Hi Friends. Can you believe that it is almost the end of October??
Courtesy of Beth Teutschmann @unsplash.com
Personal Update
I’ve been busy finishing up as an Alumni Mentor for an online course on personal knowledge management (PKM). What is PKM? Keeping track of useful information electronically in a simple-to-find, simple-to-use fashion. It has the apt title of Building a Second Brain (don’t we all need one?). I loved this course so much I took it twice. This last cohort had almost 1,000 participants. I coached up to 60 people every week and really honed my skills for running an online course. Even better, I met amazing people from all over the world whose backgrounds were as varied as their locations. I can say it was one of the best experiences of my life. Interested? The next cohort starts in the Spring of 2021 - tell them Lindsey sent you.
For those of you who know me, helping people thrive professionally is my North Star. I love one-on-one coaching, but it has some drawbacks. I can only help one person at a time, and the investment for one-on-one coaching is not accessible to everyone.
So I am excited to announce that I am offering live, online Group Coaching. This is for professional women who want to become better managers and leaders, improve their communication skills and confidence, and benefit from the hard-earned wisdom of others. If you know of someone who would enjoy and benefit, please pass this on.
Actionable Career Advice
I’ve been thinking deeply about how difficult it is for some people to pivot from their current role or industry. Call it what you want: furlough, rightsizing, layoffs. Yet I speak with so many people who don’t even realize that many of these job losses are permanent.
Look. There are shrinking industries and growth industries. Here in Houston, the shift away from traditional oil & gas is secular. Yet GreenTech is booming here. Energy venture capital firms are helping oil & gas companies to digitize and get leaner. These new companies need people who understand how the industry works. The same can be said for the investment space (shift to indexing, Robo-advisors, and SPACS), healthcare (telehealth, digital monitoring)….. you get the picture.
Thomas Friedman of the NYTimes recently wrote, "You’re going to see some amazing stuff emerge, some long-established institutions, like universities, disappear.” And yet, “the nature of work, workplaces and the workforce be transformed."
Technology used to be about the technology sector. Now, everything is related to technology. But the domain knowledge is still valuable. It’s what you do with it.
Staying at a company for 10-15 years is no longer the norm. Being able to pivot into new roles or industries will be key to professional growth. There are good opportunities out there. You need to be aware of them and learn how to transfer your skills to become part of a growing company or industry.
Yet most people have tunnel vision and keep looking in the same field for similar roles. A huge benefit of working with a coach is that you see the bigger picture, which opens your aperture to related roles and companies you didn’t know existed. I have my clients create a career roadmap to guide them to these new opportunities by identifying all of the skills, knowledge, talent, and experience they bring to roles that may not have been on their radar screen.
One of the reasons I created my online course is to help professionals in this situation pivot. I’ll be announcing the launch of a new cohort soon, so stay tuned…..
Courtesy of Zach Woolf @Unsplash.com
What I’m Reading/Taking/Watching/Listening/Following
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
Unlike most people during Covid, my cooking has suffered. My sourdough was sad, my home-cooked meals humdrum. So I turned to Samin Nosrat, a self-taught chef with no formal training and only a desire to make and eat delicious food. She begged for a job bussing tables at the world-famous Chez Panisse just so she could absorb what went on in a Michelin-rated restaurant. As she moved up the ladder, she discovered that good cooking is really the combination of salt, fat, acid, and heat. I love her book because she explores each area as a technique, how it impacts flavor and texture, then provides tasty practice recipes for each. For food porn, watch her Netflix special.
Parting Thought
Want free therapy? Go to a dog park. Watch dogs play.
Guaranteed stress reduction
Smiling burns calories (I made that up)
Until next time,
Lindsey
Any thoughts or feedback? I’d love to hear from you.
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Samin's Netflix special was great!