The air is electric with the range of changes swirling around us.
From the down-to-the-wire U.S. election that will literally determine the future of the country and the world, to the massive and ferocious climate events in unexpected places, like inland North Carolina, that literally wipe entire communities off the map and drown others. And war rages on across the globe, in Israel-Gaza-Lebanon, Sudan, and Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine, among others, unfortunately.
The Wall Street Journal wrote today that the U.S. economy is very strong and the best in the world, and will be a gift to the next president of the United States. Yet many people and families feel pressured by still-elevated costs of living, even as gas hovers around $3.00 per gallon and interest rates come down.
Every industry is in flux too, including waiting on the potentially cataclysmic impact of the presidential election, as well as integrating artificial intelligence technologies, and preparing for climate events, and keeping up with “normal” competitive factors.
Our careers might be immeasurably affected by all these changes – and many others – too, so I asked a few changemakers from different industries for career advice, especially for mid-career women who want to excel, make good money and make a difference.
Here is their career advice:
This advice comes from: Gina McCarthy, former White House National Climate Advisor and former EPA Administrator; Sherri Goodman, former Undersecretary of Defense for Environmental Security and author of “Threat Multiplier: Climate, Military Leadership and Global Security; Tara Giunta, Global Co-Chair of the ESG & Sustainable Finance Practice and an expert in white collar crime at Paul Hastings law firm; Jennifer Hough, TEDx “Movement of One” speaker and leadership consultant; and Paula Glover, President of the Alliance to Save Energy.
Make yourself happy – and have stretch goals: “My advice would be to look for a career path that makes you happy. One that makes you feel like when you got home, you did something….and I would be open to many different things…I don’t think women should pigeonhole themselves. I think they should look for stretch goals. Go into something you didn’t do before, and it will excite you to learn….I just want women to consider something new and different. I want them to have the courage to say, ‘I can do this.’” Gina McCarthy
Look “360 in terms of industry”: “You need to be looking 360 in terms of industry, what’s developing, what’s coming down the pike from a technology standpoint, from a risk standpoint. You should be educating yourself constantly and stretching yourself to go into a new area. Don’t just be content to sit and do the same thing….Push yourself to do something a little different, stretch…because that broadens you as a professional, first of all. It’s just so much more interesting than doing the same thing every day. But, it also makes you a better professional… because you are seeing things that the other people who are just doing the same old, same old, aren’t necessarily seeing.” Tara Giunta
Diversify your career and “don’t be afraid for people to tell you no”: “It helps to diversify what you do in your career. And also, I find sometimes women undersell themselves. They think they have to have all sorts of competencies in order to be qualified for that next level of career advancement….You have to be willing to sort of put yourself out there a little bit, and you know, don’t be afraid for people to tell you no…Also, I’d say that the network really matters. So, even if you do take time off….from your professional life at a certain stage, and then you think you want to get back in, don’t let your network, your relationship network atrophy, because that always is vitally important.” Sherri Goodman
Have mentors of various ages and stages: “One would be, relationships matter, and you should be feeding into them as much as you want to get out of it. So, it’s not about who….Number two, which is that as much as you’re looking for a mentor, you should also be a mentor… And that mentorship is not just, ‘I’m at 15 years and so I mentor someone who’s at five.’ But if you really nurture relationship, you could be at 15 years mentoring someone who’s at 25 years, right? You have something to contribute….There is so much that we have to contribute at every stage of our career. I think taking the opportunity to do that leads to other opportunities that you may never have known about.” Paula Glover
Ask “What’s the greatest thing I can do…?”: “The first piece of advice that I would give is (to ask)… ‘What’s the greatest thing that you can do with the skill sets you already have that might leave you feeling satisfied, fulfilled, and like you had a life of meaning and that you went to bed that night knowing that you did what you came to the planet for and you woke up in the morning excited about getting up?’ Answering that question sometimes takes six months, two weeks. It’s not something that most people can answer right off the bat. They can answer it sometimes generally, but not specifically. So that would be number one….The second thing is, in order for your glass ceilings to become your floors,…you want to work with someone consistently that’s guiding you, ’cause doing it alone is for the birds,….finding someone to work with, man, that’s so important.” Jennifer Hough
All the leaders who successfully lead in times of great change embrace the ride, trust their knowledge and abilities, seek outside input, and leverage their resources, including their networks.
Now is one of those times of great change. Mother Nature, society, and our political systems remind us of that every day.
