Written by: LuAnne Kingston, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Young children are often subjected to the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” which evolves to the cringe-worthy adult version of “what is your long-term plan?”. For many young and even not-so-young adults, it may be overwhelming to plan what you will be doing in five or 10 years, and daunting to envision where your working life will evolve to in 40+ years. Now may be an opportune time to assess your career journey whether you have a long-term plan or not.
While the pandemic drove massive uncertainty and layoffs, it has also been an opportunity for individuals to consider making a job or career change with a growing number seeking to start their own business, choosing non-traditional roles, or even completely changing their career choice. Resignations were still going strong in July 2022 with more than 4.18 million Americans walking away from their jobs, and that trend shows no signs of slowing down (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
So how do people take that leap? One way is to consider what you like to do, what you are good at, and what is important in your life.
Alexandra (Alex) Robinson, founder and creator of Blue Eyed Baker, a western New York regional bakery is a great example of someone who pivoted from the corporate world to building a successful business. After graduating college in 2011 with a degree in Communications and Film, Alex joined Fisher Price in a business account management role with aspirations to transition to the toy company’s animation video editing department. While her initial role didn’t align with her passion, the job paid well and enabled her to start saving money. The seeds of opening a bakery started during this time and she frequently brought her baking creations into the office for her colleagues.
After about a year, Alex moved to Los Angeles in a Finance role at Mattel, Fisher Price’s parent company. This provided exposure to a broader creative scene in both food and film. While she became disheartened with the challenges of breaking into the film editing field, Alex was inspired by the food scene, particularly the quality and creativity in baked goods that she didn’t have exposure to in her home market.
We will follow Alex’s journey as a case study while considering five career foundational principles that may help guide your decision making in choosing a job or career:
1. Personal Purpose
Do you have a defined purpose? What does that mean and how do you find yours?
Defining your personal purpose helps guide decisions in both your personal and professional life by providing a north star. At the core of your Personal North Star is your “why” or purpose. It could encompass the values that guide your decisions, purpose of a project or business enterprise, or name something you want to create.
Simon Sinek became mainstream with his 2009 Ted Talk on “Start with Why”, where he guided organizations on how to find their purpose, or why customers buy their products and services. At a personal level, Dr. Spencer Holt, Co-Founder & Chief Learning Officer at Global Leader Group, says that articulating your purpose, or reason you exist, unites and lures people with a similar purpose because it matters to them. It also helps you be more intentional in what you do every day, further supporting your purpose.
Dr. Holt suggests you can find your purpose in the following way:
Make a list of your personal core values, which define who you are no matter the circumstances (trust, relationships, service, honesty, lifelong learning, etc.).
Identify what you do best or what you are good at (managing projects, creating, leading, relationship building, etc.)?
Visualize who you’d like to become and make a list of words that describe who you would like to become (strong leader, mentor, business owner, compassionate friend, etc.).
Combine the first three steps and write your Purpose Statement. This should be energizing, motivating, and fill you with energy and excitement when you read it. Here are a few examples:
"Grow myself, grow my family, and grow leaders around the world.”
”Learn something new every day while supporting family members and colleagues to achieve their hopes and dreams.”
“To bring joy to the world through music and lyrics that inspire.”
Case Study…
Alex articulates her personal purpose as: “Share my pastry passion by creating high quality products with a curiosity to never stop learning and growing a great team while supporting my family and raising children who cultivate the same passion for creating, giving and learning”.
2. Passions and Proficiency
What knowledge, skills, abilities do you have, or want to learn? What do you like to do or are good at?
Some people have a clear vision of what they will pursue in their career, such as a doctor or architect, and attending college or university is a step in preparing them for required certification. Other people attend university or trade school, gaining foundational education and experience in a discipline only to find out later that it doesn’t match their passion. While your discipline may not align with your passion, you will likely gain transferrable skills that may open doors to other types of work, building on and developing skills in another environment.
Joe Nabrotzky, co-founder and Search Managing Partner at Global Leader Group, suggests that if you are looking to make a job or career move, first identify your passions – activities that you enjoy and give you work/life satisfaction, and your proficiency – what you are good at – your superpowers. These are your strengths in terms of hard skills (functional abilities) and soft skills (interpersonal qualities). Then you can look for roles that align to your purpose, passion, and proficiency.
While there are plenty of personal assessments you can take that might help you understand yourself better (Myers Briggs Type Indicator, CliftonStrengths, DiSC, as examples) here’s a simple way to understand your passions and proficiency.
Passions: Answer these questions:
What work activities bring me the most joy and fulfillment?
