Who Do You Want to Be Tomorrow?

Gallup reports that the majority of us are disengaged at work. Pointing the finger at leadership for this state of affairs is easy to do. According to the Gallup Chairman and CEO, Jim Clifton, “Of the approximately 100 million people in America who hold full-time jobs, 30 million (30 percent) are engaged and inspired at work. So we can assume they have a great boss. At the other end of the spectrum are roughly 20 million (20 percent) employees who are actively disengaged. These employees, who have bosses from hell that make them miserable, roam the halls spreading discontent. The other 50 million (50 percent) American workers are not engaged. They’re just kind of present, but not inspired by their work or their managers.”

Engagement, then, is all about the bosses, if you believe Gallup. Logically then, the only options you have are to change bosses or stay in an unhappy situation.

We disagree.

Engagement is not a one-way street and not all on the shoulders of the boss. That’s like saying a marriage is all up to just one partner. We believe you have the power to change from disengaged to engaged and to realize your career dreams, no matter what kind of boss you have. Why leave your development, your happiness, and your career in the hands of someone else? Engagement scores have not shifted dramatically in the fifteen years Gallup has been measuring them, in spite of millions of dollars of training for managers. Something needs to change.

Studs Terkel, author and Pulitzer Prize winner, said, “Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying.” Work is integral to a fulfilling life. Your only job satisfaction should not be direct deposit. You can find meaning, be engaged, and build a stunning career. Boss optional.

Earlier in her career, Barbara worked closely with Fred Rogers, a children’s advocate and television host. Fred was completely engaged in his work and personally responded to every letter from the children of the world who wrote to him. After nearly four decades of work, suffering from cancer, Fred started working from home. He asked the staff to continue to send him the letters, and he answered his last letter the day before he died. This is more than a strong work ethic; this is engagement at its most empowering and compassionate.

Imagine if everyone, yourself included, was as engaged in your work as Fred Rogers. And we can be, regardless of present or past work situations, education level, or even childhood expectations. Perhaps you are the first generation to complete college, just as Barbara and Karie are in our families. The future you could imagine for yourself might have been defined by the experiences of your parents. You wouldn’t be the first to get advice from your parents that limited your future. Leonard Nimoy, the late acclaimed actor who played the character Spock in Star Trek, was told by his Ukrainian-born father, Max, that if he wanted to pursue acting, he needed to get a practical skill that would serve him well throughout his life. “Learn to play the accordion,” Max Nimoy urged. “You can always make a living with an accordion.” Fortunately for Star Trek fans, he didn’t follow his father’s advice.

Even if your launch into your career was enabled by a strong financial and family support system, you may have found that your equivalent to Nimoy’s accordion advice was pressure to get a practical degree, for which you hold no passion. Or perhaps you took that well-paying “tangent” job in order to pay down your college loans. Or maybe the job you held for years was sufficient, served its purpose, and you’ve only recently discovered your true passion.

As people live and therefore work longer lives, it becomes necessary to reshape the identities we formed in our careers. We absolutely can prepare for a new future, fulfill a reinvented set of dreams, and surpass any goals we set out at the beginning of our career journeys.

Our undertaking as authors is to share our extensive research and personal experiences in order to give you the capacity to be fully engaged, prepared for the future, and to stretch to the next level, no matter where you are in your career. We also want you to avoid career heartbreak, obsolescence, and loss of purpose.

We will help you:

1. Learn career management tools that you can implement on your own, without the need for big financial or company resources;
2. Choose from a broad set of options and strategies on how to approach work and develop your career, so that you have the flexibility to pick what works within your own situation; and
3. Assess your current reality and plot a path to achieve your dreams so you can be prepared for tomorrow’s workplace.

The future beckons. Will you remain one of the 70 percent of the disengaged zombies at work? Or are you facing obsolescence, like David, the Pulitzer Prize nominee? Instead, what if the life you are living is your bucket list, and all you want is to ensure that you get to live more of the life you have, work and all? It’s time to stretch, to prepare for tomorrow’s workplace, and put yourself in control of the career of your dreams.

Megatrends That Will Affect Your Future

In order to point ourselves in the right direction, first we need an idea of where we are going. When we plan for tomorrow, we have to assume the work environment will be different than it is today. That is truer now than ever. Before we get started in practical career tools to future-proof yourself, we’ll give you an overview of the factors that are sure to change the world of work tomorrow.

