Career

Somewhere around the age of 45 to 55, many people will have a change in career. This used to be called a mid-life crisis, now it is called a mid-life transition. At the mid-life point, there are typically two triggers for career transition for executives and professionals: the company many trigger it through restructuring/retrenchment or the individual may trigger it.

Whatever you do at this point will have a 5 – 10 year horizon out of the 20 years remaining of your working life. If you don’t put the appropriate career strategy in place, you can lose up to half of the productive time through missed opportunities.

Typically people have two areas to address in preparing themselves for a career as a professional non executive director (NED). The first one is financial, which includes asset protection and cashflow. The second is building their skills and relationships so they can build a portfolio of interesting and rewarding board positions.

Ideally the preparation should happen years in advance of transitioning from a full time professional to a professional board career. There is no point in ringing all your contacts the day before your role is made redundant.

It is prudent to seek professional advice about how to make this change and manage the risks to your career, income, family and lifestyle.

Start While In Your Current Role

Reviewing your career strategy and making any changes while you are still in your full time role and building your portfolio of directorships is the best approach.

5 Things You Need To Do

1. Seek out a coach or mentor who understands and has experience in supporting people through the transition from an executive to non executive career.
2. With your coach or mentor, work through the timing and options for your redundancy package or golden handshake – consider what is negotiable remembering that building your board career is a long cycle (you may decide to “hang on” in your current role while you actively build your NED portfolio) and how to structure your payout to provide cashflow while you are building your portfolio of directorships.
3. Invest in your professional development. Your qualifications and experience are a given. What do you need to do to stand out and be the Chair’s first choice when a seat on the board becomes available?
4. Invest time in your professional networks, raise your profile and learn to network – the network of your future is unlikely to be the network of your past.
5. Seek professional financial advice, such as from a financial advisor, selecting an advisor who understands the needs of a company director to protect assets above and beyond D&O insurance.

In summary, professionals, executives and senior managers need to appreciate that a career as a non executive director requires a different approach to landing the roles. For most, it will take 12 – 18 months to secure their first NED position, and several years to build an interesting and financially rewarding portfolio of directorships. Planning early will ensure you have a strong network while building your directorship portfolio and the appropriate skills and network in place when your director career takes off.

For female executives and professionals, pursuing directorships can be a professionally and personally rewarding career choice. However, those planning such a transition need to review their career strategy and put in place the appropriate plans well in advance.

Great piece by Kait Smith Lanthier in the Babson Graduate School eNewsletter today.

She writes: “Warren Buffet reads 500 pages a day. Marc Cuban reads more than three hours daily. Oprah Winfrey calls reading her “personal path to freedom.” Many of the world’s most successful leaders have something unexpected in common: They’re voracious readers.

Beyond these high-profile success stories, studies have proven that reading does more than build knowledge. It makes readers more confident, empathetic, and better decision makers—important skills for entrepreneurs of all kinds to build and maintain.”

Kait recommends these five reads:

1. Beyond the Champion: Institutionalizing Innovation Through People, Gina Colarelli O’Connor, Andrew Corbett, Lois Peters
2. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Angela Duckworth
3. Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, Adam Grant
4. Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One, Jenny Blake
5. The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz

I was particularly pleased to see Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance at #2 on the list. Confidentially … shhh, don’t tell them … we gift a copy of Grit to each woman in The Gravitas Project on their first day.

What books would you add to the list? Let us know in the comments.

In Episode 18 of Last Week Tonight, Emmy and Peabody Award winning comedian, satirist and political commentator, John Oliver takes on the issue of Workplace Sexual Harassment drawing upon a collage of old workplace training videos, documentary news, interviews and sound bites.

He then goes on to interview Professor Anita Hill. Anita Hill became a national figure in the US in 1991 when she accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, her supervisor at the time, of sexual harassment. She testified for 8 hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee, enduring humiliating questions from the panel. She is now a university professor of social policy, law, and women’s studies at Brandeis University, Massachusetts.