What could I read about, learn about, and talk about without getting bored?
When I daydream about my ideal type of work, what do I see myself doing? Why?
What have been the happiest, most fulfilling moments in my career?
What parts of my prior jobs did I not like? Why?
What would I do if I wasn’t afraid to fail?
Proficiency: Answer these questions:
“I am good at…” then fill up the page with as many sentences as possible.
Finish the sentence: “I am most known by customers and/or team-mates for my ability to…”
If it helps, first focus on functional or technical skills. These are the skills needed to perform your job such as: writing code, tracking software defects, or reviewing financial statements. Once you have filled the page with the first thoughts that come to mind, then think of soft skills and behaviors such as how you may be a self-starter, systematic, or your key leadership and communication skills. Then, begin to group similar items together, ideally producing 3 or 4 sections.
Case Study…
While Alex had a passion for baking that germinated as a little girl and grew over time, she didn’t have proficiency in her craft to start a business. She researched and applied to pastry schools and was accepted into a school run by French pastry chef, attending in the evenings while maintaining her day job at Mattel. She started with ‘The Business of Food’ course and progressed through various levels of pastry classes, including what is now one of her specialties, French macarons. Inspired by a drive to continuously learn, she later attended a pastry chef school in Paris.
Additionally, Alex shared that “People think about turning their passions in to a business and don’t always consider the actual aspect of running a business.” Alex admitted that it was a lot of trial and error combined with the business knowledge and customer skills she learned at Mattel. “I was naïve in many ways, but you have to be financially savvy and prepared to make hard decisions.”
3. Individual Circumstances
What are your personal circumstances, such as personal well-being, life stage, and risk tolerance?
Flexibility and wellness are key for workers these days with 63% of job seekers calling work-harmony a top priority when picking a new job, according to LinkedIn’s 2022 Global Talent Trends report. In person, full remote or hybrid are all common options now but what you want may not match your prospective employer. According to Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trend Index: Annual Report, 38% of employees say that it is a challenge to know when and as importantly, why come into the office. Employers are all over the board, ranging from Tesla requiring all employees to be full time in the office, Apple moving to two or three days in the office and Airbnb supports employees from wherever they want to work. Be sure to discuss any prospective employer’s expectations and be open about your preferences.
Your life stage and family considerations should factor into your decision. For example, roles that require you to move or travel extensively might add excessive stress on a family with young children, especially if you don’t have a strong support network. You may be well established in your career and have significant savings allowing you to take a risk and try something new. Whatever your personal circumstances, people in your life may be impacted by whatever you choose to do and their opinion counts.
We often think of risk tolerance in terms of financial investing, but it is just as applicable in choosing your earnings livelihood. Risky endeavors can result in a huge payoff and may just as easily require you to pivot during a failure. Opening a new business or joining a startup can be risky and requires significant knowledge, preparation, and commitment to ensure success. Similarly, moving to a new industry leads you to navigating the unknown and includes a significant investment in time to thrive. Consider the risks and payoffs for whatever path you choose.
Questions to consider:
How much flexibility do you need in your work schedule to achieve work harmony?
Do policies and values of prospective employers align with the working environment you desire?
Are you able to take a financial risk by joining a financially troubled venture, start-up or launching your own business?
Who are the people in your life that will be impacted by any change you make, and how will you incorporate their views into your decisions?
Have you identified options and ranked them based on criteria that is important to you?
Case Study…
After spending two years in Los Angeles, Alex’s partner and now husband, Nick, was accepted into Nursing school in Buffalo prompting them to return to their hometown of East Aurora, NY. Alex said, “it was the right time to leave Mattel and I was ready to launch my baking business”. She didn’t analyze the financial hardships of starting a business at the same time her fiance was in school, as well as getting engaged and buying a house. Both Nick and Alex worked in the restaurant business to pay bills while starting the Blue Eyed Baker business on the side. Fortunately, Alex’s father helped jumpstart her business by building her first commercial kitchen which enabled them to avoid taking out a loan.
4. Type of Work
Consider your personal purpose, passions and proficiency and how the type of work, employer, location, and total rewards you are interested in align to them.
Narrowing down your options helps you to focus on where you put your energy in finding a new job. Decide if you want to stay in or join the corporate world or be entrepreneurial and start or join a new business. Begin to find organizations that align to your values and have the right cultural fit.
Think about how much money you want or need to make and if the type of work you are interested in will support your lifestyle. As an example, your passion might be personal training and you can become an instructor to share your skill with others. Teaching classes might not pay your bills but can be a foundational step to building a business and potentially open your own gym or studio.