We have identified seven megatrends that will certainly have an impact on the types of jobs, entrepreneurial opportunities, and skills needed for workers in the future. Entire books are written about these trends. This big picture review is meant to help you see how they might affect you and what you will need to do to prepare for the workplace of tomorrow.

Do You Have a Sell-By Date?

Although incredibly accomplished and skilled in his field, our award-winning journalist David missed the signs pointing to his inability to maintain a job in the field he loved. When we originally talked to him and asked why he left journalism, he said, “I didn’t leave journalism. Journalism left me.” David had a sell-by date that he didn’t realize existed until it had expired.

There were many indicators he should have picked up on, but his focus area was too narrow at the time. As Marshall Goldsmith, author and executive coach, says, “What got you here won’t get you there.” The skills and experience that made David successful early in his career didn’t prepare him for a day when social marketing of his content was a necessary job requirement. Fortunately, he was able to reboot, fail at a major consulting firm in his next role, but then bounce forward into a successful career in a research firm, where his global experience and interviewing skills have served him well.

Today is not your grandfather’s work world or even your mother’s work world. Dynamic forces are at play, shifting even the world’s largest corporations with a trickledown effect that hits you. Fifty years ago companies stayed on the Fortune 500 list an average of 75 years. Now it’s 15 years. Only 67 companies stayed on the Fortune 500 list in the period from 1955 to 2011, as new companies with new market approaches displaced the old ways of doing business. And the rate of churn is increasing. The iconic gold watch presented as a retirement gift after 50 years of loyal service in your grandfather’s work world is as antiquated as the white leisure suits of the 1970s or the boy bands of the 1990s.

David is only an example of one of many journalists who found they faced a completely evolving industry with no sure steps toward an employment future. Print media was one of the hardest hit industries during the financial crisis of 2008, but it wasn’t the only one. According to Scott Timberg, music and culture writer, severe cuts across whole job categories included:

• 19.8 percent decrease in graphic design over four years
• 25.6 percent decrease in photography over seven years
• 29.8 percent decrease in architecture over three years

Although the total number of jobs lost was regained by 2014, the types of jobs regained were not of the same quality as those that had been lost. Middle-and higher-income jobs were replaced by low-income jobs, as shown in Figure 1.1. As a result, from 2003 to 2013, the typical U.S. household experienced a 36 percent decline in inflation-adjusted net worth.

But as Jade’s and David’s stories showed, there is hope for those who reinvent themselves to stretch to the future. The effort is worth the payback.

The worry of becoming obsolete is not new. Change is just happening at a faster rate, making us worry about it far sooner in our careers. The concept of sell-by dates started in the most unlikely of places and was originated by a less-than-reputable character. During the 1920s, Chicago earned a reputation as a city where mobsters enjoyed free-range operations. The most notorious of these was Al Capone, also known as Scarface. He was believed to have ordered dozens, if not hundreds, of murders, including the St. Valentine’s Day massacre. Bootlegging during Prohibition was an important part of his criminal empire.

But even gangsters face the threat of changing business models. Before his crimes caught up with him, Capone had made a few attempts to polish up his public reputation and go straight. None of them lasted long. As the repeal of Prohibition seemed inevitable, Capone sought to establish business alternatives to bootlegging. Given that he already owned a distribution system to get his illegal alcohol around the city, he considered how to use the equipment, skills, and contacts he already had for the inevitable day when alcohol was once again mainstream. “Do you know,” he would say, “they got a bigger mark-up in legit fresh milk than we could ever get away with in booze? Honest to God, boys, we been in the wrong racket all along.”

Realizing his impending obsolescence, Capone and his protégés first cornered the market on stamping equipment. They then lobbied the Chicago City Council to regulate milk cartons by stamping them with expiration dates. That innovation was the first time sell-by-dates were used on milk to indicate freshness. It is a practice that remains to this day. By no means is Capone a model of citizenship we would advocate to emulate, but his story does demonstrate that a scrappy approach to thinking about the future can be wildly effective.

Capone was interested in keeping his product visibly fresh in order to effectively market and sell it. An expired product is not sellable. Pass the sell-by date significantly, and the product heads for the waste fields. The same applies to workers. The importance of keeping our skills and abilities fresh in order to be competitive in the job marketplace is mandatory. To keep nudging our own sell-by date out further, we must be in constant refresh mode. We must constantly stretch.

The question is not whether you have a sell-by date. You do. The real question is what you are doing to extend that date. Depending on what field you are in and how up-to-date your experiences and education are, that sell-by date might be soon, or it might be a few years away. Even though your skills might have an expiration date, your dreams don’t, which is why the practices offered in this book become critical.