Last Week Tonight, Series 5, Episode 18 is available to view on Foxtel Comedy Channel or HBO download. Note: If you are unfamiliar with the HBO Series “Last Week Tonight” presented by John Oliver, please be aware that the content contains strong language, adult themes and sexual references.

About 15 minutes into the episode, John Oliver opens the segment on Workplace Sexual Harassment by saying “We are on the verge of a national reckoning with sexual harassment. Major companies like Ford have had to pay multi-million dollar settlements and promised to change their corporate culture, a wave of women are now running for office in what’s being called the ‘Year of the Woman’, ‘Times Up’ was even a theme of this year’s Oscar show. Unfortunately everything I just said also describes the 1990s when powerful companies like Ford paid out multi-million dollar settlements and promised to change their culture and a wave of women ran for office in 1992 prompting it to be called the ‘Year of the Woman’ and that theme was the backdrop for the 1993 Oscars [cut to the musical number by Liza Minnelli].

“That national conversation was largely kick started in 1991 by the experience of Anita Hill, who testified for 8 hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing of Judge Clarence Thomas. The point here is, time was supposed to be up in 1981 and in 1991 and now time is supposed to be up again. Will this go around be any different?”

John Oliver starts his interview with Anita Hill by posing the question: “It has been 27 years since you testified in front of the Senate. What has changed in that time?”

Anita Hill: There has been a tremendous amount of change. There has been a change in public attitude and there has been a change in the amount of information that we have about sexual harassment. There is certainly more awareness after the #MeToo movement. Even a few years ago, people were ambivalent about what the consequences should be if someone is behaving incredibly badly and abusing people they work with.

People were aware of it but there was no consensus on what should we do about it. You can fix the women, you can fix the guys or you can fix the culture and if we fix the guys and change the culture, we won’t need to fix the women.

So far much of the approaches we have had is to put all of the burden on women and one of the questions I’ve gotten that sort of sticks out for me is ‘how do we raise our daughter to make sure that she does not set herself up to be a victim for sexual harassment?’. These are the kinds of things we are thinking. If we fix her then she won’t encounter this problem. In reality, she is not the problem.

John Oliver: Let’s talk about men’s role regarding trying to fix sexual harassment. Do men have a role in that discussion?

Anita Hill: Yes. We need you to step up and realise that at this point in time there are no innocent by-standers. If you are aware of something, you acknowledge it, you know it is wrong but you don’t do anything about it, then it’s the same as participating in it.

John Oliver: Is it worth trying to spot some of the ingenuous questions out there? Because one of the refrains you hear is, ‘Where is the line?’ But it seems that is often in search for the answer that will identify exactly how close to the line they can get. So if an 8 second hug is unacceptable, they say great, I’m doing a 7 1/2 second hug and filling it with as much creepiness and I can.

Anita Hill: Unfortunately, to some extent, the law has allowed this to happen. That it was bad, but it wasn’t quite bad enough…so the law has tolerated that so part of the change has to be the law. One of the things that often happens is that the law of discrimination relies on intent. Did they intend to harm? Well, if you are a victim, it does matter so much whether they intended…There are repercussions and consequences regardless of what your intent was.

John Oliver: We have seen a lot of men saying they are absolutely terrified of being alone with a woman now. Should they be scared?

Anita Hill: Not if they’re not harassers…The whole idea of fake claims is another one of those road blocks that people throw off. Well, that really hasn’t manifested itself. It doesn’t mean that it never happens but they are so rare and it seems to me that we don’t need to make rules around the things that rarely happen until we finish making the rules around the things that are happening regularly. I will also add that in terms of my display of contempt [during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing], you know, I have lived through a lot of challenges and having questions thrown at me to challenge my competency, as a woman, as a woman of colour, and so much of what I heard that day was familiar in tone. The questions were different but the tone was something that was all too familiar.

John Oliver: What are the ways we can actually tackle the problem of workplace harassment?

