In the modern workplace, it’s not enough to be passionate; you also have to be brave.
Andrew Bramley
At ten years old, there were lots of fun things I wanted to be one day. I could drive trucks, fly planes, or be a fireman. By age eighteen, I had no clue. There seemed by then to be only five career options: law, medicine, engineering, teaching or accounting. And none had too much interest for me.
And so, by my mid-twenties, having graduated with the first part of a law degree and deciding this was not for me, I was making good progress in a corporation that, for me, set the bar for how the workplace should be.
But the truth be told, I was still muddling along, looking for direction. I had done all the standard career tests; they hadn’t helped me make better choices, and they were no help to me now. I realised making choices was my job, and it wasn’t so easy.
I discovered, too, that careers are not a single choice but a stream of choices throughout our working lives, no matter the path we take.
Finding Tools
Finding tools to make better work choices became somewhat of an obsession for me. I read everything I could find. I completed an academic thesis on career decision-making models. I travelled the world to learn from thinkers and practitioners whose work I admired. It took me to the USA, UK, and Germany.
Along the way, I discovered my own mission: to help others navigate career crossroads of their own. I reconciled too how my work was an extension of my spiritual life; I believe we are each called to make the world a better place, no matter what we do.
After fifteen years in the workplace, by then a senior manager in financial services, I left to start my own consulting business. Over the past 23 years I have been consulting and teaching in corporations and business school; working with executives, teams, students, and large groups of people facing job loss in a changing workplace.
The current workplace
As I wrote this collection of blogs, I seriously questioned whether there was anything new to be said. There are, after all, many good books on how to design your life, drive your career to the top, take ownership of your career, and find your dream job. There is also no shortage of good advice online; even ChatGPT will provide a comprehensive plan if you need one.
Being brave is not new. Ordinary people have got through challenging times despite the odds. Some people have left their names in history books, but by far the majority have quietly and bravely forged on, bringing up families in difficult times, looking for work when jobs were scarce, and managing depression alongside having to earn an income.
Yet for all the inspiring stories, ‘how to’ books, psychometric testing, talent models and wellness initiatives, the workplace is in worse shape than ever. Gallup shows engagement in the workplace in 2024 was 23%; that’s only two and a bit out of ten people. The rest are watching the clock or doing only what they must not to get fired.
Half the world’s population is keen to change jobs or willing to move if they find something better. That means if you aren’t considering a job change, the person sitting next to you is.
The same report showed an alarming and unyielding increase in workplace stress. Research has suggested that one of the most significant challenges in corporations will be managing mental health.
Organisations are now encouraging people to take the reins in their careers. That’s hardly a new thought, except they might be serious this time since they aren’t sure what else to do.
Leading Ourselves
I believe it starts with becoming our own career leaders. We can certainly ask for help, but we can’t depend on anyone else to predict what we should do, manage our well-being, get us moving each day, or find us work without our involvement.
It invites us to make things happen rather than watch things happen, to build productive work relationships, to embrace ongoing learning, to reinvent what we do as often as we need to, to work towards goals we believe and determine what success means for us.
At the same time, there is no perfect system for making choices. If there were, everyone would be doing work they loved and earning good money. Except they aren’t. Nor is it that simple. Which means it’s tempting to settle; to stay in a job that demands little of our potential, to hang in with a boss who undermines our confidence, to stay in a toxic work environment because it pays and is apparently safe, or do nothing, waiting for our passion to land or for our dream job to find us.
The good news is you don’t have to start again or redesign your life. You may simply need to make braver choices every day. Life is a stream of choices, not a single event. Every situation we face and every problem we encounter offers us the opportunity to make new choices.
It may mean taking some risks. It may mean sticking our necks out. It may mean starting again with new courage. It may mean doing any job while we work on our ‘Plan A’. It may mean starting the day with new hope and purpose, no matter how hard yesterday was. It may mean asking for help and, with new insight, trying again.
Whether you are starting out, feeling successfully trapped, navigating a midlife crisis, facing job loss, or making sense of older age, you always have a choice about what you do today.
Brave Choices
Whenever I faced a crossroads on my own career journey, I thought it was only me. Everyone else seemed to have it sorted. I’ve discovered it wasn’t only me, and still isn’t. People looking to make better decisions in their work lives fill corporate corridors and business school lecture halls. They sit beside me on planes and strike up conversations at social functions. Many see me professionally, most often without their employers’ knowledge.
I believe we each can make brave choices, it’s part of being human. But there are two things to let go of. First, we need to make peace with not having to change the world and everyone in it to make a difference. Second, we must give up needing other people’s approval for every move we make. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t seek the best advice we can, but we still need to walk our own path.
I met a gentleman a few years ago who had sold his large business for a considerable sum of money. He told me he had no interest in studying further when he was young. He wanted to do something with his hands. His mother said to him one day: ‘If you don’t study, you’ll end up sweeping the streets, and then what will people say?’ ‘I’ll tell you what they’ll say’, he said. ‘They’ll say what beautifully swept streets.’ I believe we all can do something that matters to us and that we can be proud of.
Making brave choices doesn’t mean being reckless, resigning in a huff, or buying the first franchise that presents itself. But it does mean letting go of needing everything to be safe. Life is not safe. We can avoid every risk and still be run over by a car at our local mall.
I believe we are all invited to make brave choices in an uncertain world. This growing series of blogs I have written to help to you make choices for yourself at whatever crossroads you find yourself, no matter how tough it gets. The good news is you don’t have to do it all at once, have instant clarity, or achieve overnight success. You just have to take one step, one day, at a time.
Copyright: Andrew Bramley 2024. All rights reserved.