Fortune Magazine published, Reinvent Your Career, in its July 4, 2011 issue.
The article shares real-life stories of five (5) professionals who confronted and overcame personal and professional setbacks.
And, these compelling examples prove successful reinvention happens at any age despite your previous job description.
The following video profiles one of these true-life reinventions (note: the beginning contains a short commercial):
Lifelong Reinvention Is A Professional Requirement
U.S. Labor Statistics Paint a Sobering Picture. These statistics are from the Fortune Magazine article. We’re living in an era of:
* Job Destruction. 12.6% of the workforce lost their jobs in the past recession, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Displaced Worker Survey (the highest rate since at least 1981).
* Multiple Professional Identities. The youngest baby boomers (those born from 1957 to 1964) held an average of 11 jobs from ages 18 to 44, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Denali Group, a procurement-services company, predicts Generation Y will have 15 to 25 jobs in their lifetime.
* A Project-Based Economy. By the end of 2010, the number of people working part-time because they couldn’t find full-time work had nearly quadrupled since the 1950s to 2.38 million people.
Tom Peters Described Our Project-Based Economy In 1997
Read The Fast Company Article, The Brand Called You. These Tom Peters quotes underscore the personal branding opportunities in a project-based economy:
One key to growing your power is to recognize the simple fact that we now live in a project world. Almost all work today is organized into bite-sized packets called projects.
A project-based world is ideal for growing your brand: projects exist around deliverables, they create measurables, and they leave you with braggables. If you’re not spending at least 70% of your time working on projects, creating projects, or organizing your (apparently mundane) tasks into projects, you are sadly living in the past.
Today, you have to think, breathe act, and work in projects.
Project World makes it easier for you to assess — and advertise — the strength of Brand You.
Project World Dictates Lifelong Learning and Reinvention
Brand You Requires Regular Reinvention. Tom Peters emphasizes this conclusion in The Brand Called You:
A career is a portfolio of projects that teach you new skills, gain you new expertise, develop new capabilities, grow your colleague set, and constantly reinvent you as a brand.
Instead of making yourself a slave to the concept of a career ladder, reinvent yourself on a semi-regular basis.
Common Traits of Successful Reinventors. In the Fortune Magazine article, Pulling Off The Ultimate Career Makeover, successful reinventors share a common attitude:
- They love learning by doing
- They embrace the future (especially new technologies like social media)
- They take calculated risks (e.g., they are willing to fail)
Read, Read, Read! Tom Peters shares important advice on keeping your analytical skills and creativity fresh (e.g., new skills and knowledge powering reinvention): Out-Read The Other Guy.
Reinvent Yourself By Doing Work That Matters
Seth Godin’s Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself. “Doing work that matters” may require a personal transformation. Here are Godin’s seven (7) ways to do it:
1. Connect. Social media and a laptop allow us to make direct connections on a global scale. Connect and learn new insights from other people. Better yet, create something that impacts their lives. In return, you’ll build reputation, influence, and power.
2. Be Generous. By creating something that benefit others and by not expecting anything back, you’ll cultivate community (aka a tribe). And, communities spread ideas. Your personal brand could be one of those ideas.
3. Make Art. All of us are capable of creating art. With today’s technology, it could be an informative website, a great blog post, or a thought-provoking eBook. Your art can move and influence others.
4. Acknowledge the Lizard. That voice inside our heads that prevents us from creating art — that’s the lizard brain. The lizard brain reminds us how we fear being laughed at or looking foolish. Acknowledge it. Now, ignore it. And, create the art that’s inside you.
5. Ship. Godin says: “The key to reinvention of who you are, then, is to become someone who ships (aka The Linchpin).” The Linchpin is the person who accepts accountability, has the skills for getting things done, and creates outcomes. To create outcomes, you have to ship (i.e., hit enter to send that email, press publish to post that blog article, or make the hard decision).
6. Fail. Reinvention requires failing often and failing small. You have to be willing to fail. Watch this Tech Crunch TV interview with Godin on The Value of Failing Small (especially time stamp 1:59 to 3:26).
7. Learn. Another direct quote from Seth Godin: “The path to reinvention, though, is just that — a path. The opportunity of our time is to discard what you think you know and instead learn what you need to learn. Every single day.
Read Godin’s eBook: Brainwashed — Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself. Here it is from Slideshare:
Conclusion
Leverage Technology To Your Advantage. The Internet levels the playing field. In the following video, Godin makes a strong case how technology powers your reinvention:
* Your Laptop Is The 21st Century Factory (0:38 – 1:54). Now, you own the means of production. What are you going to do with your laptop to make something that changes the world?
* You Can Globally and Directly Connect (2:17 – 3:54). Plus, the Internet enables your global connections to promote your work and do business (and vice versa).
* You Can Spread Ideas Via Social Media Connections (3:55 – 4:58). Developing these connections (or knowing people who have them) is vital. Why? Social media influences:
- The ideas that get a head start
- The ideas that spread
Don’t Make My Mistake. I started my blog and personal reinvention process in July 2009.
My ONE Regret — Not starting sooner.
And, it isn’t just because of the resulting opportunities. Reinvention Is Fun.
Go. Connect. Be generous. Make art. Acknowledge the lizard. Ship. Fail. Learn.
And, please let me know how it goes.
Did You Enjoy This Post?
If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.