Comments on: Are Career Goals A Waste Of Time?

By: simonstapleton

simonstapleton — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:43:41 +0000

@Mark – fantastic advice. The OutwardBound mantra is spot on isn’t it? It’s along the same lines as Lance Armstrong’s quote: ‘give up, or Fight Like Hell’. Giving up on a career just because it hasn’t gone to plan is really accepting total failure. Once you give up, that’s it – finito… no more… it’s all over. You’ll never know what you can achieve.

Better to fight like hell and find out what is possible.

I’ll pass this onto Chris. Thanks again.

By: Mark McClure

Mark McClure — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:17:31 +0000

I do love OutwardBound UK’s mantra which goes something like:

“We are all better than we know and if only we can be brought to realize this, we may never be prepared to settle for anything less.”

Good coaching seems to have that mindset already built-in but you can never get enough of it.

In the case of the infrastructure guy you featured Simon, the reality check of a deep recession is a tough one to swallow. But he (Chris) seems to be taking action in areas where he can male an impact – the “Serenity Prayer” comes to mind here!

Maybe Chris should take the bull by the horns and setup a blog focused on VMWare in the market he’s targeting e.g. UK as a whole, or Defence or (what’s left of..) Financial service etc.

Then start profiling, interviewing and learning from thought leaders and gurus already in that space. And put a link on the blog that you’re looking for work or consulting experience in that area. Offer to write or edit a VMware book.

Use LinkedIn Q&A, make some YouTube Videos and distribute them across the video sharing sites. Follow VMWare gurus on Twitter… there’s a lot can be done in 1 -2 hours a day on top of a ‘traditional’ job search.

By: simonstapleton

simonstapleton — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:39:33 +0000

@Lindsay – thanks very much for your comment! I can totally understand why the project managers you spoke with feel this way – when we commit to a plan that is personal and pivotal to our goals, it is painful to experience deviation unless we’re prepared for it. I doubt even a project manager prepares a ‘contingency plan’ when the plan is very personal.
The key (which you’re recognizing) is to look at a career plan as the solution, not the problem. An instance of a plan will change as our personal and economic conditions change, but having a plan shouldn’t change in these times!
Thanks Again!

By: Lindsay Scott

Lindsay Scott — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:48:03 +0000

This is an interesting article, and is posted at a time that I’ve two similar conversations with project managers this week alone. The conversations went along the lines of “…. I’ve been working to a career plan over the last 10 years, gaining a blend of experience in projects, working my way up the chain in terms of level of complexity of projects. According to my career plan 08/09 I wanted to be doing XXX but now with the market being as it is, I can’t see how I can achieve that”

Of course your post lays out the solution, new plans have to be made, for now anyway. For project managers at least it will probably be a case of a slight tweak to the plan to take care of today but keeping the original plan there ready for the upturn. I like this quote about success;

“Success is a journey not a destination. The doing is usually more important than the outcome.” Arthur Ashe

Sometimes the journey may deviate from the original plan but hey that’s the fun of it.

One other thing I wanted to comment on was the outcome to Chris’s story. Again I’ve had similar conversations with a specialist in programme office who has recently been made redundant and we’ve come to a similar conclusion to Chris’. The specialist in my case has a lot of knowledge and wisdom to share, so needs to get it out there through things such as blogs, setting up a website etc. I think this does two things; one, sorts out the immediate need to be doing something worthwhile following redundancy which is in your own hands and two, it’s a great step to take in preparing for the upturn, because the upturn will happen and good PMO specialists will be in demand again.

Of course this is advice that the UK government wants people to pick up on i.e., consider starting your own business if you’re currently out of work. I think these steps of self promotion of your specialisms through new technologies and media is a brilliant way to tackle the gloom at the moment and I totally recommend it to anyone to give it a go.