Nine-year itch
Since I graduated from college, I have changed careers in a meaningful way every nine years. I was an academic until I craved something more applied. I was a product and engineering leader in BigTech until a reorg caused me to think hard about what I wanted. I was a startup CEO until I stepped down for a break last year.
I have generally enjoyed my jobs and I didn't plan any of these moves. In all three cases, I didn't know what I wanted when I made the change. At the end of each role, I moved on without a solid plan for what came next.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Over the last few weeks, I've lost count of the number of times I've heard people say:
- I thought working for a big company was stable, but so many people are getting laid off. What if I'm next?
- I built deep expertise carefully over a long period of time. What if AI replaces me?
- The market has destroyed my plans for retirement. Now what?
Permanent career stability has always been more of a comforting illusion than a reality. However, the volatility of the current moment is making this topic especially fraught. So, apart from being lucky, what can you do to increase your chances of long-lasting and meaningful employment, whether you're choosing an uncertain future or having it thrust upon you?
Does college matter anymore?
The current chatter among the tech elite is that college degrees are overrated; better to skip the four-year degree and learn a trade, they'll tell you. However, I don't know a single wealthy VC who is urging their kid to become a plumber. The advice to skip college is generally given by people who have no intention of following it with their own families. This makes me suspicious.
That said, we've reached a point where traditional functional skills are legitimately less valuable than they were 10 or 20 years ago. There's no guarantee that you will remain employable just because you know how to code or build financial models or design benefits programs. AI will take over so many corporate tasks.
Five tendencies that make a difference
I'd argue that, viewed over a lifetime, many of the best corporate careers have always transcended specific functional training. The most successful people I've worked with have relied largely on the characteristics below:
Be a problem solver: My favorite colleagues over the years, those I would work with first in the future, have almost universally been lateral thinkers who can solve problems across several domains. They may have field-specific training in a field like engineering or marketing, but their top ability is that they can step into a cluster of interrelated disciplines, spot what is most important, and solve the problem at hand.
You build this skill by consistently working on your org's #1 problem. It also helps to seek out cross-disciplinary work whenever possible, and take responsibility whenever you have the chance.
Embrace what is new: Change is hard, especially when you've been working in familiar ways for years on end. Jensen Harris once coined the mantra "Change is bad unless it's great;" most people aren't willing to change how they work unless the change is mandatory or, better yet, transformative.
People who welcome change tend to have more durable careers because they have more adaptable skills. It might look like piloting a new tool, experimenting to optimize a broken process, or trying out a new style of working. Embracing what is new means creating the future rather than becoming a casualty of change.
Embrace what is hard: A few years ago, I was restaffing my entire executive team for our next wave of growth. I'll never forget what Rachel Romer, then the CEO of Gild Education, said when I asked her for advice. She told me that, in addition to great references from exec candidates' former CEOs, the predominant thing she looked for in her hires was growth mindset.
Her view was that the one thing she knew about exec roles is that everyone would fail sometimes, and that the thing that set apart successful execs from other people with similar functional skills was their ability to take failure in stride and learn as they go. I never forgot this advice.
Want it: Performative hustle culture is just that, performative. But real hustle in service of your own aspirations is irreplaceable, whatever your aspirations are.
No one is looking out for your career and life like you are. Make the choices that give you the best chance at what you want.
Be good to work with: I have personally introduced dozens of former Textios to future employers and recommended them whole-heartedly. It's easy to do this when someone has been a great colleague. If someone has put years into my company as a strong collaborator, then they have me in their corner forever.
It's amazing how far just being a great collaborator goes towards earning you future job opportunities: being accountable, competent, and low-drama. I cannot overstate how this compounds over time to create options for you.
The bottom line: If you're figuring out your next chapter, think beyond your specific functional skills. Adaptability in the current climate starts with your foundation, which is as much about how you've worked as it is about what you've done.
Kieran
I’m a former founder and CEO who helps ambitious leaders operate like one, whether or not they have the title. My clients include startup CEOs, C-suite execs, and ambitious leaders inside large organizations, all leading with founder-level clarity, urgency, and ownership. Become a client!
My latest data stories | Tell your own Viral Data Stories | nerdprocessor.com