Finding your next adventure may take time. Some actions to support your search include:
Create a list of companies or businesses that inspire you. Would you be proud to be an employee?
List the types of jobs that align with your personal purpose and passion. Will you get excited about the type of work offered?
You are deciding to join a company as much as they are deciding to hire you. Do research on the company and talk to current and former employees if possible. Be prepared with questions that are important to you to ensure it aligns to what you are looking for.
If you want to start your own business, research what is needed to be successful and prepare to launch!
Case Study…
Alex is a great example of turning her passion into a successful business, starting by creating quality products and sharing her business on social media and through word of mouth. With her enthusiasm to get business, individual catering requests spread her thin and after 10 months, she narrowed her vision and brand and defined her offering… focusing on cakes, pastries, and macarons.
Expanding to the local Farmer’s Market enabled her to make connections into wholesale accounts, like coffee shops and Whole Foods. Alex said that “When you are doing what you are meant to be doing, it just feels right and happens. It doesn’t mean it happens without hard work”.
5. External Factors
Do things like COVID, the economy, technology, competition for roles impact the roles you might be considering?
There are many external factors that could impact your job search, and they may change over time. For example, some industries are more insulated from changes in the economy, like technology, while others are more vulnerable as economic factors grow or contract, like restaurants and hospitality. Once you identify your target industry and potential external factors, consider if you need to plan mitigating actions should those factors significantly impact you. COVID was a great example where businesses moved employees to remote working and significantly offered online sales to customers when there was limited in person interaction.
Another external factor is the competition pool for roles you might be interested in. If you have a skill set that is unique and likely to be highly sought after, it will bring attention quickly to hiring managers. If your skill set is broadly available, you will likely experience increased competition for roles that interest you. If that is the case, identify what sets you apart from others so prospective employers notice you.
Considerations
Identify the key external factors that could impact your current role or ones you are considering.
Come up with a mitigation plan should any of those factors threaten to impact your life / work.
Are there any risks you can embrace and be innovative to change how they might impact you?
Case Study…
Looking externally at the market, macarons weren’t widely available in western New York giving Alex a competitive edge. This was validated when Whole Foods approached her to supply them with the confection. While an exciting addition to her business, it created a massive increase in orders, and she was still hand piping every macaron. Alex had just one employee and didn’t reach the point where she could trust someone with her craft.
Nick and Alex looked externally for macaron machines and found a company based out of Switzerland with an operation in LA. They flew out, tested it, and bought the $20k machine, financed with credit cards. While perhaps risky, it transformed her business, going from making a small number of confections to 600 in a day and enabled her to grow and hire people.
COVID, like many businesses, impacted their wholesale and events business, but propelled their farmer’s market business as government rules enabled outdoor events to continue. These became social events where they served Nick’s gourmet breakfast sandwiches using locally sourced ingredients, along with offering their baked goods.
Summary
Career paths don’t need to be linear as they once were expected to be, and now is a great time to consider if you want or need a change. Defining your personal purpose, passions and your capabilities will position you to understand what inspires you and are good at. Considering any personal and external factors that might impact what you do, you can be guided toward securing a position that helps you to achieve your goals, or even starting your own business.
Case Study…Summary
With almost seven years into her business, Alex and Nick now have a storefront, 30 employees, space at four farmer’s markets with 3 food trucks, 2 kitchens, and 75 wedding bookings annually. They just purchased their first building to expand their business and plan to include more savory food items and expanded pastry offerings. Alex also intends to add classes and create some of what she experienced in Los Angeles back in western New York.
Alex acknowledges that they would have been able to grow more quickly with funding, having taken out their first loan recently. Still, they have experienced double and now triple digit growth each year they have been in business.
Most importantly though, is that Nick and Alex went into the venture as a team with Alex sharing that “having a committed partner is essential.”
Wishing you great success in whatever you decide and wherever your journey takes you!
LuAnne Kingston has over 35 years of executive leadership experience in large international firms. She is a senior partner at Global Leader Group and continues to share her knowledge and experience with clients through Executive Search (headhunting senior leadership roles for companies along with job search coaching and outplacement services for individuals), Leadership and Learning design and execution, and Business Consulting to change the world one leader at a time. Contact LuAnne@GlobalLeaderGroup.com to see how her experience can become your expertise.
Global Leader Group, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Global Leader Group is a leadership firm of proven practitioners who share a deep-rooted desire to make a difference by helping organizations FIND & BUILD leaders to deliver excellence. They do that through three main pillars:
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