Tag Archive for: Career Advice

7 Tell-Tale Signs You Need a Career Transition

7 Tell-Tale Signs You Need a Career Transition - By Alexandra HumbelAlexandra Humbel Coaching

You may be surprised to hear that most of my clients do not feel an urge to change careers because they hate what they are doing. Like them, you may feel it deep down, even though things are going smoothly. Work is good, pay is good, and the position is generally satisfying. Everyone else thinks you are in an enviable place and have no reason to change the status quo.

Here are some signals that should get you curious:

1. When asked about who you are and what you do, you deliver a conversational version of your CV, which starts to sound like a well-rehearsed loop. You actively mask your boredom behind a cheering tone, but something is just … off.

2. You avidly read articles and stories about people succeeding in another area, living a different life, or both. Your rational self tells you it is too late anyway and that this would require a massive set of skills you don’t have. But you persist in documenting the topic. Avidly.

3. You go through the moves at work because you have mastered what you do. But you are not completely at it. You are on auto-pilot more than you want to admit.

4. You wonder, so often this thought has become a part of the furniture in your mental space, whether you will do the same thing until retirement. The question remains open and makes you slightly anxious.

5. You are getting intrigued when you hear people talking passionately about the job you are doing right now. You used to be that passionate person. In the past.

6. You are experiencing more and more internal conversations starting with “What if… I was doing this different thing, living this different life, woke up every morning with this different agenda”. These internal conversations both scare you and make you feel incredibly alive.

7. You focus on small increments in your life, your health, your home, and your work. Without a sense of purpose, your energy focuses on fixing stuff while avoiding the fundamental question:

Why are you doing what you are doing?

If you experience some of these feelings, it may be time to ask yourself this question. There is no wrong answer. Money, status, convenience, and safety are valuable reasons to continue doing what you do. What else needs to be heard? Who is the person you would like to be? How far are you from becoming this person? Where would you be in a year if everything went as you wished? What are you ready to say “yes” to and say “no” to? How would it feel to remain in the same place for one year? Five years?

Every life-changing decision starts by being the best listener of your true feelings. Accepting the confusion and antagonist demands that will inevitably come out. It requires some guts to question the status quo of your life and work. If you do, you may be in transition already.

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Why You Should Spend More Time Thinking About Career Transitioning

Why you should spend more time thinking about career transitioning - Alexandra HumbelAlexandra Humbel Coaching

“In the first half of life, ambitious strivers embrace a simple formula for success in work and life: focus single-mindedly, work tirelessly, sacrifice personally, and climb the ladder relentlessly.
It works. Until it doesn’t.” says bestselling author and columnist behind The Atlantic’s popular “How to Build a Life” series, Arthur C. Brooks.

The momentum that drive you in the first part of adult life fuels your motivation to earn expertise, power, financial success, mastery, leadership, learning, excitement and social acknowledgement. Hard work pays. Challenge makes you grow. Experience makes you hone your skills to excellence. Your peers think highly of you. You belong to a league of successful professionals.

Then something happens. A subtle decline of interest for what you have been doing with drive and perseverance for a couple of decades. A crave for something. The next thing you know, here you are, a corporate leader, a respected expert or a successful entrepreneur, admired and envied by your peers, now questioning the meaning of this story you tell about yourself.

Some will suggest mid-life crisis. The terms, which was coined in the 70’s, evokes a number of clichés, among which a man in his 50’t divorcing his wife to marry a younger woman and buying a red Ferrari. Or a Porsche.

Is that it? Or is there more to it?

Arthur C. Brooks offers a radical, and somewhat controversial explanation in his best seller “From Strength to Strength”. He explains that the first part of adult life is driven by “fluid intelligence”, a resource that make you prone to create, innovate, find new paths and out-of-the-box solutions. This form of intelligence tends to fade away with time, creating a feeling of inadequacy that persists even though you try to ignore it, or work harder to compensate. The second half of adult life favors another resource called the “crystallized intelligence”, a pool of wisdom made of knowledge and experiences, available for you to tap into. This form of intelligence excels at training, sharing, creating human and social bonds and produces work based on cross-fertilizing different corpus of acquired knowledge.