Anita Hill: Well, one of the things we need to do to change the culture and actually convince people we are serious about it is to publicise the policies and inform people: This is what happens if you file a complaint, here are the things you will do, here are the questions that you will face, here is the process. I also think that there is management things that we can do, for example, bystander training because I think people are still somewhat saying ‘Well, I don’t know what to do’.

John Oliver: I think back now to myself in the workplace and I can’t honestly say that I consistently spoke up when I saw creepy behaviour, especially when I was on the lower end of the power dynamic and I didn’t necessarily feel empowered to speak out and say that’s wrong. That’s a pretty poor excuse but it’s probably how I felt. How should I feel about myself other than slightly ashamed?

Anita Hill: Slightly ashamed is a good start.

John Oliver: That’s a very kind way of putting it. Actual shame would be the very least destination I would aim for.

Anita Hill: You know, sometimes shame is helpful to feel. Sometimes it is not helpful and it just makes people feel guilty and even resentful. So you have to hit this at a time when people feel empathetic and not just embarrassed or ashamed of themselves. If you were to go back to some of those situations, let’s pick one, what would you do now?

John Oliver: I can probably just say ‘That was pretty creepy, right?’

Anita Hill: That’s a real sort of manly thing to do. Would you, might you, also go on to say to the person who is feeling the brunt of this and say ‘How are you’, ‘How does this make you feel’, ‘Would you like for me to say something?’

John Oliver: Yeah, it’s kind of sad that that’s not the instinctive reaction.

Anita Hill: Well there are sadder reactions.

John Oliver: How optimistic are you allowing yourself to be right now in terms of are things going to change?

Anita Hill: I’m certainly more optimistic that I was 27 years ago!

John Oliver: That’s a low bar.

Anita Hill: A very low bar. But even then I was somewhat optimistic because I have seen people step up. I’ve heard from women whose lives have been changed because things happened differently when they went forward with their complaint than they would have expected it to happen before. So I am hopeful.

After furthur discussion, the interview concludes with Anita Hill’s remark: “I will say that if we do nothing, the change is not going to come.”

Last Week Tonight, Series 5, Episode 18 is available to view on Foxtel Comedy Channel or HBO download. Note: If you are unfamiliar with the HBO Series “Last Week Tonight” presented by John Oliver, please be aware that the content contains strong language, adult themes and sexual references.

Some of us will remember the days when a bank account was automatically created for us when we first started school.

You would bring in your handful of coins each week to be deposited into your account and have a stamp added to your pink Snow White bank book. This introduced you to the concept of money and the banking system at an early age.

Well the days of the bank book are no longer – this means as parents, grandparents, aunties and big sisters we have a great responsibility and opportunity to help develop good financial habits in the children that we know and love. And when it comes to teaching financial literacy, starting young with simple rules is the way to go.

The piggy bank is without a doubt the most common gift children are given to help them make their first steps into the world of money.

It often comes with an explanation of the importance of saving. However positive this gesture may be, it’s generally missing a critical element: more than one piggy bank!

Money has different purposes. This is illustrated in the financial accounts of your business, which require for short-term and long-term needs to be separated. (Centro’s infamous misclassification of $2b of current liabilities as non current underscores the point.) This reality is equally true at home – some of our cash must be allocated to daily expenditure, some to longer term projects or needs.

Children who learn these concepts and how to use money for different purpose early on, will develop good habits that will last a lifetime. A great way to help them integrate this knowledge is by using a system we call the ‘three money boxes’ – developed by my husband and tried and tested on our son! By having not one but three piggy banks or money boxes, children gain the knowhow to use money for different needs.

In this system the first money box is kept for savings to buy birthday and Christmas presents for the child’s family, teachers and so on. The second money box is for their day-to-day spending, like an ice cream or a Lego Mini Figure. The last money box is for long-term savings and there is no day-to-day access to it. As the child’s savings increase, the third money box can be replaced with a bank account, thus slowly introducing them to the banking system.

