Can Juan Repurpose His Career? Part 1 of 4 [Podcast]

Episode 83 – Marc works with “Juan” (not his real name) to pivot his career, in the first of four episodes featuring “Juan.”

Description:

In Part 1 of this series, Marc covers the first half of a feedback session with Juan about his personality assessment. The second half of the feedback session will be in next week’s episode.

Key Takeaways:

[1:20] Marc welcomes you to Episode 83 of the Repurpose Your Career podcast and invites you to share this podcast with like-minded souls. Please subscribe, share it on social media, write an honest iTunes review, or tell your neighbors and colleagues.

[1:48] This begins a four-part series called “Can Juan Repurpose His Career?” Juan is in his mid-fifties, a former school teacher, technology trainer, adjunct professor, and multipotentialite. Juan is trying to figure out what is next. This episode is the first half of the first feedback session Marc held with Juan. You will hear the second half next week.

[2:16] You will find all the reports used in this four-episode series at CareerPivot.com/Juan. You may pause the podcast now to download the reports. Or you could listen to the episode, download the reports, and listen to it again.

[2:36] Marc will take a two-week break after Episode Two of this series, then he will be back with an interview and then a report on the Miller family’s pivot to Mexico before the Parts Three and Four episodes of this series, “Can Juan Repurpose His Career?” Marc will later do a similar series with “Sarah.”

[3:02] Marc thanks Juan for being willing to share his Birkman Assessment with the audience. Juan talks about his background. He attended a community college, a state university, and then earned a Master’s degree. He saw education as an insurance policy that would make him lay-off proof. He has changed his mind about that.

[4:51] Juan has been an educator, a computer technology trainer, a financial education trainer, a public school teacher, and taught at a college and a university. He didn’t want to follow the rigid path of his father who worked 40 years at a steel mill.

[6:00] Marc points out that a school teacher has a rigid schedule. Juan does not want to return to teaching school if he has other options.

[6:44] Marc starts to go into the Birkman Assessment with Juan. Juan’s ego is fed externally. He needs people around him for support. He needs a tribe. He worries and thinks a lot before making big decisions.

[7:29] Juan gives his first reaction to reading the personality assessment. He had never taken an assessment and he found it to be insightful and revealing.

[8:27] Marc promises Juan more clarity as they explore the report. First comes the Signature Summary. At the top, there are Birkman Components. For each component there is a Usual Behavior number and a Needs number. The first number is how Juan describes his behavior. The second number is how Juan wants to be treated.

[8:55] Juan follows the normative pattern but has some big gaps. His Social Energy shows he is a closet introvert. His Self-Consciousness score shows he wants people to treat him with respect — more than he treats them. His Thought score shows he considers himself a quick thinker but big decisions are painful for him.

[9:39] In a number of areas, Juan throws off a false persona. In some areas it is real. Juan “looks like” a teacher.

[10:03] Next is Birkman Interests. Juan’s numbers indicate he has a wide variety of interests. The Birkman Map of his usual behavior shows that Juan wants to be treated differently than his behavior and interests indicate. He has learned to behave like an introvert. Marc relates to that.

[11:11] Next Marc covers the Birkman Interests page. Numbers above 90 refer to ‘must-haves.’ Juan has only one area above 90: Literary. He loves to read books on business, biographies, history, science, spiritual topics, sociology, nature. He reads at least an hour a day for enjoyment, relaxation, and education.

[12:21] Marc recommends taking a 15-minute book break when Juan gets stressed. Juan also likes writing on a blog or for a copy. He journals a few lines every day. Marc notes that you can’t always get paid for writing. The next highest area is Scientific. Juan likes figuring things out in research. He lists a few interests.

[15:02] Juan also has a high Musical number. He gives a few of his musical interests. Juan has a moderately high Technical number. He likes solving problems.

[15:57] Juan has a lot of categories in the middle: Administrative, Artistic, Persuasive, Outdoors, Social Service. Numerical is his lowest number. Most of Juan’s interest are in the middle range. Every few years in Juan’s career he has gotten bored and moved on.

[17:21] Marc describes Juan as a multipotentialite. Ten to fifteen percent of the population fits this category. They are generalists. Corporate America values specialists, not generalists.

[18:07] Marc goes to the Behavioral Matrix for three areas: Interpersonal, Organizational and Time Management/Planning (decision making). Marc compares Juan’s numbers with the median numbers.

[19:38] The first topic is Self-Consciousness and sensitivity when dealing with others. Juan’s usual behaviors are Frank, Direct, and Matter-of-Fact. His score is a six compared to the median score of 25. His Needs are to be treated with more respect than he treats others. If he is berated, it bothers him.

