I was talking to some people after an SCL event I spoke at this week discussing on line marketing. A number of them had seen their careers develop in different ways. Thinking about this it struck me that we tend to have a preconceived idea of our career when we start out, but then it often changes.
We generally have in mind a career curve that goes upwards all the time rising slowly at first as we qualify and then increasingly quickly as we head through the associate stage and then on up to the stratospheric atmosphere of partnership.
In reality whist some may follow this path often the career curve isn't so smooth. Sometimes it may go sideways, for example, in my case when I first moved from industry in to private practice and in effect restarted my career. Or it may stall for a while as either the firm or our position in it is not conducive to promotion for whatever reason, often leading to a sideways move in order to go up again.
And when you do finally reach the pinnacle of partnership what then? You can't stay on the summit of the mountain forever though you may enjoy it for a time. I recall a conversation with a very senior and able IT lawyer, probably in a bar at a conference where all the real truths come out (LinkedIn which we discussed at the SCL talk is great but it can't do this). He said he'd done what was expected of him, reached the top, was earning ridiculous money but wasn't really enjoying it. There comes a point he said when you actually don't need that much income and the sacrifices which come with it.
And as you reach the later stages of your career then you start to consider whether you want to bring the curve into a downward trend for a while. In reality you will probably have to in many professions as there seems to be some kind of sell by date after which your contributions will be very carefully scrutinised. At this time too many UK firms tend to part company with older and experienced professionals, missing out on their ability to continue to make very valid contributions. The American law firms are much better at this, often allowing senior lawyers to take on an of counsel role and continue to contribute their contacts and experience even though they may have left the full equity.
But this really isn't about age. I now realise that at any stage of our professional life we should recognise that the career curve is neither constant nor always on an upward trend. Understanding this makes it easier to direct and control our careers to meet our own objectives without a false pressure or expectation to always go in one direction.
As always I seem to be able to find some support for the concept of different career curves from other sources. In this instance see this article from the Harvard Business Review which discusses an S-Curve in the context of personal development. They postulate that:
Just as understanding the S-curve can keep discouragement at bay as we build new knowledge, it can also help us understand why ennui kicks in once we reach the plateau. As we approach mastery, our learning rate decelerates, and while the ability to do something automatically implies competence, it also means our brains are now producing less of the feel-good neurotransmitters — the thrill ride is over.
On a more light hearted note the author Rodney Ross said "My learning curve has more squiggles than I counted on"!
That just about sums it up.
We generally have in mind a career curve that goes upwards all the time rising slowly at first as we qualify and then increasingly quickly as we head through the associate stage and then on up to the stratospheric atmosphere of partnership.
In reality whist some may follow this path often the career curve isn't so smooth. Sometimes it may go sideways, for example, in my case when I first moved from industry in to private practice and in effect restarted my career. Or it may stall for a while as either the firm or our position in it is not conducive to promotion for whatever reason, often leading to a sideways move in order to go up again.
And when you do finally reach the pinnacle of partnership what then? You can't stay on the summit of the mountain forever though you may enjoy it for a time. I recall a conversation with a very senior and able IT lawyer, probably in a bar at a conference where all the real truths come out (LinkedIn which we discussed at the SCL talk is great but it can't do this). He said he'd done what was expected of him, reached the top, was earning ridiculous money but wasn't really enjoying it. There comes a point he said when you actually don't need that much income and the sacrifices which come with it.
And as you reach the later stages of your career then you start to consider whether you want to bring the curve into a downward trend for a while. In reality you will probably have to in many professions as there seems to be some kind of sell by date after which your contributions will be very carefully scrutinised. At this time too many UK firms tend to part company with older and experienced professionals, missing out on their ability to continue to make very valid contributions. The American law firms are much better at this, often allowing senior lawyers to take on an of counsel role and continue to contribute their contacts and experience even though they may have left the full equity.
But this really isn't about age. I now realise that at any stage of our professional life we should recognise that the career curve is neither constant nor always on an upward trend. Understanding this makes it easier to direct and control our careers to meet our own objectives without a false pressure or expectation to always go in one direction.
As always I seem to be able to find some support for the concept of different career curves from other sources. In this instance see this article from the Harvard Business Review which discusses an S-Curve in the context of personal development. They postulate that:
Just as understanding the S-curve can keep discouragement at bay as we build new knowledge, it can also help us understand why ennui kicks in once we reach the plateau. As we approach mastery, our learning rate decelerates, and while the ability to do something automatically implies competence, it also means our brains are now producing less of the feel-good neurotransmitters — the thrill ride is over.
On a more light hearted note the author Rodney Ross said "My learning curve has more squiggles than I counted on"!
That just about sums it up.
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