The Stretch Imperatives

There is no future in any job. The future lies in the person who holds the job.

—George W. Crane

From write-in comments on our survey and interviews, we repeatedly heard three themes that represent the realities of today’s workplace. These themes represent the climate that we address in this book. We call these the Stretch Imperatives. To provide you with the best set of practices to build a successful career, we must address the realities of today’s environment.

Stretch Imperative 1: It’s All on You

Not only is your engagement all on you, but your development is too. In our research, the number one attribute executives valued in employees was a high degree of education and qualification. Yet fewer than one-third reported that their companies offered incentives or benefits related to obtaining more education, whether it was degree-oriented or job-specific. Only 34 percent of employees said their company was able to give them the training they need.

At a 2013 convention of Chicago’s top chief human resources officers, one of the keynote speakers, an HR leader from a Fortune 500 company, proclaimed, “I am not responsible for anyone’s development but my own.” There was a moment of silence. Had he actually just said that out loud? Then the audience began cheering him. Resoundingly. Indeed, it’s all on you.

If you want to become a leader, it’s even more on you. We asked executives in our survey to rank their top employee attributes. They told us they value the willingness to follow more than leadership ability. As a result, you have to build leadership skills on your own if you want to be prepared for the demands of management roles. In a review of the 17,000 leaders who went through one firm’s training programs, they reported that the average age managers received their first leadership training program was 42, even though the average age most became leaders for the first time was 30. For those first twelve years, leaders were on their own to manage with inherent skills or those they acquired independent of their organization’s support.

Even though organizations may offer information on careers at their firms, few offer guidance or development at the personal level. The pressure of simply keeping up with the work in your queue today makes it difficult to proactively stretch in preparation for tomorrow. It’s easy to fall behind.

Elaine typifies what can happen while being focused on delivering results day-to-day without an eye on the future. After college, she worked at a local manufacturing company in human resources. With two years of experience and her college loans paid off, she went back to earn an MBA. Networking through friends and family, she landed a job in a large aerospace company in the southwest. With regular promotions, a marriage, and two children, the years slipped away.

At the fifteen-year mark, the company decided to do a major reorganization and the department head announced that everyone in her department would have to reapply for his or her job. Elaine decided to test the market while the reorganization was underway. Feedback from the few recruiters she talked to seemed frightening. Being in the same industry and company for so long, they said, could limit her options and might even put off some potential employers.

Although she was able to hold onto her job, the experience helped her realize she could no longer be a passive sojourner in her career. She began to seek new opportunities at work, achieved a new certification in her field, and began to focus more on an external network. Never again, she vowed, would she feel so at the mercy of her employer for her livelihood.

To help you take on the responsibility for your own development we explore how to learn on the fly and be open in your thinking to new or different opportunities.

Stretch Imperative 2: You Need Options

One size definitely doesn’t fit all when it comes to preparing for tomorrow. Even if you have a defined career path at your company, you may not be willing to follow that prescribed plan. For example, the first five years at a top-tier consulting firm can involve 100-hour weeks and constant traveling, only to have that exhausting schedule continue once the initial dues are paid. Or at some companies, there are strong rules about how long you have to be at a certain grade level before promotion, regardless of your capabilities or merit. You need options in order to maximize your personal development.

As one of our survey respondents said, “[I want] to move more towards working independently, taking project-based work that grows my skill set while giving me the opportunity to network further. I do not see myself continuing to work in an office 9 to 5 setting, and flexibility is my goal.” Others thrive in the corporate world, or perhaps enjoy an entrepreneurial small business environment. Some naturally take to the 24/7 work life of the modern workplace, while others want the freedom to go home to their families after 6 p.m. without work following them.

To increase your options, we cover some key practices on building a network and in gaining experiences. We also include five to seven strategies in every practice, letting you custom-fit your stretch solution based on your situation. Pick the strategies that work best for you.

Stretch Imperative 3: You Have Dreams

Our survey respondents and interview subjects shared hopes and aspirations for building their careers now to achieve loftier goals in the future. That might be bigger and more significant roles at your company or another one, or it might mean starting your own business. What we heard loud and clear is that you want more for yourself and your family, and you are willing to take the steps to be career-ready.

Whether it is more money, development such as mentoring, or an opportunity for challenging work, you are clearly thinking about the future. As one respondent said, “I’ve been a marketing professional for some time and have a lot of contacts. I have a goal in mind, but I am not seeing light at the end of the tunnel in this company. I plan to switch jobs and get a good one in a bigger organization soon.”