Brook’s message is that this new resource can serve you beautifully to fuel a redesigned purpose.

Accepting a decline in interest and accuracy is difficult. Nothing prepared you to hit this wall at the prime (or so you think) of your professional journey. Avoidance and denial are normal reactions.

Now consider this: How many transitions did you already have in your life? Many. From student to professional. From job to job. From corporate to entrepreneur. From single to partner, to parent, to care-giver for your ageing parents. Some transitions were deliberate, and some just happened. Your transition muscle is trained. You are just not prepared to this one, which is insidious, because it comes from within, sending a message you may not understand, and even less like.

Change is inevitable. If you continue ignoring what your gut feeling is trying to tell you, it will unfold in ways that may not suit you. Some of you will double their efforts to stay in the game at all cost. Some will experience an enduring lack of motivation, or both. The wake-up call may come sideways: Loss of job, decline in performance, feedback from your loved ones who worry for you.

So, what now?

It is time for a reset, a profound, authentic reset, including every stable and moving part in your life. The idea is not necessarily to make big changes. However, some take a giant leap into their new chapter.
The idea is to question and assess with radical honesty your current situation and beliefs, your image of yourself and what you think defines you. It is also an invitation to explore what makes you alive, what you want more of in your life and what you crave. This first step is vastly destabilizing, but extremely rewarding to help you shape your future self.

Resonant choices come next, made possible because you are now deeply connected to your heart and attentive to your inner wisdom. These choices involve that you say NO to beliefs and habits that do not serve you any more, and possibly to a job, or a lifestyle, that served you well but now plays against you. It is also time to say a massive YES to the things that you really care for, relationship, work, personal care, and YES to new avenues of personal and professional development.

Action naturally derives from these choices. Action is inevitable and exciting because it comes from a place of alignment with everything you value most. Fuelled by a renewed energy, you are ready to surprise yourself and others – and live out of your so-called “comfort zone”, which had become obsolete anyway.

You will hear that it is too late anyway to reboot your professional life. Is it?

Let’s say you started working at 28 years old, and you are now 48. Considering that the retirement age is inexorably pushed back in all countries, you may be exactly midway in your career. Don’t wait for the unwanted wake-up call. Take the lead.

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3 Leadership Lessons I Learnt From Working With Thierry Mugler

Alexandra Humbel - Career Transition CoachAlexandra Humbel

I have sometimes heard that people who change careers more than once are somewhat unstable or shallow. This is not true. While they are in a career, they are 100% engaged. This was me around 2000, immersed in a corporate career in the fashion industry that I thought I would never leave. The recent passing of the insanely talented and highly regretted Thierry Mugler reminded me of the time when I served as Director of Public Relations of the company he had created. A very intense period of my life, rich in learning, hurdles and inspiration. 

This picture shows me with an air of calm confidence, the kind of confidence Thierry Mugler wanted for his clients. As soon as you put on one of his perfectly cut jackets, supremely elegant with a sexy edge, you instantly felt your self-confidence boosted a notch higher. Well, that was the effect it had on me, and the many other women who vowed him something close to a cult. As Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”.

It was a promotion for me, my first job as the head of the most strategic department in a highly regarded fashion Maison in Paris. During these intense two years, I had a chance to hone my leadership skills in a complex and challenging environment. Here are a few insights I am happy to share:

1. About leading people who are more skilled than you

In my previous jobs, I was the uncontested expert in my area, and as such, I was able to hire junior persons that I trained to the job until they were able to handle projects with some autonomy. When I joined Thierry Mugler, I found a team of extremely skilled and independent professionals, who looked like they did not need me to tell them what to do. For the fashion week, they were able to organize perfectly choreographed fashion shows from A (early casting of models, negotiate the venue, hire logistics, technic, music, dressers, make-up and hair etc.) to Z (showtime, executed to perfection, with 100 persons backstage and, in the audience 250 prime journalists and TV crews from the entire world). They did this within the budget and, last but not least, with enough flexibility to serve a designer who requested frequent and sometimes drastic changes on short notice. I was impressed, for a reason. So, I did what I did best: I boosted the media coverage, offering more and better exposure to the brand while optimizing the international PR resources. But you don’t lead experts by becoming one of them. My role was to help them grow in their roles, feel valued, be attentive to their needs, help deal with conflicts, and stand for them to the higher leadership when necessary. 

