Learning to Fly: How to Manage Your Career in a Turbulent and Changing World

By Mike Rosenberg and Peter Tufano

Learning to Fly: How to Manage Your Career in a Turbulent and Changing World offers a practical and tested framework with which to chart one’s own path toward the future. The book will help interpret the key trends in the post-pandemic world including digitalization, geopolitics and the looming climate emergency to find career options that are likely to be future proof as well as deeply rewarding. The book is written for people who have left or lost their jobs as well as those who feel that what they are doing is either not satisfying at some fundamental level or is somehow at risk given the changes going on in the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anthem Press
• Release date: Sep 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9781839985126

Book preview

Learning to Fly: How to Manage Your Career in a Turbulent and Changing World

Learning to Fly: How to Manage Your Career in a Turbulent and Changing World

Mike Rosenberg

Anthem Press

An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company

www.anthempress.com

This edition first published in UK and USA 2022

by ANTHEM PRESS

75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK

or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK

and

244 Madison Ave #116, New York, NY 10016, USA

Copyright © Mike Rosenberg 2022

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022932212

A catalog record for this book has been requested.

ISBN-13: 978-1-83998-510-2 (Pbk)

ISBN-10: 1-83998-510-0 (Pbk)

This title is also available as an e-book.

To the thousands of students, friends and business people who have shared their stories with me over the years and to Paddy Miller who was my teacher, role model, mentor, and friend.

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 Understanding the World

CHAPTER 2 Setting a Course

CHAPTER 3 Telling Your Story

CHAPTER 4 Shaping The Space

CHAPTER 5 Choosing a Role

CHAPTER 6 Picking a Place

CHAPTER 7 Finding the Right Combination

CHAPTER 8 Changing Jobs

CHAPTER 9 Changing Phases

CHAPTER 10 Lifelong Learning

CHAPTER 11 Purpose and Values

CHAPTER 12 Conclusion: Making it Happen

List of Figures

List of Boxes

Index

Foreword

We are now in the midst of what some call the Decisive Decade in that the global climate change trajectory for the planet will be set by the actions we take in the coming years. In the last 20 years, technology has created the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution altering how we work and live. COVID-19 has revealed our very real risk of global pandemics, exposed deficiencies in public health systems and provided a test case for technology and new ways of working. As if that wasn’t sufficient challenge, national and global politics are under tremendous strain, with fissures within our countries and between them getting wider. Civil discourse is threatened, democracy is under threat, and capitalism is being questioned. Recent surveys show that trust in virtually all institutions is at historically low levels. Yet at the same time, people across the world are looking to business to address these myriad problems. And in surveys, the most trusted institutions are indeed my employer.

Against this backdrop, how should we make sensible career choices and select my employer? The organizations for which we work not only have to produce products and profits, but increasingly are being asked to do much more. Which means that we may be asked to do more. And looking forward, organizations will almost surely do their work in new ways. As will we. So as the world becomes more complex, our career journeys—increasingly longer lived as life expectancy increases—will become more rich and varied. Historical career advise may not be relevant in the new world that is emerging.

This guide is written for today’s career traveler trying to not only navigate their own uncertain future, but also do this while the world is changing. At the core of any advice book is the advisor, the writer offering guidance for readers. Professor Mike Rosenberg, author of this guide to career management in turbulent and changing world, forthrightly warns readers of career books to be aware of the biases that readers might encounter: The only thing to watch out for is that these books tend to tell the author’s story and may not be objective.

Throughout this helpful and timely guide, we encounter Mike on nearly every page—and benefit from his focus on the future. We learn about and from his own career journey, from engineer to consultant to search executive to professor, as well as his values and beliefs. We learn about and from his family, his friends, his colleagues, his mentors, and his many students. We learn about and from the wide range of books and articles he summarizes and synthesizes on our behalf. Because his daily work is not in career counseling, we get practical advice from someone who has been on both sides of the hiring fence—and as a search consultant, been a gatekeeper.