Performing today is important, but you care about the bigger picture. When we asked what is the most important factor influencing employees’ job satisfaction, the number one response was “meeting overall career goals.” As this respondent affirms, “I want to focus on developing as a person, not just improving job performance.” You don’t only want to be ready for a job tomorrow—you also want to grow as a person to have even more career options for the future. You want to stretch.

To help you realize your dreams, we look at how you can leverage your career experience to not just bounce back but also bounce forward to embrace your dreams for the future.

An Overview of the Five Practices

Our goal as authors is to help you stretch, avoid becoming obsolete, and be engaged at work. We have combined the lifetime of our experiences developing people, conducted original research, interpreted the extensive research of others, and now aim to deliver a practical set of solutions. From our research, we found five practices that people who stretch to their potential employ. The five practices connect to the Stretch Imperatives, as shown in the chart below.

Stretch Imperative	Stretch Practice
It’s all on you	Learn on the Fly >Be Open
You need options	Build a Diverse Network >Be Greedy About Experiences
You have dreams	Bounce Forward

Since the first Stretch Imperative confirms that it’s all on you, you must be able to:

• Learn on the fly in any situation
• Open your thinking to a world beyond where you are now

Because you need options, these practices included in the second imperative will help you:

• Connect to the people who can help you make your future happen
• Seek experiences that will prepare you for tomorrow

Finally, to ensure you are able to fulfill your dreams, as cited in the third imperative, we offer some motivational strategies to:

• Bounce forward and stay motivated through the ups and downs of a career

These five practices form the foundation for supporting your ability to reach your career goals and to be resilient and prepared for a future you have yet to envision. We believe these are the five practices that will help you stay on the path to a flexible and sustainable future.

Stretch Imperative 1: It’s All on You

Practice One: Learn on the Fly

How much time did you spend in training classes last year? Or in time with your manager or mentor? In the learning industry, there is a common maxim introduced by the Center for Creative Leadership called the 70-20-10 model, as shown in Figure 1.2. The model suggests that 70 percent of learning happens informally while on the job; 20 percent through relationship with others like coaches, managers, or mentors; and 10 percent from formal coursework or training.

Informal learning happens in many ways. These can include casual conversation with co-workers, experiences such as expanded roles and responsibilities, using new tools and technologies, working on teams or programs outside of your normal responsibilities, or taking on a completely new role in a volunteer position outside of work. Since most of how you learn is unstructured, having strategies and tools to learn on the fly is one of the most important ways you can stretch to your potential.

Kurt is an example of someone unprepared to learn on the fly. Frustrated with feeling he was stagnating in his role as a project manager and knowing from feedback that people wanted him to be more “take charge,” he knew he needed help. He went to the local bookstore and scanned the self-help and career titles to learn about being more decisive. Overwhelmed with the choices, ironically he walked out with nothing because the decision was too difficult.

Unlike Kurt, we have found that expert learners have a specific set of techniques they use to develop themselves. We will provide you with tools the experts use and also help you avoid the most significant learning traps people fall into when learning in the context of their work.

Stretch Imperative 2: You Need Options

Stretch Imperative 3: You Have Dreams

The Story of Brandon

Brandon, a director of training, is an example of someone who had to discover what goals he felt passionate about and then stretch to achieve them. Diagnosed with ADD and dyslexia, a psychologist told his mother that a high-school degree would be aiming high and college was out of the question. With strong support from his parents, he obtained a BS degree in psychology, but was unsure what he wanted to do. He first worked in construction, then as a camp counselor. As he worked various jobs, he realized he liked working with people more than working with his hands.

Upon returning from a year of traveling the world, he decided to go into sales. Quickly realizing he hated sales, that experience was chalked off to learning what he didn’t want to do. Still unsure, he decided to earn an MBA, and then focused on finding a job in adult education.

His first boss in a corporate training position was, as he put it, “absolutely horrible,” but when that boss moved on, he got the opportunity to move up. “Something clicked in,” he said. “I struggled for six months, but then I realized that learning on the fly was okay.”

Brandon has finally landed in a field that he can pursue in almost any industry, as all but the smallest companies have training departments. Looking back, he now sees how every one of his working experiences combined to make it possible for him to find the job that ultimately clicked.

Brandon learned how to bounce forward through a number of obstacles, false starts, and the disruption of a bad boss. He tried a variety of experiences to see what fit, all the while defining the working environment he liked best. He learned to use his network for both support and to find positions. Brandon is engaged. Are you ready to thrive as well?