2. Stay curious about change, especially if you don’t like it

As the company went through some drastic changes, I started to feel between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, the CEO counted on me to pass on the message and help the team accept and adapt. On the other hand, our work was deeply disrupted by changes that affected our performance directly. As we moved the offices and showrooms out of town to a new industrial location in the North of Paris, we were at risk to lose contact with journalists and stylists who picked up pieces from the collections for photoshoots in the magazines. While I was loyal to the leadership and willing to support executive decisions, I was discouraged by the caveats of the new situation and did a poor job at hiding my doubts. I was true to myself by not sugar-coating the story. Now, with more experience and perspective, I think I could have been curious a bit longer about the possible positive outcomes of these changes. My lesson here is that being right in the short term may not be the best choice. Rather leave the door open for possible further positive developments. Bringing this mindset to the table is not lying, it is allowing some time for settling, and empowering people to find creative solutions. 

3. Never underestimate the culture – but don’t fall for it

It was an incredible honour to work for a designer I admired and to get invited into his world. The beauty and inspiration were everywhere, from the iconic haute-couture creations to the whole futuristic environment. Thierry Mugler was a fascinating human, with so much culture, intelligence and artistic flair that journalists – always in a hurry- would forget time to spend more time with him. In spite of this privileged exposure,  I was not prepared for a Maison with such an incredibly strong culture, none of it was clearly articulated. It took me a while to uncover the do’s and don’ts, the somehow intricate communication patterns, the sophisticated support system around the designer, the subtle powers and counter-powers, and the working pattern of people driven by passion and urgency, in total disdain for standard working hours. I spent a tremendous amount of time and energy trying to adapt and fit in, but being the mother of two young children, this unpredictable way of life started to take a toll on my personal and family life. 

My takeaway from this time is a sense of gratitude for having a chance to “touch the stars”, the symbol of the perfume Angel by Thierry Mugler that I will cherish forever, and gratitude for the opportunity to push my limits and grow as a professional and a human.

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Career Transitioning: 10 Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier (Part 2)

This is Part II of my previous article about what I have learned, having experienced three career transitions and helped numerous professionals play a successful second act of life. I hope you enjoy the read. 

6. The only approval you need is yours

Beautifully expressed by Amanda Gorman, the need for approval is one of the most common hurdles that may stop you in your momentum. The minute you share bold, ambitious dreams for yourself, you will see a number of red flags raised around you. Well-intentioned, loving people in your life will instantly reject the idea that you may get lost in ambitious and risky projects. They want you safe, and the status quo is largely safer than… anything else. Red flags will come from all directions. Colleagues, friends, and family members may sense an unavowable pang of jealousy at your renewed aliveness. Don’t take it personally, don’t be impressed. 

7. Big dreams don’t make you a dreamer

The biggest red flag, though, is in yourself. It is cultural. People with dreams are dreamers. Dreamers are no achievers. This idea was drilled in your subconscious at an early stage, and you will find it, sure enough, on your way to a new career. Don’t buy the simplification. Rather engage in honest exploration: What is really important to you? What does your future, the one you crave, look like, taste like? What is your own definition of success, from now on? Does it encompass every aspect of your life? Does it bring value to you and the people around you? What would be the markers of your future success? The more aware you are of what you really want and why, the most enticing your vision is, the better. As the genius dream architect Walt Disney said: “If you can dream it, you can do it”.

8. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity

How many times this week did you hear yourself say “She is so lucky, to get this job” or, about yourself “I was lucky to meet this person”. By default, we tend to attribute good things happening unexpectedly to luck, whatever this word means. Abundant scientific literature shows that lucky people have their own way to attract luck, in doing two things: They put all the chances on their side, and they open their senses 360° to allow happy coincidence to happen. If you want to share a fantastic business idea with a very searched after person, you may want to make sure this idea has value for the person, refine and rehearse your pitch until it is irresistible, get all the intel you can about where this person may be hanging out, and keep in mind that if your idea is truly great, it will find its way to the real world. With or without this person. 

