5-3-10 It Is Okay to Change Your Mind

In past entries in this blog, I’ve talked some about finding your passion and expecting change in your career (3-19-10 A Couple of Things to Consider and 3-15-10 Do Overs? and 3-10-10 Shoulda Told Me #8 and 12-9-09 Work for Free??). But a conversation today with my niece (thanks Kaitlyn! Love you.) has me thinking some more about the topic.

Why is it that we expect our 18 to 20 year olds to know what they want to do for the rest of their work life -- when they don’t usually even know at this point what their passion in life is? And yet, despite this, our universities ask them to pick a major and then proceed through their training and education with a single-minded focus of someone that has it all figured out.

Heck, I’m 50-something and I STILL don’t have it figured out! And I’ve been through 3 disparate degrees, along with 25 or so years of career. Seems to me that we are handicapping our next generation with this educational attitude.

And it goes beyond that. As an executive, I think that we are often handicapping our new hires by forcing them to apply for a specific job just to get their foot in the darned door. Yes, I realize that you have to match specific educational background with the specific job openings that you have. And at an entry-level position, you are often looking for those college grads that have the best GPA. But I would contend that it is a bit short-sighted. By limiting your selection based on GPA or on major, you are likely missing some VERY good candidates. Heck, one of my best business analysts had a history degree. And one of my best program managers was a fighter pilot. Not what most hiring executives would’ve looked for, I’m sure.

And then once they are working for us, all to often, we don’t take the time to learn about their varied interests or give them the chance to try new and different things in the workplace. Again, I contend that is short-sighted. You never truly know what your people are capable of until you give them a wide variety of opportunities. Yes, it might make your job a bit more difficult. But really, as an executive isn’t one of your most important jobs to develop your people? And how can you do that without helping them to discover their passion.

Yeah, with both your new hires and your old hands, you run the risk of making a mistake. You might hire the wrong person or you might put a person in a job or project that they simply can’t do. But that is how we learn. We make mistakes. We change. We adapt.

So whether you are the executive or the new hire, you don’t have to know it all right this minute. You can change your mind --- along with changing your major, your job, or even your career.

Cheers!