But most importantly, we are guided by an advisor who has been researching the trends which will shape the future, including geopolitics and climate. We can benefit from his macro long-horizon perspective on sectors and skill sets. Throughout, he provides the well-considered, fact-based, but authentic advice we might receive from a trusted friend or colleague more attuned to humble than humblebrag tendencies. And someone who focuses more on the future than on the past.

The guide straddles paradoxical perspectives. While it is focused on the individual job seeker, it is keenly attuned to those employing them. For example, the section of the book on search and selection consultants, presented in a matter-of-fact fashion, provides the reader with useful and frank insights on what headhunters do and don’t do. While readers will likely be fixated on the next step in their career, the book has them think about the entire journey. And in thinking about that future, Mike takes a very wide gauge, willing to venture a guess on which parts of our economies and societies will require skills in the future—and where there are likely more opportunities.

The structure of the book is disarmingly simple. It begins by asking the reader What are your experiences, passions and constraints? What do you have to offer—mind, heart and hands? But the core of the book focuses on three key aspects of our careers that define our destinations: space, role and place. Space is the field of endeavour—think of it as sector, industry or field. Role reflects the nature of the contribution you can make. And place means the city or region where you would call home.

Space sounds overly simplistic, but Mike nudges us from thinking about traditional industrial or sectoral definitions to reframe our thinking about the problems we seek to solve. He concludes the chapter with a list of ten spaces that he thinks will likely need considerable brainpower, and hence offer great opportunities, including clean energy, health care, clean mobility, manufacturing 4.0, sustainable consumption and more.

Roles are far more fluid in a world that embraces digital technologies as well as post-COVID changes in ways of working. Roles encompass a set of skills, attitudes, and functions. The guide is peppered with experiences that remind us of the importance of role. For example, Mike shared a story of introducing a student who was passionate about climate change with a CEO of a carbon credit trading firm. While the intellectual fit was great, the connection didn’t work, because the student didn’t like any of the roles—the work to be done. Again, adopting a forward-looking approach, Mike offers ten possible roles that will continue to add value in the future, including marketeer, systems engineer, salesperson, supply chain expert, human resource manager, entrepreneur and others.

Place seems outdated in our virtual world, but remains important, both at the firm and individual level. Despite digital leveling, the world’s largest cities remain the centers for economic growth. Clusters such as Silicon Valley, Alley Fen and others are real. And place matters personally, as vividly exemplified by the author, whose thoughtful comments come from the vantage point of someone born to American parents in London, studied in New York and Boston and Michigan, then who moved Spain for the past 30 years but travels internationally extensively. Much of this chapter is a clear-eyed reflection on the likely future connections between place and technology, post-COVID work patterns, commuting, business travel, ex-patriation, and telecommuting, but with the critical observation that place is likely the most important determinant of the quality of your life.

Given Mike’s extensive experience and work with career travelers at all stages, it’s not surprising that the guide has sections addressing different phases of life, from finding the right combination of space-role-place, to changing jobs, to changing phases—and the north star, finding purpose. Throughout, Mike weaves together the tales of many individuals, data, research and his own interpretations in a fashion that is readable and useful and always future facing.

There is no one-size-fits-all set of prescriptions for career advice, yet without a point of view, it depends is the unsatisfactory answer. The point of view here comes from Professor Rosenberg, who reminds us that advise and advisor are intertwined. His perspective is clearly informed by his experience in business and business school. His perspective is also grounded in his life experiences as an American ex-patriate with a global perspective. Finally—and perhaps most critically, his perspective is rooted in his work as an academic who contemplates future trends.

