As a career coach, author, and speaker, John supports individuals and teams in making more effective career choices and more sustainable career plans. John works across generations, from graduate students looking to land their first jobs, to GenX and Boomer workers over fifty looking to redefine and sustain their careers beyond traditional retirement. Starting with the notion that our ideal career is already inside us, John advocates a more personal-growth approach to career development, vs the traditional HR skills-based paradigm.
John has a new LinkedIn Learning course, Connecting with Your Millennial Manager. Marc and John discuss the inevitability of your working for a Millennial as you age in the workplace and how you can make it a positive growth experience.
Marc is asking for your financial support for the Repurpose Your Career podcast. Please donate at Glow.fm/repurposeyourcareer to support this Podcast.
[1:38] Marc welcomes you to Episode 154 of the Repurpose Your Career podcast.
[1:51] If you are enjoying this podcast, please share it with other like-minded souls. Subscribe on CareerPivot.com, iTunes, or any of the other apps that supply podcasts. Share it on social media or just tell your neighbors and colleagues. The more people Marc reaches, the more people he can help.
[2:10] Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life Third Edition is available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Powells.com, BooksaMillion.com and many other fine online retailers. The book has 30 reviews on Amazon platforms. Marc thanks everyone who has taken the time to review it.
[2:36] After three years of doing the Repurpose Your Career podcast it is time for a change. Marc talks about the financial concerns around the podcast and Marc’s Career Pivot business. Marc’s business now focuses on the Career Pivot online membership community to help the most people at a lower cost to the people he helps.
[3:15] 2018 was the year the Millers became expats living in Ajijic, Mexico, which greatly reduced their living expenses and helped finance the restructuring of the business. Career Pivot needed to be financially viable.
[3:33] In 2019 the Career Pivot website was attacked. For the first time, the website traffic for the year declined from the previous year, though very slightly.
[3:47] Marc recently posted about “A Redesigned and Refocused Career Pivot After Attack.” He discussed the website and why he recently changed it.
[3:58] Because the business no longer supports the costs of production, Marc is making changes starting with the next episode. Marc will eliminate the time-stamped podcast show notes with a detailed write-up of the show. About half of Marc’s listeners read the show notes. Marc will provide dramatically reduced notes.
[4:30] Marc acknowledges the production work of Podfly Productions, as he transitions the Repurpose Your Career podcast to in-house production. Marc recommends using the Podfly.net team if you want to start your own podcast!
[4:54] Marc will move to scheduling an episode every other week instead of the weekly schedule he has kept for three years. If Marc gets ahead on episodes over the next few months, he may revert to a weekly schedule.
[5:07] Marc will not publish an episode the week of the U.S. Thanksgiving and will produce two episodes in December. On January 6th, 2020 Marc will start the regular biweekly schedule.
[5:22] If you would like to financially support this show, please go to Glow.fm/repurposeyourcareer/ to give. This link will be at the top and bottom of the show notes at CareerPivot.com/episode-154.
[5:34] Next week’s episode will be an interview with Teresa Ferguson, Executive Director of AustinUP, a community alliance committed to making Central Texas a place where older adults live full and engaged lives. Teresa has a unique view of the fifty-plus employment world.
[5:57] This week, Marc interviews returning guest, John Tarnoff. John just published a LinkedIn Learning Online course, Connecting With Your Millennial Manager. Marc thinks it is incredibly well-done. We may all work at some time for a Millennial Manager. Marc hopes you enjoy this episode.
[6:24] Marc welcomes John Tarnoff to the Repurpose Your Career podcast and introduces John to the listening audience.
[6:33] John has a new course on LinkedIn Learning, called Connecting with Your Millennial Manager. Marc comments on how well-done this course is. It is divided into short modules with a quiz after each one. If you miss a question it tells you how to find the right answer.
[7:13] John gives credit to LinkedIn for ushering him through the process of designing an instructional course.
[7:28] LinkedIn approached John a year ago about setting up a course on age-related issues. Managing Someone Older Than You came out in February 2019. John asked them about the “companion piece” of an older worker needing to relate to a younger, probably Millennial boss, and they agreed. That course came out in October 2019.
