Career Failures, and How to Recover from Them [Podcast]

Episode 4 – Failure is a necessity, and your companion on the path to improvement

In this episode, Marc shares the chapter, “Career Failures, and How to Recover from Them,” from his upcoming book, Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide to the Second Half of Life.

Key Takeaways:

[1:35] Is failure an option? If you’re like most people, it’s inevitable, and essential. If you are unwilling to fail, you are unlikely to venture into anything very impressive.

[2:50] Failure 1: Marc was ‘seduced’ by a former manager to leave a job at IBM, and join her at IBM Consulting. Why was it one of the biggest mistakes of his career?

[6:17] Failure 2: Taking his ‘dream job.’ Marc went to teach Math in an inner-city high school. He was not prepared to teach kids whose problems reached far beyond his ability to help them.

[9:33] Failure 3: ‘I can make this work!’ Marc took a job that was not optimal, working in fundraising for a non-profit that was not aligned with his goals, just before a major downturn in the economy.

[11:56] Failure’s upside: Marc is happy he took all three jobs. He learned a tremendous amount about consulting, public education, and non-profits. He also learned a lot about himself.

[12:47] Rules of Reinvention: Have a Plan B. Be prepared to pull the plug on the reinvention project.

[13:05] You might have three or five goals you’re working on, in terms of finances, skills learned, or happiness. Give yourself short windows to achieve these.

[13:33] Make sure the work you’re doing is something from which you could pivot into something else.

[14:57] Take stock of your choices and actions from your past, and what you can take away that will make tomorrow’s choices and actions better.

[18:21] If you have a laptop, an Internet connection, and some hustle, you can start a business right now, with no money down.

[20:06] Have a plan, have a way to gauge whether it’s working, and jump ship when it isn’t. If you planned it right, another ship will come along, soon enough.

[20:25] Questions on this chapter: Have you failed, and hung on too long? What did you learn from that experience? Does that experience deter you from taking a risk?