Some might not resonate with the particular examples that he offers up for consideration or identify with the global or long horizon perspective he takes. You might violently disagree with his characterization of discrimination as sometimes the result of cold business logic and the need for a thick skin. But throughout, readers can be assured of a thoughtful, forward looking, caring perspective. Books of this sort don’t earn the kudos of academia, nor are they garunteed to be best sellers. They can, however, help people in the complex journey of their careers, much in the same way that dedicated educators do. Were you to stop by Prof. Rosenberg’s office hours and ask for advice, I suspect you’d get an abbreviated version of this guide. It is a master class, offered by a master teacher and futurist, as an extra gift to his students—and now to all. We are better able to plan our future because we understand ourselves better—and have a greater understanding for the complicated future world that lies ahead.

Introduction

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is just the latest example that the world is in constant flux and why people might want to look ahead when thinking about what to do with their professional careers.

Covid 19 is another example. In March 2020, I had been scheduled to teach a group of executives in Shanghai, and I remember my sister asking me on New Year’s Eve if it would be a good idea considering the virus that had broken out in Wuhan, a city about 500 miles up the Yangtze River. I had not heard about the virus up until that point and, like most people, had no idea of what was about to happen. We ended up moving the event to New York City but actually cancelled it just after I arrived in New York.

At IESE’s building in New York, my colleagues and I decided to do a webinar on the unfolding situation for the people who were supposed to have come in for the course as well as open it up to other people who might be interested.

One thing led to another, and IESE Business School eventually aired 45 webinars as a way of helping the international business community cope with the crisis. I moderated about half of the webinars and was the academic director of the series.

This experience gave me access to a wide range of thought leaders, academicians and businesspeople as they managed the global pandemic, which would go on to infect more than 500 million and kill more than 6 million people all over the world.

While I was in New York I also met with several publishers about a manuscript which I had been working on to capture everything I had learned about managing careers and getting new jobs as a result of my experience as a management consultant, headhunter and business school professor.

As the COVID crisis unfolded, however, I decided not to publish the book as much of that early draft was already out of date. The pandemic has changed the business landscape and the world of work beyond recognition.

As the world slowly comes out of the Covid crisis and deals with the knock on effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we can begin to see some of the key aspects of the new normal and I felt it was time to go ahead with the project.

An uncertain future

Perhaps the biggest lesson that we can all take away from the last couple of years is that the future is fundamentally uncertain. Although virologists, public health experts and even Bill Gates have been talking about the world’s lack of preparation for a major outbreak for some time, no one really saw Covid coming. In a similar way, even though many people discussed how Russia was unhappy with NATO’s expansion to the East, we were still surpised by the invasion when it began in March, 2022.

In terms of career management, each of us have three possible choices to make when faced with an uncertain and changing world.

The first choice is to do nothing. This is perhaps the easiest course although it might take some effort to ignore what is happening around you. In making this choice you assume that things will stay the same or at least will do so long enough to make it through.

If, after thinking deeply about it, you come to the conclusion that your own life will not be turned upside down and choose to continue with what you have been doing, then your choice makes sense to me.

If, on the other hand, you choose not to really think about the future or enter into denial about what is going on around you, then I find that inaction to be somewhat irresponsible especially if you have a family to take care of or other responsibilities.

A second option is to wait and see what happens and then to be ready to react to change when it comes. The idea here is not to panic and jump into the future before being very sure what change will be real and what might be illusory. You might, for example, start learning the basics of coding or study Mandarin just to be ready for a more digital and/or Chinese centric world.

A third choice is to develop a view and act on it right away. This can be both rewarding and exciting but depends on either being right about the future or being so passionate about something that it almost does not matter.

Being right is not only about what will happen in the world but also in terms of when. Sometimes, for example, what seems to be the next big thing turns out not to be, and spending a significant portion of your professional life on a business model or a technology which does not make it can be emotionally and financially draining.

A slightly different approach is to pursue a path that is so close to your heart that it almost does not matter what happens next because you would not want to do anything else no matter what.

What to do?

In meetings with people about their professional future, I always ask what they want to do and find they typically react in one of a number of ways.

Some people answer in a way which is genuine but often not terribly useful in terms of job hunting or career planning. They might say I want to work with people, travel or find a good work–life balance.