[9:13] The first module is “Everyone’s Getting Younger.” John explains that means in the workplace. If we have children, they are probably Millennials. Boomers often perceive Millennials as entitled slackers. They change jobs often. However, this is also related to the economy being much different than the economy in which Boomers started working.
[12:02] Statisticians are finding that by the time a Millennial is promoted to a managerial position, it’s because they are very committed, on top of their job and their responsibilities, and are likely a top contender to work for.
[12:28] Millennials are working in a very different economic climate, with colossal student debt and depressed wages. Home ownership is harder for them to achieve than it was for Boomers. They don’t see getting to the American Dream.
[13:29] In Marc’s Multi-Generational Workplace workshop, he talks about the Millennials being the echoes of the Boomers.
[13:52] Ashton Applewhite was a guest on this podcast. She talked about our natural tendency to self-segregate by age group.
[14:30] Marc gave a talk on ageism last year. Afterward, a Boomer walked up to him and said he had volunteered for the Beto O’Rourke for Senate Campaign. He said, “Boy, did my attitude change about the Millennials!”
[15:09] John’s course covers common-sense business relationship-building practice. Look at working for a Millennial as an opportunity to be of service. Be ready to mentor; support the work that they do. You will have a lot more fun in your job, find your ‘fit,’ and inspire a closer working relationship with this younger person.
[16:32] The course section, “Working for a Millennial Boss,” discusses being of service. One of the keys to mentoring is that it’s not teaching. It’s listening openly and offering suggestions for how that person can figure out how to do it for themselves in their own way.
[17:13] As a mentor, you don’t want to tell someone how you did it; you want to listen to what they are going through and have them list the specific problems and tactically offer up possibilities for them to consider. Give them alternatives, perspective, and context. Let them come to the conclusion.
[17:54] When you first come to your Millennial boss, be a really good listener. John quotes Steven Covey: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Be humble. The world is really different. Younger people have an understanding of how the pace of change is affecting business and technology is affecting management communication.
[19:03] Stuff still gets done but now we talk of lean process, agile management, and design thinking. These are new trends in the past decade. A diligent Millennial Manager is going to be working overtime to understand how these processes can benefit their team. There’s a lot we have to learn to be part of that team. We also have a lot to offer.
[19:57] Marc takes a break from the interview with John to talk about the Career Pivot Membership Community, which continues to help the approximately 50 members who are participating in the beta phase of this project to grow and thrive.
[20:10] Marc reads a member testimonial from community member Scott: “There are multiple online Mastermind groups each week as well as experts speaking to the group on a regular basis. Better yet, the content is recorded in case you have other plans that day. If you are debating LinkedIn Premium or Career Pivot, go with Career Pivot.
[20:33] “You get tons of access to Marc and the wisdom of the tribe. You’ll be glad you joined.” Marc hopes you liked what Scott had to say. Marc would like to highlight that the key piece is the wisdom of the tribe.
[20:48] This is a paid membership community where Marc offers group coaching, special content, mastermind groups, branding sessions, Slack channels, and more importantly, it’s a community where you can seek help. Please go to CareerPivot.com/Community to sign up to learn more.
[21:13] What makes us in the second half of life an asset to today’s workforce? John says it’s the wisdom and experience. We come up with methods that just work, based on what we already have done. Our neural pathways have become well-worn in this area and we come up with answers quickly. It’s not just experience but also context.
[23:14] Don’t tell people how to do it, or what worked “in my day.” Never say, “in my day”! Always be in the present. Don’t invoke your experience. Talk about your suggestion on its merits. Justify your solution based on present conditions.
[24:04] Marc shares an anecdote from his days at IBM in the 1990s, when he was training technical support people. They found that when you solve a problem in a specific domain, the next time you see a similar problem in a similar domain, you will solve it sooner.
[24:32] Marc gave the technical support people opportunities to work with technology when the product was still immature, so they would encounter more problems quicker. Marc has things he learned in college as an engineer apply today when he fixes his car.