Educating kids about the basics of the latter is also part of teaching financial literacy. A key aspect is to explain the distinction between cash and credit cards and the importance of saving money instead of relying on debt. The final step is to guide the young financier in investing these funds into shares. From a young age, we see money changing hands and get to touch it. This is a crucial step in helping us to understand what cash is. But as mothers, grandmothers, sisters and aunties, we also need to educate children on how to use money.

Good financial literacy helps us to make smart financial decisions that can impact our business success, the opportunities we can pursue and our quality of life. Kids who learn how to use and save money wisely from a young age will develop good habits for the rest of their lives. The good news is, there is a very simple and great way we can start teaching our children financial literacy…and that is by taking that one piggy bank and multiplying it by three.

Gaining access to organisational funds for development purposes can be tricky, yet many employees see it is the organisation’s responsibility to help them develop their skills for the role they do today and for the future. However not all organisations agree on this, and fewer organisations have budget to support such initiatives, so here are five ways you can ask for your employer’s support (emotional and financial) to gain development.

1. Think about the organisation’s strategy and then look at what you plan to undertake, how will this development enable them to meet their strategy? Show them how you align to their future.
2. What can you do to give back to the organisation? That’s right, whether it is knowledge sharing, or reporting back to your manager on how you plan to utilise or implement what you are learning or how it has impacted your thinking, provide your manager with a solid way to know what you are doing and how the organisation is benefiting.
3. Link the development for your future roles and your plan for staying at the organisation. Use your performance and development review to link to your future and what you need to do today as well.
4. Be prepared to put in your own time and cash. The biggest question to be answered here is: would you pay for the training/development yourself and would use your annual leave to go? If the answer is no, you can’t expect the organisation to support you. Be passionate about your development and take responsibility and accountability for it. Be prepared to match the organisational commitment in terms of resources if needs be.
5. Align your actions and words to the development you wish to undertake. Whether it is gaining a degree, or attending a short course, if you always talk of leaving or how you have no time, the organisation will not ask you to find more time or invest in your development. Show the organisation how you plan to undertake this development while still doing your current role.

Consider, why the organisation should or would pay for you to attend a course. If it is just based on the entitlement attitude you are unlikely to succeed, but with a  little bit of planning and some strategic thinking and application, you will be well on your way to having organisational support.

Academics will tell you confidence comes from self-efficacy, quite simply the self-knowledge you can do something based on past success with doing the task or facing the situation before. Hence confidence can be built by deliberate practice, exposure to certain situations and previous successes.

On the other hand, experiencing a situation where things do not go as planned can undermine confidence and over a period of time this uncertainty can even lead to levels of anxiousness. While there are some schools of thought that say we need to ‘fake it until we make it’, there are some easier ways to ensure that you can feel good and look confident facing even the most daunting experiences.

To start with you will need to do some observation. You are trying to find the following things in your arsenal of confidence boosting:

Find a song that when it plays makes you feel happy and strong. This song can uplift your spirits and essentially shift your state. Make sure you have it on your phone so you can listen to it before you present or go to a meeting as your power song.

Have two or three go-to outfits. One for work, one for play and one for dinner/going out. Why? Because being comfortable in your own skin is important and clothes are also our armour in the world. Feeling uncomfortable or wearing something for the first time can make you appear less confident. The same can be said for shoes and bags. Never wear a new suit to an interview, you will come across as less confident. If you are going to wear something new, sit in it the day before at least.

Standing tall, running a few stairs, power poses all work. Amy Cuddy* famously taught the world about power poses and you can do these in a bathroom cubicle. There are other ways to get your energy up too. Run up the last few stairs as you go into a building, go for a run or to the gym the morning or lunch before that important event, you will feel better.

Control your environment before the important event. This is one of the most critical components. Plan how you are getting to the place you need to be. Make sure you are not distracted along the way. Turn off your phone or at least don’t check emails. Have you ever noticed how that one complaining email can derail your day? Do not check your socials either (the former Australian swim team knows all too well how this reduces performance). If someone says “Can I talk with you”, tell them you can do it later, because you have to manage your confidence.

