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Leaving the Corporate Cocoon
January 9, 2009 | Author: Promise Phelon | Filed under: Career Change, Moving Up, The Networking Habit
The longer I work, the more people I get to know, and the worse the economy gets, the less surprised I am by the number of people who choose to jump off the corporate ship.
Yesterday, I read a CNN article titled They left the corporate cocoon to blossom, sent to me by our community manager, Aswan.
The story highlights the fact that many people in our society have become disenchanted with the rewards of corporate work — money, control, benefits — and are leaving for riskier opportunities. This article features three people — two from Google and one from TIAA-CREFF — who jumped off the ladder and “bloomed”. They started their own companies or pursued do-good ventures and left the warmth of the corporate blanket.
I have Three Comments on Leaving the Corporate Cocoon:
1. Success Doesn’t Always Come From Sticking it Out
UpMo.com has spent the last year reverse-engineering the career paths and “roadmaps” of hundreds of professionals. What’s SO clear is that their paths to success are not straight. Conventional wisdom has it that successful people are those with the most stick-to-it-iveness. Or those that are steadfast and constant in their careers.
Not really! Successful people are those who have clarity: they know what’s important to them, are excited about what they do, and have the right relationships. These passionate, successful people are often ones who’ve taken time off to pursue personal passions, to find themselves, to right-size their lives, to do something small.
Our society is focused intensely on increasing productivity and performance. As a result, we lack the time to reflect on what happened, how it has affected our learning, and how to carry that learning forward. A long-term friend of mine, who has started (and nearly sold) a successful IT Development Company, recently told me that he’s planning to take six months off to reflect on what he learned and what his next steps should be. Taking time off to reflect is good if it helps clarify the end goal. An uninterrupted life in the cocoon may make it impossible to bloom.
2. What Color is Your Cocoon?
Do you remember that book, What Color is Your Parachute? first published a few million years ago by Richard Nelson Bolles. I have four copies of it myself and I’m sure you do, too. The book encourages us to visualize our professional goals.
For most of us, leaving the cocoon is NOT easy, and often involves financial and emotional turmoil that affects us and our families. The way to deal with it is to visualize exactly what your career and professional path will be — visualize it before it happens and plan for those essential moves so that there are no stalls or major surprises.
3. Planting Seeds First
At the risk of sounding preachy, the worst thing you can do in your career is to jump ship without a plan, without knowing who else is there and establishing relationships of influence. Let’s say you’re looking to leave your role as a financial analyst, in order to launch a web design company with your husband. Try asking yourself some questions:
- Who will know you?
- Who will provide referrals?
- Who will help you with your corporate taxes?
- Who will get you thinking about debt and ways of raising money, finding clients and signing contracts?
The data from our recent Elite Networker Study show that making more money and being more successful in your (current and) future role is tied to the quality of your networking skills.
Leaving the cocoon to bloom will be a reality for many of us. As long as it’s properly planned, it could be one of your best career moves.
Related Resources
Networking Readiness Evaluator
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