[25:05] John warns to be careful about invoking past solutions just because they worked once in a different domain. The solution can be offered as an approach if it will work today. If it works, and your manager asks where the idea came from you can then admit that you’ve been doing it that way for years. Millennials are suspicious of the past.
[26:14] The past is not relevant. Think about the solution in terms of what’s going to work today. Don’t use past success as your authority for a current application.
[26:43] John wants the course to give people confidence about reporting to a younger person. Almost 60% of people over 55 are reporting to someone younger. As Millennials age into these positions of responsibility, someone two generations below you will manage you.
[27:37] John also says we need to spread the word that reporting to someone younger can be very enriching and liberating. If you develop a good working relationship with someone who is 30 years younger think of how that will enrich your perspective and cultural influences. We stay young by the diversity of connections we make.
[28:39] The more we spend time with people of varied backgrounds and ages, the more our lives are enriched and the more we discover inside ourselves we never knew was there, or that we had lost. It enriches our lives. Put aside the nostalgia and embrace new experiences. Continue contributing to work, life, and culture.
[30:25] Boomers and Millennials are very compatible. They have the same activist tendencies for meaning, purpose, and social justice. There is a lot to be gained by forming close relationships with Millennials, especially in the context of work.
[30:59] From developing these courses, John learned that his initial hypothesis was correct that the more time Boomers and Millennials spend together, the more they get from each other. All the research points in that direction.
[31:43] John cites a study by Dr. Karl Pillemer at Cornell that says the more generations spend time together, the more age bias withers away. Familiarity breeds harmony, cooperation, and understanding. We just need to spend more time hanging out with, working with, people of different generations. That is the future.
[32:27] Marc talks about the multi-generational families where he lives in Mexico. Marc notes that in all the ‘Blue Zones’ where there are more centenarians, a common trait is that there are multi-generational families.
[32:53] Multi-generational family living keeps your brain growing because you are constantly learning and experiencing life with people that are not ‘like you.’
[33:23] You can take John’s course on LinkedIn Learning (originally, Lynda.com). Find him at JohnTarnoff.com. Find John on LinkedIn, or Facebook. A Google search brings up some of his links on the first page.
[34:25] Marc thanks John for being on the Repurpose Your Career podcast.
[34:37] Marc hopes you enjoyed that episode. Marc was impressed with this thought-provoking interview.
[34:50] The career Pivot Membership Community continues to help the approximately 50 members who are participating in the Beta phase of this project to grow and thrive. This is a community where everyone is there to help everyone else. Marc is recruiting new members for the next cohort.
[35:05] If you are interested in the Career Pivot Membership Community and would like to be put on a waiting list, please go to CareerPivot.com/Community.
[35:20] Marc invites you to connect with him on LinkedIn.com/in/mrmiller. Just include in the connection request that you listen to this podcast. You can look for Career Pivot on Facebook, LinkedIn, or @CareerPivot on Twitter.
[35:35] Please come back next week when Marc will interview Teresa Ferguson, Executive Director of AustinUp!
[35:43] Please support the Repurpose Your Career podcast by going to Glow.fm/repurposeyourcareer. This link is also at the top of the show notes.
[35:58] You will find the show notes for this episode at CareerPivot.com/episode-154.
[36:08] Please hop over to CareerPivot.com and subscribe to get updates on this podcast and all the other happenings at Career Pivot. You can also subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, the Google Podcasts app, Podbean, the Overcast app, or the Spotify app and soon to be on Pandora!
Jayne Mattson is a career management expert and author with deep experience in corporate and private business sectors and accomplished facilitator, trainer, and coach. Jayne is known for inspiring and motivating individuals to explore career options and to help them build sustainable confidence. Jayne helps with mid-career professionals, providing guidance and services that help them take charge of their careers. She partners with the Boston Young Professional Association, writing articles for their blog on career-related topics. She is a frequent writer/contributor on career-related topics to CareerBuilder, Monster, CIO, Mashable, and other sites as well as print publications, including The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.