That’s right, manage your confidence, take control of it, have a person or two who can be the voice of reason. Make sure you are aware of those situations and people who ‘eat’ your confidence and steer clear of them. You can manage and own your confidence and the difference will show!

* Your body language may shape who you are, Amy Cuddy, TEDGlobal 2012

In this instance, the answer is YES.

Sixty-two applications were received, ten applicants were short-listed for a telephone interview, five attended a face-to-face interview and one was the successful candidate. It is interesting to reflect upon what makes a cover letter and CV stand out from the crowd.

Of the sixty-two applications received, only one – that of the successful applicant – was personally addressed to the individual doing the recruitment, even though this information had not been included in the job ad. Did this one act secure the job for this individual? Well no, yet it did demonstrate the attributes of professionalism, attention to detail and resourcefulness key to the role. LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and the like make it easier than ever to obtain relevant information to enhance your job application. Or simply call the organisation and ask for the relevant details.

In all applications, you are selling yourself to the influencers and the decision-makers. And yourself specifically means your skills, abilities and attitude. Your qualifications and experience are easily communicated. Communicating your unique strengths, skills and abilities is the essence of applying for the role and making it on to the short-list.

It is important to sell yourself quickly, clearly and persuasively at all opportunities. The decision-makers have limited time to get to know you and then be convinced that you are a potential good fit for the role. You have only limited time to influence them.

Below you will find a handy list of synonyms to assist you when describing your strengths, abilities and attitude in a cover letter or CV.

Words to use when describing your Attributes in a covering letter or CV:

Adaptable

Articulate

Assertive

Attentive to detail

Accept change

Ambitious

Articulate

Calm

Careful

Candid

Cheerful

Compassionate

Competitive

Common sense

Confident

Consistent

Conscientious

Co-operative

Creative

Copes with uncertainty

Decision maker

Dedicated

Deliberate

Dependable

Diplomatic

Discreet

Dynamic

Efficient

Energetic

Enthusiastic

Entrepreneurial

Firm

Flexible

Friendly

Generous

Good natured

Hard working

Healthy

Honest

Imaginative

Innovative

Intelligent

Loyal

Mature

Methodical

Objective

Optimistic

Outgoing

Original

Patient

Perceptive

Polite

Positive

Practical

Precise

Punctual

Realistic

Reasonable

Resourceful

Respectful

Resilient

Results orientated

Self motivated

Sense of humour

Sensitive

Sincere

Sociable

Spontaneous

Stable

Tactful

Team player

Thorough

Thoughtful

Trustworthy

Well organised

Well connected

1. Somewhere along the line, it became the Australian norm to believe that work has to be a struggle, a burden of duty, and the death knell to a balanced life. When you find the work you love, struggles become challenges and opportunities; your work becomes a positive and fully integrated part of your balanced life (an essential piece of the things that make up you and your life); you experience sufficient moments of joy, gratification and contentment in your work to outweigh the inevitable hassles, bad days and troublesome people.
2. The naysayers lose their grip on your psyche. You become less concerned about the negativity/fears/doubts/criticisms of those who believe they have the right to give counsel. You become more comfortable with moving away from conformity and following your own path. The negativity, fear, doubt and criticism may still be present in those around you – yet you are not impacted by it to the same extent; it no longer makes you hesitate and falter.
3. At times you experience fear, loneliness, self-doubt; you diminish your accomplishments and second-guess your decisions; you occasionally wake at 3a.m. with the weight of the world on your shoulders – yet, you keeping doing the work you do, and it feels good to be absorbed and to lose yourself in your work.

So next time you experience a dose of self-doubt, acknowledge the skills and talents you have and don’t continually compare yourself to others. Surround yourself with like-minded women on a similar path. Keep looking forward and with every step move towards cultivating the work you love and building your career around it.

“Everyone has been made for some particular work and their desire for that work has been put in his or her heart.” Rumi