Other answers have to do with finding the right kind of environment such as a small or large company with a certain kind of culture or style. Many people have only figured out what they do not want to do which is at least a good start.

People who have recently lost their job and many MBA students say they are open to many things or even anything. While this response may be true in some cases, it is very difficult to help someone who does not know what they want. If you do not know what you are looking for it seems to me that you will probably never find it.

What people who want to make a change often believe is that by not choosing a course they keep their options open. In my experience most people are reluctant to choose, but for different reasons.

There are a small number of people who are genuinely open to different types of work, different industries and even living in different parts of the world. They are like the people who shop for last-minute holidays and go to the airport not knowing where they will end up. This is o.k. as long as you really do not mind what you do or where you do it.

There are also people who do know what they would love to do but have given up on it as unrealistic. They then shut down what is in their hearts and start looking for a job. I question the probability of success if one is pursuing a course which goes against their personal desires and ambitions.

A third group of people truly do not know what they want to do and have trouble choosing between a wide variety of seemingly interesting options. I believe that people are capable of doing almost anything but also feel strongly that we cannot do everything at once and that potential employers will be reluctant to give us a chance to do something we have never done before and for which they see that we have no significant qualifications or interest.

There are, finally, people who hold back from making a clear choice because they think that by not choosing they will increase their chances of finding the job they need. What these people are saying is that they need a job more than a career path.

In my experience this last idea is mistaken for three reasons. One reason it does not work is that nobody will hire you if you show little interest in the job, industry or mission of the organization in question and true interest is hard to fake.

The second reason that keeping one’s options open does not work is that it leads to dividing your efforts among different ideas and losing focus. Time and energy are finite resources, and it is a bad idea to spread them too thin.

The third reason to choose is that intention can be a powerful tool. Deepak Chopra writes about how intention leads to what he calls synchronicity, and we may open our eyes to possibilities that we would otherwise not be able to see only when we are focused and committed.

How to choose?

This book is written to assist you in charting a professional path through the changing world we live in.

Chapter 1 discusses how the world is changing at an ever-increasing pace. Besides the pandemic and its consequences, the chapter discusses the unfolding geopolitical situation, the impact that digitalization and automation is having on the future of work and the steadily eroding situation concerning the natural environment.

The next chapter provides a conceptual framework for figuring out what to do. This includes your experience, passions and the constraints you have in your life. Putting these three ideas together will allow you to figure out which way to go.

That involves choosing in which space, or field of endeavor, you should seek to work, the role you choose to play and the place meaning the region or city in which you intend to live.

Before thinking too deeply about what to do next, it is very important to develop a good understanding of what we have done before and being able to tell your personal story.

To help you with this, I find two metaphors to be helpful, and Chapter 3 discusses each in depth as well as discussing how to develop scenarios for the future.

The next few chapters then drill down into the ideas of space, role and place and discuss how you can think about them in isolation. Chapter 7 is then about building combinations which make sense both today and tomorrow and balance your interests with more practical issues such as paying the rent.

Chapter 8 discusses the challenges associated with changing jobs such as the pain and anguish that can sometimes be felt when we lose a job and how to go through the process of getting a new one.

Your professional life will probably go through a process of evolution during which different jobs make up a series of different phases. Chapter 9 discusses challenges associated with changing these broader phases.

Chapter 10 discusses the importance of education and training in the context of managing a professional career and provides a set of criteria with which to evaluate specific options.

Chapter 11 then goes on to a discussion of values and purpose and the importance of feeling that our personal life and work add up to something with meaning. Chapter 12 summarizes the themes in the book and also offers a set of forms and charts with which to apply these concepts to your own situation.

This is a personal book as it represents personal impressions and ideas I use in discussions with people about important, personal decisions. Many of the stories will also come from students and participants in programs at IESE Business School as much of my personal experience has been shaped in the institution.

Where I have borrowed ideas from other people, I will