Jayne recently published a book, You, You, Me, You: The Art of Talking to People, Networking and Building Relationships. A strong believer in giving back, Jayne volunteers as a confidence coach with the Budget Buddies, a Massachusetts-based non-profit organization, focused on improving the financial literacy of low-income women.
Marc is asking for your financial support for the Repurpose Your Career podcast. Please donate at Glow.fm/repurposeyourcareer to support this Podcast.
[1:14] Marc welcomes you to Episode 153 of the Repurpose Your Career podcast.
[1:28] If you are enjoying this podcast, please share it with other like-minded souls. Subscribe on CareerPivot.com, iTunes, or any of the other apps that supply podcasts. Share it on social media or just tell your neighbors and colleagues. The more people Marc reaches, the more people he can help.
[1:47] After three years of doing the Repurpose Your Career podcast it is time for a change. Marc talks about the financial concerns around the podcast and Marc’s Career Pivot business.
[3:04] A couple of weeks ago, Marc posted about “A Redesigned and Refocused Career Pivot After Attack.” He discussed the website and why he recently changed it.
[3:17] Because the business no longer supports the costs of production, Marc is making changes. Marc will eliminate the time-stamped podcast show notes with a detailed write-up of the show. About half of Marc’s listeners read the show notes. Marc will provide dramatically reduced notes.
[3:43] Marc acknowledges the production work of Podfly Productions, as he transitions the Repurpose Your Career podcast to in-house production. Marc recommends using the Podfly team if you want to start your own podcast!
[4:04] Marc will move to scheduling an episode every other week instead of the weekly schedule he has kept for three years. If Marc gets ahead on episodes over the next few months, he may revert to a weekly schedule.
[4:27] Marc will not publish an episode the week of U.S. Thanksgiving and will probably produce two episodes in December. On January 6th, 2020 Marc will start the regular biweekly schedule.
[4:44] If you would like to financially support this show, please go to Glow.fm/repurposeyourcareer/ to give. This link will be at the top of the show notes at CareerPivot.com/episode-153. Marc received the first donation this week — a one-time donation of $60.00 that will cover three months of podcast hosting services. Thank you!
[5:13] Next week’s episode will be an interview with returning guest John Tarnoff. John just published a LinkedIn Learning Online course, Connecting With Your Millennial Manager. Marc thinks it is incredibly well-done. We may all work sometime for a Millennial Manager.
[5:43] In this week’s episode, Marc interviews Jayne Mattson. Marc shares her bio. Marc hopes you enjoy this episode.
[7:06] Marc welcomes Jayne Mattson to the Repurpose Your Career podcast.
[7:47] Jayne gives the background on how she decided to write You, You, Me, You. As a career management consultant, she determined that she needed to focus on teaching people how to build relationships rather than how to network. People were not learning about the other person. She started to teach the principles of you, you, me, and you.
[9:25] People who are in transition or looking for another job need relationships. Relationships are more about the other person. Also, in the world of selfies, Jayne suggests you focus away from yourself and focus more on other people. These concerns provided Jayne the impetus to write a book about them.
[10:21] Marc’s networking goal is to start with the attitude, ‘How can I help other people?’ If he can help them, that’s great. He expects nothing in return. Jayne notes that people often expect networking to provide contacts, but contacts are earned, not given carelessly. There are many aspects of true relationship-building.
[11:16] Marc also notes that when you focus on the other person, you are more likable. In her book, Jayne refers to a couple of individuals who were influential in her career: Dale Carnegie and her father. Jayne’s father gave her Dale Carnegie’s book when she was 15. He told her, “If you read this book, you will always be successful.”
[11:55] Because of her father, Jayne read How to Win Friends & Influence People every year. Dale Carnegie’s principles are all about making the other person feel more special than you. Jayne has practiced that throughout her life and she has been successful.
[12:27] Jayne explains and role-plays the ‘you, you, me, you’ conversation in a networking situation. The point is to show that you are more interested in the other person than in your own interest. Show appreciation of their time, say why you are there, then close by thanking them for their time and looking forward to staying in touch.
