says, “My research has shown that the majority of people spend less than 20 per cent of their working lives feeling energised, engaged, and innovative. To stay ahead of the curve, you have to work with more energy, enthusiasm and innovation than everyone else. Create a cooperative environment within your organisation and you will radiate energy, innovation and success and ‘you will Glow’ ”
I’m not sure if I glow, but Lynda Gratton’s principles really speak to the way I live and work. Building networks, cooperating and collaborating with others, exploring other disciplines, and designing the future.
Coaching
I provide executives, innovators and entrepreneurs, with the support they need to develop resilience, start a new chapter, and thrive in change.