[22:21] Juan’s needs are not obvious from his usual behavior. It is easy for others to mistakenly assume he needs to be treated in a frank and direct manner. His feelings may be hurt, on occasion. He wears his emotions.

[23:31] Juan’s Stress Reactions are Embarrassment, Shyness, and Oversensitivity. As a child he enjoyed being alone, reading, and working by himself.

[25:07] Juan’s Social Energy is that he is generally pleasant, outgoing, and at ease and comfortable in group activities. His warm manner helps him meet people easily, which is good in social situations. Juan’s Usual Behaviors are Sociable, Communicative, and At Ease in Groups. His Social number is 98 against the median of 75.

[25:30] Juan’s Needs: his high Social number conceals Juan’s need to spend time alone or in the company of one or two significant individuals. He has learned how to behave socially but it consumes a lot of his energy. When he networks it has to be for a specific interest.

[27:38] Continuous pressure to be in social situations can upset his sense of well-being. Without sufficient time to himself, Juan is likely to become withdrawn, possible to a surprising extent.

[28:30] Marc recommends that Juan should bracket recharge time before and after a networking event to be alone. Marc gives an example from his own experience.

[30:36] Juan reads the Possible Stress Reactions: withdrawal, tendency to ignore groups, impatience. Juan agrees. That is one of the reasons Juan is looking at a career transition.

[31:07] Emotional Energy is the next area. Juan is open and comfortable with expressing emotion. Juan prefers not to get too involved in the emotional problems of other people and finds it important to keep the facts in sight. At the same time Juan has a genuine understanding and sympathy for people’s feelings.

[31:34] Juan’s Usual Behaviors are objective yet warm, sympathetic yet practical. Juan’s number is 51 against the median of 25. For a male, he is pretty emotional. He talks about how he relates in difficult emotional situations.

[32:26] Juan’s Needs number is 82. His Needs are that he functions best in surroundings that allow him and others to express and work out their emotional responses. He needs to feel that others are aware of his feelings and value them. He wants to feel significant and valued.

[33:11] As Juan looks back, he sees his career has tilted more toward female-dominated career areas. Marc says this is where men who are emotional will do better. Marc compared this to “Tim’s” experience. Tim and Juan both want people to outwardly care about them.

[35:59] Juan’s causes of stress: when Juan thinks others are overlooking his feelings, he tends to overemphasize the importance of his feelings and become dispirited. Juan’s Stress Reactions are becoming overly sensitive, loss of objectivity, and strong discouragement.

[36:48] Juan’s usual behaviors in Drive for Personal Rewards are being competitive and business-like and he values what will promote immediate purposes and objectives. Juan enjoys personal competition and finds bargaining stimulating and desirable.

[37:05] Juan is competitive, resourceful, and opportunity-minded. This behavior is not typical of an educator. Juan’s needs are very typical of an educator.

[38:10] Juan needs an environment that encourages individual performance and motivates people with individual incentives. It is important to Juan that personal efforts and achievements are continually recognized and rewarded. He wants people to notice his good work. The education system is not oriented around recognizing educators.

[39:18] Marc says that for people who have a high need to feel valued, there are six motivators for them, the mission (non-profits or military), public recognition, the bonus check, and the pat on the back from your boss, your team, or your client.

[39:57] Marc gives Juan an assignment to get clear about what he wants. He needs to reflect back on when he has been the happiest, when he has felt the most valued, and what they did to make him feel that way. People want to be rewarded in their own way. The only way to communicate that to your boss is to go ask for it.

[40:54] Marc shares when he received no client feedback, vs. ‘Wow!’ client feedback.

[42:02] Juan’s causes of stress: his basic attitudes cause him to put his own interests above the interests of others, without being fully aware of it. People who are too trusting and idealistic annoy Juan. He sees them as phony. Juan’s stress reactions are to act self-protectively, become materialistic, and be self-promoting.

[43:59] Non-profits and schools, which tend to be very idealistic, are not great long-term environments for Juan. Juan has just realized they are not a good match for his personality.

[43:25] Marc’s last thoughts: Juan, as a multipotentialite, bounced around in his career, doing something different, every few years. Now in his mid-fifties, with no obvious direction, Marc will attempt to steer Juan to the path to success.

[45:06] Check back next week, when Marc will finish the first feedback session with Juan.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Careerpivot.com

Careerpivot.com/Juan

CareerPivot.com/Episode-83 “Can Juan Repurpose His Career? Part 1”

Birkman Assessment

CareerPivot.com/Episode-48 “Can Tim Repurpose His Career? Part 1”

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