[14:30] Networking is about soliciting help from other people along the way who are going to help you in your career endeavor. You want to be memorable to them when they think about a job opening.
[15:05] Most people in Austin have moved there. Marc would always ask “How did you get to Austin?” Everyone had a story. Marc would keep digging down with questions until he found something they had in common. Marc used standard questions that revealed a pattern.
[15:53] Jayne shares a networking experience she had with an introvert who read Jayne’s book before meeting her and came prepared with questions about what she had read in the book so she showed her interest. Always be curious and genuine. Don’t sound like you’re checking questions off a list. It will show.
[16:52] As you ask questions you will find commonality and ease your way into the conversation. If you show you are willing to help them, they will also be willing to help you.
[17:20] The ‘you, you, me, you’ concept is about building relationships. Jayne talks about the different stages of relationship-building in the book: Initiating it, developing rapport, and establishing the relationship. The most important concept is sustainability. Stay informed and connected to them, through LinkedIn or even hand-written notes.
[18:49] As you build relationships, practice the steps in the book with people with whom you are already comfortable. Eventually, it will become a habit and you will see people reacting to you in a more genuine collaborative way. It will be a connection of the heart.
[19:30] Marc’s friend, Thom Singer, a public speaker, suggests writing a hand-written card and sticking your business card in it.
[20:03] Jayne recommends, especially to young people, to get personalized stationery. When you send a note, your name will always be at the top, to remind them who you are and how you met. You want them to remember your name.
[21:32] Jayne says, no matter how bad your handwriting is, people will notice that you took the thought and effort to send a personal note.
[22:36] Jayne makes a point of explaining the ‘y’ in her name. It makes her memorable.
[23:13] Marc takes a break from the interview to talk about the Career Pivot Membership Community, which continues to help the approximately 50 members who are participating in the beta phase of this project to grow and thrive.
[23:27] Marc reads a member testimonial from community member Cleo: “I joined the Career Pivot Community as a frustrated over-60 job seeker looking for some support and I did find that in this group.
[23:40] “Marc is wise in the ways of self-analysis, job search, and small business and is able to help encourage and poke group members to find meaningful work. I have improved my online presence and reputation, found freelance work, established a path to future employment that makes sense.
[24:00] “You get out of the community what you put into it. If you engage regularly, you will find people with a wide range of skills who are more than willing to support and advise other community members and you can gain inspiration seeing what they achieve.” Marc wants you to see that it’s not just Marc, it’s the community.
[24:25] This is a paid membership community where Marc offers group coaching, special content, mastermind groups, branding sessions, Slack channels, and more importantly, it’s a community where you can seek help. Please go to CareerPivot.com/Community to sign up to learn more.
[24:45] Marc asks Jayne about sticky situations, such as not knowing how to extract yourself from a conversation. Work with how you feel about people, in general. If you look at them unfavorably, you may unthinkingly dismiss someone rudely. If you remember that everyone has a story to tell, you may be more gentle breaking it off.
[25:54] Jayne suggests a positive script for bringing a long conversation to a close when you need to move on. Treat people with respect and dignity. Make sure not to offend. You never know how this person will come into your life again.
[27:08] Jayne gives an example of a person who needs to develop a rapport with a client but also needs to let the client know that what they did was inappropriate. You need good communication skills while developing and maintaining a relationship.
[27:51] Jayne talks about the reach of social media. Practice the same principles on social media. On LinkedIn, you can like someone’s post, comment on it, and share it. That is giving back to the person with whom you want to build a relationship.
[28:35] Jayne talks about how she connected with Kerry Hannon on LinkedIn and is maintaining a great online relationship with her after first hearing and admiring her on Marc’s podcast.
[29:05] On Facebook or Instagram, as you connect with people, don’t make it just pitches about you. Make sure you have something valuable to say. Jayne also encourages people to spend less time on social media and pick up your phone for a conversation with someone. When you post on social media, help others.
[30:06] If you live near someone, invite them offline to meet in person.