9. It is so cool to go back to school

A current cause of stress for career transitioners is the necessity to get extra training. Will you be able to learn as fast as you used to? Is your brain capable of memorizing new knowledge? How awkward will it feel to sit on a school bench at your age? What will your ex-colleagues think? How will you cope with homework, supervision, and exams?  Most likely, all of these fears will materialize. Yes, you will feel intellectually rusted. Yes, you will have to deploy your best efforts to catch up. Yes, it will feel awkward sometimes. Yes, some well-intentioned peer will ask what the hell do you expect, getting back to school at your age. And yes, homework sucks. But the reward is invaluable. Your decision to be a student again is a gift you offer to yourself and an investment in your future. The process is fun too. Learning has its own way to pump up your spirit and upgrade your self-image. 

10. You will never look back

Maybe the most important thing I which I had known is that there is no way back. More accurately, there is no desire to go back to square one. You are a creature of movement, like all living creatures in this world. The journey towards a fulfilling second act of life is bumpy and interesting. We talked about the inner reward of learning, and learning comes in many different ways. Questioning the status quo makes you more alive. Taking bold moves towards work and life that you love triggers renewed energy. And keep in mind that you might well become a source of inspiration for other people’s own journey into transition.

If you missed part 1 of this article, you can read it here.

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Career Transitioning: 10 Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier (Part 1)

Career Transitioning - Things I wish I'd known earlier - by Alexandra HumbelAlexandra Humbel

My mentor suggested that I write a post about the things I wish I had known earlier about career transition. I liked the idea and, based on my personal journey as well as my experience as a coach, I started with a half dozen points aimed at helping professionals get on the fast lane. I ended up with twice as many points, and the kind of long article I, myself, have a hard time digesting. Hence the decision to stick to 10 essential points, dispatched in 2 posts. This is Part I, I hope you enjoy the read. Part II is available here.

10 Things I Wish I Had Known Earlier About Career Transitioning.

1. You are not alone

Studies show that an increasing number of experienced professionals are undertaking a career change, and even more are considering it. Three-fifths of UK workers (60%) intend to make changes to their careers as a result of the Covid outbreak, an increase of seven percentage points since July 2020 (53%).*

So why does it feel weird and lonely? It is because nothing prepared you to handle one or several career changes in your life. Society tends to assign you a role, tied to a life cycle: In your junior years, you prove your competence. As you are getting experienced, you excel in your field. And then, what? You retire. While there is nothing wrong with linear career paths, it does not work for everyone. Probably not for you, if you are reading these lines. 

2. Your skills are transferable – All of them

My clients who crave a new career are taken aback by the thought that their expertise might be lost when they change jobs. It is natural to take pride in those skills you have mastered over time. The good news is, you take everything with you on the journey.  Those skills will manifest in creative ways, coming in handy to serve your goals while you are expanding in your new project. Interestingly, ancient or dormant skills will show up and prove valuable to handle new situations. Your brain creates new circuits while tapping into resources you did not remember you had. And this is particularly refreshing. 

 

3. It is OK to be lost in transition

Describing career transitions as uncomfortable is an understatement. More accurately: Everything which made you feel grounded in social status is gone. Welcome to unchartered territories, where nobody is waiting for you with your name on a sign. No driver, no limousine. It requires courage to leave the familiar in order to become a new version of yourself. Uncomfortable, scared, and excited all together, highs and lows are in order. But, as Maya Angelou said: “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” The butterfly is you.

4. Money and time are no excuses

“I will do a job I really love when I have enough time, or money” (or both). 

Does that sound familiar? Of course, these two factors are critical components of a decision, and critical metrics to monitor all along the way. Controlling your time and financial resources through a career transition will be essential to succeed. Be aware that the conservative, risk-averse part of you will always show up with these massive excuses that are the lack of (or the fear of lack of) time and or money. Or both. It is your call to let these fears be the master of you.

5. Nature is in constant change and so are you

“Nothing is absolute, everything changes, everything moves, everything evolves, everything flies and goes away”.

