Dear SafetyXChange Members:

Many of today's managers are voluntarily leaving corporate positions for more flexible work options. They're defining success on their own terms and choosing to opt out of the 7 AM to 9 PM rat race. The successful career is no longer defined in terms of working for a single firm forever. For many, success is about patching together disparate job experiences to suit their lives.

The Kaleidoscope Career

In their book, The Opt-Out Revolt: Why People Are Leaving Companies to Create Kaleidoscope Careers (Davies-Black, 2006), Lisa A. Mainiero and Sherry Sullivan document the Kaleidoscope Career - one created on the individual's own terms, defined not by a corporation but by one's own values and life choices.

According to Mainiero and Sullivan, separating "career" from other life decisions is an oxymoron, an artifact of 20th century old line manufacturing thinking. The interplay of work and family and work and self are inexorably intertwined. Like a kaleidoscope, a career is dynamic and constantly in motion; as your life changes, you can alter your career to adjust to these changes. The underpinnings are the changes in technology that allow for flexibility of work location and work hours. Simply put, it's now possible to achieve success without putting in long hours at the corporate office.

The 3 Mirrors

A kaleidoscope uses three mirrors to create infinite patterns. Mainiero and Sullivan say kaleidoscope careers also have three "mirrors" or parameters which combine in different ways to cast unique reflections at shifting moments in the individual's life:

Authenticity: The need to find congruence between work and personal values and to prompt the individual to ask questions like: "What about me? How can I be authentic, true to myself and make genuine decisions for myself?"

Balance: Authenticity is juxtaposed against the individual's need for balance, relationships and caregiving.

Challenge: The interplay between authenticity and balance intersects with challenge-the individual's personal need to fulfill career ambitions, obtain career advancement and a sense of self-worth.

Cooking Up a New Career

Want an example? One of the individuals Mainiero and Sullivan interviewed had a successful career selling office equipment to businesses in the Wall Street district of Manhattan. For many years, he won sales awards and had been promoted at three major Fortune 500 firms. Then, one day, at age 40, he decided to give it all up and walk away from his successful career to follow his passion.

He opened a kitchen products retail store and had soon grown it into a chain of small stores. His shops had a unique twist: In addition to pots and pans, they offered cooking courses that showcased the talents of popular chefs from area restaurants. The cooking school was followed by a cooking camp for children. The second, successful entrepreneurial career this gentleman had cooked up not only achieved profit but allowed for flexible hours and the time at home he wasn't getting when he was in the corporate world.

Conclusion: Taking Stock of Your Own Career

Do you want to follow a traditional, corporate-driven, linear career path? Or do you want to consider alternative career path choices?

As you consider the question, reflect on what you want from your career and your life:

• Where has your career taken you so far?
• Have you been placed in a career position where it has been work, more work, still more work, and no fun or play?
• Have you lost sight of the other passions in your life, including your family?
• What is your current career motivation - making more money or making more of an impact on others?
• What are your greatest personal concerns - a family member's health, for example?

Wishing you career success no matter which track you're on,

Lauryn Franzoni
ExecuNet
www.execunet.com

WORKING TRENDS

"I'll be working from home today"

What Really Happens When Employees 'Work' At Home

By Glenn Demby

"I'm going to work from home today. See you tomorrow."

How many of you out there have sent or received an e-mail message like this in just the past week? But does the sender really mean it? Do people who bring their work home really get anything done? Do they even try?

Maybe not so much. In a CareerBuilder.com survey, nearly one in three respondents said they work from home from time to time. Of these:

• 14% said they put in a full eight hours per workday spent at home; and
• 53% spend less than three hours per eight-hour day at home on work.

The main sources of home distractions were:

• Kids (22%);
• Personal phone calls (17%);
• Web surfing (17%);
• Watching TV (15%);
• Personal errands (11%); and
• Housework (9%).

Source: CareerBuilder.com, "Out of the Office 2005"

Story Tools:  Email This Post  Print This Post Top