[30:22] On LinkedIn, Jayne answers requests for connections with a request first to know more about what that person does. Jayne does not want clicks, she wants a personal introduction that can start more of a relationship.
[30:54] Marc talks about his book team. His co-author, Susan Lahey, now lives in Porto, Portugal. His book cover designer, MamiSerwaa, now lives in Ghana. They do most of their talking over the phone through Facebook Messenger. Marc calls them from Mexico.
[31:32] Younger generations may not know what to say on the phone. You start by finding common interests. Jayne is planning a local “Conversation Saturday” for middle schoolers of how to have conversations over the phone or in person, instead of by text. We are human and we need socialization.
[33:21] Marc includes some advice from his Multigenerational Workplace talk. If I want you to listen to me, I have to adapt to your preferred communication style. Boomers liked to be talked to. Millennials like to be texted.
[34:30] Jayne follows Lindsey Pollak on LinkedIn. Lindsey Pollak wrote Remix: How to Lead and Succeed in the Multigenerational Workplace on this topic. It is important to be adaptable and resilient. The ‘you, you, me, you’ concept is memorable and easy to use for any generation.
[35:39] Jayne’s closing advice to the audience is we, collectively, have a responsibility to each other, to the people around us, not to use our cell phones while we are with someone. Be with the person in front of you. Jayne wrote this into her book, and she recommends that you buy the book for young people. Don’t lose the human touch.
[36:55] Jayne wants us to come back to face-to-face conversations. Use the ‘you, you, me, you’ concept to build relationships. Look people in the eye. Say, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
[37:45] You can reach Jayne Mattson on LinkedIn. She doesn’t connect with people who just send a request. Tell her why you want to connect with her and tell her about your relationship-building skills. You can follow Jayne Mattson on Instagram.
[38:16] You can order You, You, Me, You: The Art of Talking to People, Networking and Building Relationships on Amazon in paperback, ebook, and in 2020, in Audible.
[38:37] Marc shares that he is about to produce the third edition of Repurpose Your Career in audiobook. Marc thanks Jayne for being on the Repurpose Your Career podcast.
[38:56] Marc hopes you enjoyed that episode. Marc has known Jayne for a number of years. Jayne is passionate about networking and helping people.
[39:08] The career Pivot Membership Community continues to help the approximately 50 members who are participating in the Beta phase of this project to grow and thrive. This is a community where everyone is there to help everyone else. Marc has just brought in a cohort and he is recruiting new members for the next cohort.
[39:23] If you are interested in the Career Pivot Membership Community and would like to be put on a waiting list, please go to CareerPivot.com/Community.
[39:36] Marc invites you to connect with him on LinkedIn.com/in/mrmiller. Just include in the connection request that you listen to this podcast. You can look for Career Pivot on Facebook, LinkedIn, or @CareerPivot on Twitter.
[39:48] Please come back next week when Marc will interview John Tarnoff, author of the LinkedIn Learning course Connecting with Your Millennial Manager!
[39:47] Please support the Repurpose Your Career podcast by going to Glow.fm/repurposeyourcareer. This link is also at the top of the show notes.
[40:13] You will find the show notes for this episode at CareerPivot.com/episode-153.
[40:21] Please hop over to CareerPivot.com and subscribe to get updates on this podcast and all the other happenings at Career Pivot. You can also subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, the Google Podcasts app, Podbean, the Overcast app, or the Spotify app and soon to be on Pandora!
This episode is a replay of Marc’s visit to the Second Act Stories podcast. Andy Levine and Marc explore Marc’s many career pivots, and how they led to the publication of the third edition of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life. Marc tells of the impact of his nearly fatal bicycle accident on his career choices. Marc shares information about the various ventures he runs, from the Career Pivot website, the blog, the podcast, the books, and the online community.
Before the interview, Marc also makes an important announcement. Please listen in for all the details.
Marc is asking for your financial support for the Repurpose Your Career podcast. Please donate at Glow.fm/repurposeyourcareer to support this Podcast.
