I have been co-leading a ministry, SING (St. Isidore’s Networking Group, Danville, CA), since 2002 which is focused on providing tools and support to those in career transition. This outreach ministry was created in response to the 2001 Dot.com crash when thousands of career professionals and their families were thrown into chaos as jobs were slashed with neither prior notice nor severance pay. Many were young professionals who had been seduced that the good times would never end and were living well beyond their means. More recently, this ministry has played a very important role in the San Francisco Bay Area as the global economy slid into the Great Recession of 2007-2009. It continues today.
SING is faith-based and is open to all, regardless of one’s faith tradition. Since 2002, we have served more than 6,000 people, from all major faith traditions (including a retired rabbi who wanted to become a writer participate for six months). Today we serve more than 1,100 people (yes, the publicly proclaimed unemployment rate is about half of what it truly is).
SING provides its members with most of the ingredients needed for making a successful transition. These include, but are not limited to:
- Programs that help to recognize and deal with the hopelessness and helplessness, anger and denial, and all the other negative emotions that can come from losing a job. A positive attitude with no emotional baggage is a key to success.
- Programs focused on self-assessment; figuring out our strengths, skills, experience, etc.— our gifts that we are create value in whatever we choose to do.
- Programs designed to help in the preparation of the “marketing materials” needed to communicate who we really are: branding; the use of LinkedIn; resume writing.
- Programs to improve and reinforce networking skills.
- Programs to enhance Interviewing skills; handling objections; dealing with age issues; dealing with the “over-experienced” issues.
- Job market information such as learning who is hiring and who is being hired.
This week I was with two senior executives who are in-transition. Both have hit the wall and now feel they were blind to where life was taking them. They lost sight of what is important in life.
Another well-known executive from a major Hollywood studio called me last year. He was depressed. At age 51, he was a successful general counsel in the movie business and hated it. He said he really wanted to be a writer but his parents wanted him to be a lawyer. Self-awareness was never in their development calculus. They got on a train to nowhere, and never took the time to discover the story they were living and why.
Introspection and self-assessment are key steps for all, otherwise we may awake one day to find we took the wrong road.
Since transitions are opportunities for assessment, we encourage participants to:
- Buy Tom Rath’s Strengths Finder 2.0, and take its online talent assessment to uncover one’s top five talents in the order in which they are used. Chances are that your natural talents go untapped because you are unaware of what they are and how they should be applied. We spend more time fixing our shortcomings rather than developing our strengths. Doubling down on our strengths enables us to become all that God wants us to be.
- Buy Jim Loehr’s The Power of Story to find out what story you are living and how you can change your life to live YOUR story. We continually tell ourselves stories—stories of success or failure; of power or victimhood; stories that endure for an hour, a day, or an entire lifetime. We have stories about our work, our families and relationships, our health; about what we want and what we’re capable of achieving. Yet, while our stories profoundly affect how others see us and we see ourselves, too few of us recognize that we’re telling stories, what they are, or that we can change them – and transform our destiny. Far too many of our stories are dysfunctional and in need of serious editing. Loehr encourages us to answer the question, “In which areas of my life is it clear that I cannot achieve my goals with the story I’ve got?” He then focuses on how to create new, reality-based stories that inspire you to act, taking you where you want to go both in your work and personal life.
- Develop daily disciplines—reading, journaling, meditation, Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, confession—that are key to continual introspection. Key questions to investigate throughout life are: What is the purpose of my life? What do I want from life? Do I do things to just please or impress? What do I truly value? Introspection begins and ends with self. It begins with self-investigation and ends in self-fulfillment.
Everyone experiences pressures and difficulties, and all of us must deal with fears and uncertainties. Our journey will take us through many peaks and valleys as we face the world’s trials, rewards, and seductions; seductions that threaten to pull us off course. Many with great potential lose their way because they deny or repress their stories.
Don’t let fate be the author of your story. Know who you are, become the author of your story, and stay on track to be all that you can be.
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BUY FROM AMAZON NOW:
- Tom Rath’s STRENGTH FINDER 2.0
- Jim Loehr’s The Power of Story
Thomas M. Loarie is a seasoned and pioneering CEO in the medical device field and a senior editorial advisor and columnist for Catholic Business Journal. For a more robust bio click here: http://catholicbusinessjournal.biz/content/thomas-m-loarie-0. He may be reached at TLoarie@CatholicBusinessJournal.biz
Never Too Late to Start Again
Thanks for a great article reminding us that in many ways we are always in transition and how much more rewarding it can be when we are more mindful and proactive about making the most if those transitions!