These lines written by the fascinating artist Frida Kahlo can be interpreted as words of regret and melancholy. Or, from another perspective, as the constant evolution of all things that allow rebirth, re-invention, possibilities, relief, reboot, rejuvenation, and creation. When looking back at your career, you may take pride in what you have achieved, and, simultaneously, realize that this pattern is no longer fulfilling you. You can cherish your past achievements and look forward to what you are going to do next. This is not a lack of consistency in your choices. It is about the inherent nature of all of us, to thrive in movement or shrink in stagnation.

 

Continue reading part 2 of this post

 

*Aviva “How do we live” Report, 2021

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4 Common Misconceptions About Career Transitioning

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT CAREER TRANSITIONINGAlexandra Humbel

Have you been repeatedly inspired by the stories of friends, colleagues, people on social or in the media, who changed careers in their fifties and started something vastly different? Have you wondered, even for a minute, how exciting it would be to follow their example? Then this article is for you. In all honesty, nobody ever said it was easy. It never is. But the most difficult thing may well be the first step: Overcoming your pre-conceived ideas about what it takes to follow your inner North Star, and start a meaningful second act of life.

Here are four common misconceptions about career transitioning that I often hear from clients before we start working together.

1. I am too old

Misconceptions about age are extremely interesting because ageing is a taboo. It becomes even hairier when you realize that you are now officially part of the “senior” or “older” workforce. At this point, the only visible perspective for your future is retirement. If this is not what you want, and if you consider changing career instead, I can hear you asking: “How old shall I be when I succeed in my new job?” the short answer is “The same as if you dwell in the status quo”.  We age anyway, this is a fact of life. The even shorter answer is: You have choices. You always do. Starting a new career that makes your heart sing every morning might come with a different lifestyle, where you divide your time between work and leisure. According to the latest Aegon research on retirement, older professionals do not want the traditional ‘cliff edge’ retirement – they want an easier transition towards a work-life balance which better suits their needs.

2. I will need a lot of training

This is also a misconception, and here is why. Once you are crystal clear about what you want to do (which might require some time and help), it becomes a matter of execution. If you need to add competence to your skillset, you will proceed, promptly. One of my clients transitioned from CEO in the media industry to skipper, cruising clients in the Mediterranean in a luxury sailing boat. While he had been a savvy sailor in the past, he needed to pass a professional skipper degree. It took him six months of commitment and he graduated with honors. Motivation is at the core of the decision to get training. As Brave Start observed in a recent survey,

“The drive to learn is undiminished but comes with the self-awareness and perspective that comes with age” ¹

Are you struggling to find clarity? A great place to start is by downloading my free Compass Coordinates Workbook, which will help you cut out the noise and get a clear direction for where you need to go next.

3. I will lose my status

Yes, you will. The misconception is about what you make of it, and what you get in lieu of your status-quo. When was the last time you re-visited your conception of success? What is really important to you? What do you want other people to see in you? To say about you? What is the impact you want to have? Do you want to use your sterling experience in a meaningful way? Is there an entrepreneurial dream that is waiting to be brought to life? There is no right or wrong answers to these questions, but it may be time to re-align your actions with your values. Business cards are old-fashioned and unsustainable anyway. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Once you are on your way to your second act, a new status will emerge, together with a new version of yourself.

4. I will be financially vulnerable

If you ask yourself questions about your finances, you are point on. Money is key in the equation of a potential career change, and you want to be clear about the consequences. To start with, you want to have a 360° view to make an educated decision. This exploration is essential, as we tend, by default, to cling to standards that are no longer aligned with what we really want. Make a thorough assessment of your needs, and those of your family. You may be ready to downsize your home, move, or simplify your life. Doing a job you love has its own pay-offs, that may make you happily give up the toys you enjoyed at some point. Or, on the contrary, financial success is centrally important to you. Different moments of your life involve different priorities. An evaluation of your assets and pension fund is necessary to determine what you have and what you need to earn, in order to live the life you want.

Have you created false beliefs that are preventing you from living your dream life? What stories have you been telling yourself that are holding you back from taking a leap and transitioning into the next stage of your life? If you are looking for someone to guide you, who can provide you with an objective view and the tools that will allow you to transition gracefully into the second stage of your life, I would love to have a chat with you. Click here to schedule your free discovery conversation today.

 

¹ Unlocking the Value of an ageing working force, 2021

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