[1:09] Marc welcomes you to Episode 152 of the Repurpose Your Career podcast.
[1:21] If you are enjoying this podcast, please share it with other like-minded souls. Subscribe on CareerPivot.com, iTunes, or any of the other apps that supply podcasts. Share it on social media or just tell your neighbors and colleagues. The more people Marc reaches, the more people he can help.
[1:39] Marc reviews the three-year history of the Repurpose Your Career podcast and announces a big change. The time-stamped show notes with a detailed write-up of the show will be eliminated. Marc will provide dramatically simplified and reduced notes.
[3:10] Marc acknowledges the production work of Podfly Productions, as he transitions the Repurpose Your Career podcast to in-house production. Marc recommends using the Podfly team if you want to start your own podcast! You can find more information about Podfly at Podfly.net.
[3:39] Marc will produce an episode every other week instead of the weekly schedule he has kept for three years. If Marc gets ahead on episodes over the next few months, he may revert to a weekly schedule. In December, Marc will record his audiobook.
[4:00] Marc has a lot of people lined up to interview and is looking to partner with other podcasts, including Second Act Stories with Andy Levine, as featured in this episode.
[4:11] Marc will not publish an episode the week of U.S. Thanksgiving and will only publish one episode in December. On January 6th, 2020 Marc will start the regular biweekly schedule.
[4:28] Marc does not like giving things up or ending relationships. He recommends reading Necessary Endings, by Dr. Henry Cloud. Marc decided to leave his home city of 40 years, Austin, Texas, and move to Ajijic, Mexico after reading this book.
[4:57] If you would like to financially support this show, please go to Glow.fm/repurposeyourcareer/ to give. This link will be at the top of the show notes at CareerPivot.com/episode-152.
[5:13] Next week’s episode is still up in the air. Marc has several interviews scheduled this week that he thinks you will enjoy. Stay tuned!
[5:22] This week’s episode will be a replay of Marc’s interview on the Second Act Stories podcast. The host, Andy Levine, is a great guy with a very big heart. He is a podcaster with whom Marc wants to partner in the coming year. Marc hopes you enjoy this episode.
[5:48] Andy shares a few moments from the interview when Marc answers the question, “What should you do if you are really unhappy in your current work?”
[6:32] Andy Levine welcomes you to the Second Act Stories podcast and introduces Marc Miller. They are meeting at the Princeton Public Library in New Jersey.
[8:11] Marc is a multipotentialite. He gets bored after three years of doing something. When he worked at IBM, he was happy to change positions often. At the time, IBM wanted to develop generalists. That world has changed. When Marc left IBM in 2000, he started a journey of half-step career changes aided by relationships.
[9:03] Marc explains the term Multipotentialite. There is a TEDx talk on it. Multipotentialites have lots of interests and are not driven by one thing.
[9:30] Marc talks about his head-on bike vs. car accident and how it changed his life’s path. At the time, he was at a fading startup and his job was ranking people to layoff. He began to question his career choice.
[11:15] Most of us act in roles in our careers. Marc wanted to stop playing a role that was not natural for him. While he was on bed-rest, he had a lot of time to ask himself why he was doing what he was doing.
[12:47] Marc shares the beginning and history of Career Pivot, starting with his joining Launchpad Job Club. Marc started at LifeSize Communications as the Great Recession was starting. At that time the meetings “exploded” at Launchpad Job Club up to 400 people every Friday, all older workers.
[13:48] In 2009, Marc asked who was caring about folks of this age who were looking for work? He found the book Don’t Retire, Rewire! by Jeri Sedlar and Rick Miners. The stories featured people who had pensions to cushion their time to return to work.
[14:24] In Mexico, Marc sees a lot of economic refugees, who can’t afford to live in the U.S. Marc wanted to help that class of individual who wants to keep working and make an income, but probably not in a traditional job. That’s a hard mind-shift to make.
[15:01] How is a pivot different than a change? A lawyer won’t go directly to be a pastry chef. What kinds of incremental changes are needed? Think of a basketball pivot.
