# 143: Second, Third, Fourth… Careers?
Story behind the Passage
Yes, I talk about change all the time. But sometimes I have the feeling — I am either missing out on changing my life or I am changing my life all the time without me even noticing it! As I said to a dear friend of mine today: “I have to jump.” “YES,” was her reply. Well, no worries, I am not suicidal. The point is: I feel I have to jump — but from where to where? Where am I even standing? Sometimes I feel I know. Sometimes I do not. Other people never know where I am standing because they kind of think that I am all over the place anyway. Still, it does not feel that crazy to me. However, it does feel like I am not “managing myself” quite well on some days — at least as far as strategy is concerned. But I love strategy and I am really good at it. Otherwise, I would never have been able to handle really long and complex projects.
All this made me take Drucker’s slim booklet from the shelf. I bet, you can get it online but I have it on paper. As I opened it and went through the pages that had many pencil marks on them, I stopped at this one. I immediately knew this is what I want to talk about today. I had totally forgotten that Drucker even wrote about that kind of stuff in this piece. If you consider that he published this essay in 1999 and they reprinted it as a “Classic” in 2008— how forward-looking was that? I mean, we are still in an age where people think it is kind of impossible to get out of their decade-long career. Which indeed is difficult, of course, after such a long time. Still, as I mentioned in my posts several times before, changes are becoming the new normal. My concern is, however: What if you really overdo it? Or is this mere thought something that reveals I am also stuck in the past — not changing my worldview quickly enough?
“The first is actually to start one.” This is the bummer. It might sound funny but what really kills me right now is finding out when a “career” is a career! Yes, I always talk about how you and only you determine this. And I stick to this. But what if your own criteria change? So, what I am saying: What if being an entrepreneur was your idea of a career in the past and now that you are “managing yourself” (Drucker) and your job quite well — it feels like ‘not a career’ anymore? Yes, this is also in line with my theory that we all change. I mean, your interests change and therefore your standards and criteria change as well. So, there is nothing surprising here. But the problem is — how do you manage to feel happy about any of the careers you had — or did not even have?
The answer is inside yourself, I know. That is where the trouble starts. I guess, for most people, promotions and changes from one organization to the next determine what a career change is. But for so many people with horizontal career changes in one organization or complete changes across different fields of work, there is no assessment of this kind possible. Yes, you change, but is that a career change? It all depends on your personal assessment. I just watched a short interview with Magdalena Rogl, Head of Digital Channels at Microsoft, yesterday. She actually gave up her “dream” career as a childcare worker in favor of stating a corporate communications career. Actually, other people might call this totally sane but for her it was crazy. She stopped doing what she loved in order to start what others would call a career but what she was not really into. This is the total opposite of what I always preach: Do what you love.
So, what do I love doing?
And is that a “career”?
How do you change a career that you do not have in the first place?
Reflection Questions
1) What is your definition of a “career”?
2) Which career are you currently in (your first, second…)?
3) Which career role models do you have?