re·sil·ient /rəˈzilyənt/

ABLE TO WITHSTAND OR RECOVER QUICKLY FROM DIFFICULT CONDITIONS.

SIMILAR: STRONG, TOUGH, HARDY, QUICK TO RECOVER, QUICK TO BOUNCE BACK

If it feels like the pace of change in the nature of work is accelerating, you’re not alone. Studies show that 56% of older workers are pushed into “retirement” and find that any new position they find comes with a cut in pay. Looking back, they may have realized that their career peak coincided with a peak in their industry. Sometimes the only way to move forward is to move sideways.

In the old model, more years of experience equaled more money. Today, your skill set maxes out in value at some point.

When it comes to dealing with career surprises, I’ve found that there are two kinds of people: resilient people and the other kind. When I talk to resilient people about their career path, they say things like “I’ve been really lucky” or “I shed my skin and reinvented myself”. The other kind (#OKBoomer) don’t know how to adapt. They keep thinking that their next job should look just like their last job.

For example, I met two people at a holiday party last week: let’s call them Pete and Joe. Pete and Joe worked together at a med-tech firm for over 25 years. When their company merged with another firm, they were shocked to find themselves jettisoned by the new management team.

Pete was fortunate enough to get a nice buyout so he decided to “retire.” You might think that this was a happy ending, but actually Pete is miserable. He is still anchored in his old identity and rehashing how he got screwed by his boss two years ago.

While Joe was able to negotiate a 3-year transition period, by year two he found himself with very little to do. So he started a side-hustle, consulting with a biotech start-up in Boston. He was able to create value from his decades of industry experience.

In my new book, I’ll be discussing strategies for building resilience into your career.

#resilience #sidehustle #reinventingwork #okboomer