[16:23] A successful career pivot takes flexibility, openness. Changes never turn out quite the way you expect them. Walk down that path and be willing to be surprised.
[17:01] Marc has a person in his Online Community who started driving for Lyft and through her contacts, got several contract gigs. Marc wrote about it in a blog post, “Synchronicity and Serendipity Can Be Essential in Life”. You have to put yourself out there for good stuff to happen. Find support people to get you outside of your head.
[18:05] We have belief systems that are made up. Get out and talk with people about your plans and get feedback on your idea. Marc tells how he explored the idea of something like Career Pivot with career specialists. Overwhelmingly, they persuaded him not to get a coaching certification.
[19:06] Marc asks people in his career assessment process to consider when they were the most miserable in their career and when they were the most fulfilled in their career. This is to help them understand what makes them happy and what makes them miserable. The environment and the team are more important than the job they do.
[20:09] It is important to know yourself and what you want before a job search. Find a position that doesn’t require you to play a character strange to you. Know how to take care of yourself in a job where you have to act out a role. Marc recommends reading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain.
[21:22] We’re paid more to be extroverts but half the world are introverts. Marc is a really good public speaker and an introvert. When he’s done, he’s exhausted. Marc doesn’t get energy from speaking. He learned to be a geek than can speak. Susan Cain speaks of restorative niches in her book. Schedule things in your day that restore you.
[22:23] Gallup polls show that a lot of people are unhappy in their jobs. Marc shares his advice to them on the first thing they should do before changing jobs. Marc says don’t run away from your current job, run to what you want to do. Marc shares how he invited Elizabeth Rabaey just to go try different random things before choosing.
[24:31] Marc often asks people what they couldn’t get enough of doing as a kid. Kids don’t have filters. Marc used to love to do jigsaw puzzles. He learned that he is a pattern matcher.
[25:11] Marc has just released the third edition of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life. Marc talks about the evolution of the book from 2011 to 2019. The third edition is more aspirational than tactical. Marc talks about creative destruction. AI and robotics are going to affect you! There is a chapter on ageism.
[26:27] If you want to work into your 70s, you have to plan for it in your 50s. It’s a mindset shift. Many will need to work for the money and it won’t look like a full-time job. One of the common themes of Marc’s online community is that everyone wants freedom to work on what they want when they want, and how hard they want to work.
[27:17] We don’t want to conform anymore. When Marc worked as a teacher, he found that schools don’t want people like Marc, because they don’t do what they’re told.
[27:52] Marc shares his contact information: go to Careerpivot.com, sign up for Marc’s Career Pivot Insights email, check out the CareerPivot.com/Community, find the book, Repurpose Your Career on Amazon and other fine online sellers. Find the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Podbean, or at Careerpivot.com/podcast. Andy is a big fan of it!
[29:39] Marc hopes you enjoyed that episode. Andy does a great job with the Second Act Stories podcast and Marc highly recommends that you subscribe to it.
[29:50] The career Pivot Membership Community continues to help the approximately 50 members who are participating in the Beta phase of this project to grow and thrive. This is a community where everyone is there to help everyone else. Marc has just brought in a cohort and he is recruiting new members for the next cohort.
[30:12] If you are interested in the Career Pivot Membership Community and would like to be put on a waiting list, please go to CareerPivot.com/Community.
[30:25] Marc invites you to connect with him on LinkedIn.com/in/mrmiller. Just include in the connection request that you listen to this podcast. You can look for Career Pivot on Facebook, LinkedIn, or @CareerPivot on Twitter.
[30:42] Please come back next week when Marc will have another great interview!
[30:48] Please support the Repurpose Your Career podcast by going to Glow.fm/repurposeyourcareer. This link is also at the top of the show notes.
[31:00] You will find the show notes for this episode at CareerPivot.com/episode-152.
[31:07] Please hop over to CareerPivot.com and subscribe to get updates on this podcast and all the other happenings at Career Pivot. You can also subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, the Google Podcasts app, Podbean, the Overcast app, or the Spotify app!