Trends to Consider when making a Midlife Career Change – The Flow to Individual

This week we look at the second* of the seven macro trends to consider prior to making a midlife career change: The Flow to Individual.

On the surface it may seem contradictory that the Flow to Global (which I discussed last week) and the Flow to Individual are trends occurring simultaneously, but they are, and in fact are both reorganizing humanity now, and will be for the next twenty years.

The Flow to Individual started in the 1980s and has been gaining in force ever since. The economic structures that were created in the United States during the Industrial Age have been in decline for the past thirty years, and this was the initial impetus of the Flow to Individual. The large, centralized companies started to navigate uncharted turbulent waters and began waves of downsizing, followed by waves of outsourcing. Neither of these terms were used at the beginning of the 1980s, but of course we now all know what they mean, as either our parents, our friends or ourselves have been touched by them.

The generation that fought in WWII spent most of their working life in a single career, often with a single company. The individual was married to a workplace institution.

With the advent of downsizing and outsourcing, the bond between employee and employer was broken. We were forced to job hop or we became independent contractors, another phrase not prevalent prior to the 1980s. Rather than a long term focus, our work became much more short term, often coming together in groups around projects, dispersing when the project was completed. We no longer trusted institutions or large corporations and have increasingly thought of them as short term places of work. Long term institutional loyalty is rare these days, an exception to the rule.

Simultaneous to this fundamental shift in the work place was the explosion of choice. In almost any category one can think of, we have more choice today than 20 years ago. Think about the number of TV channels, radio stations, web sites, brands of toothpaste, books, movies and entertainment choices there are today versus the 1980s. This explosion of choice has shifted the power from the producer to the consumer. If the TV viewer has only 6 stations from which to choose, she is much more reliant on what those 6 stations program than the viewer who can choose from 100-200 channels as most of us can today. When you combine this with that great agent of empowerment – the remote control (more on that in the upcoming disintermediation column) – it is the individual than now controls TV viewing.

The result: people’s identities are much more based upon the self that ever before. With institutions in decline our sense of self is less tied to them and more to who we are and what we are interested in. With all the choice we can select, or amalgamate our identities by the aggregation of our choices. This means that people are increasingly connecting with other people who share the same interests be they work or play. The Internet has enabled this in a dramatic way. You may find more in common with someone in London because of shared interests than a neighbor down the block or someone working at the same company. We are increasingly defining ourselves by our interests, not our place of work. What do you do rather than who do you work for? What are your interests rather than what club do you belong to?

In this global world we are increasingly thinking of ourselves as self oriented individuals and global citizens. Institutions matter less, skills and interest matter more. I can assure you that any career or type of work you are thinking about entering has groups, support groups, associations all oriented around the work and the profession. However, since institutional orientation is far less valid than ever before, it means that quality of work and how well developed your skills are is much more important, particularly in a global marketplace. It is no longer about title but about the quality of the work and the reputation that comes with excellence.

In a world where there are more free agents every day, it is who you know and how good you are at what you do that will bring success. Do not go into a new profession unless you intend to be excellent. Do not go into a new career without a good network of other individuals (unless you want to depend solely on chance and luck ...).

It is you who will determine your success or failure in your work life ... not what company hired you when you were 22. Do everything you can to enhance your skills, your reputation, and your network.

---
* You can find last week's column on "The Flow to Global" here.