Introduction - a unified string theory of my very unorthodox working life
Throughout my career, such as it's been, I've pursued a number of very different and seemingly unrelated occupations. Not including various summer and part time jobs I held while making my way through high school, college and law school, I can count at least 6 disparate careers that have kept me busy over the course of the last 30 years, having worked as a lawyer, a publisher, a dot com entrepreneur, a distressed debt trader, a marketing consultant and now, in my latest incarnation, as a writer, poet and translator. What a long strange trip it has been.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American in my age cohort -- having just turned 60 last year -- will hold 12 different jobs over the course of their working life. But changing careers is very different from changing jobs and there are no government statistics available, as far as I'm aware, that shed light on how frequently Americans change careers as opposed to jobs. Some experts have surmised that the average worker will change careers between three and seven times but this is just a guess, plain and simple, not informed by any meaningful data. Whatever the average number of career changes may be, my hunch is that there is probably a striking correlation between income and career switching, with those in the top half of income distribution far less likely to switch careers with much frequency, as they ascend through the ranks of their chosen profession, whereas those in the lower to middling income brackets are far more likely to jump around from one career to another.
One good thing about career switching is that it keeps you from getting too bored on the job. It certainly has worked that way for me, as embarking on a new career adventure every six or seven years has forced me every so often to learn an entirely new set of tricks. Of course, there's a downside too, reflected in the old adage that a jack of many trades is a master of none. At this point in my life I don't really have a single clear or strong professional identity - the lawyers no longer see me as part of their flock. Among marketing professionals I stick out like a sore thumb because, as an independent consultant, I've never worked at a marketing agency nor have I worked as part of in-house marketing department. The poets - god only knows what they think of me. Neither fish nor fowl nor pickled herring, I suppose.
Yet, as I've grown older and more experienced, I've also started to think differently about my many varied careers. Instead of perceiving each undertaking as a radically different and unrelated challenge, I've become far more inclined to look for the common thread that runs through these disparate adventures. What does it all add up to, if anything, and what truisms have emerged that seem to hold equally well across the varied phases my career?
Not to put too fine a point on the matter, that's where the Practice Platform comes in. It represents my attempt to come up with a unified string theory that explains everything or at least most of what I've learned in the course of my sprawling work life. Each separate career I've undertaken may be a chapter unto itself but The Practice Platform, that is meant to capture the spirit the enterprise in its totality. I hope you'll find it both interesting and enjoyable.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American in my age cohort -- having just turned 60 last year -- will hold 12 different jobs over the course of their working life. But changing careers is very different from changing jobs and there are no government statistics available, as far as I'm aware, that shed light on how frequently Americans change careers as opposed to jobs. Some experts have surmised that the average worker will change careers between three and seven times but this is just a guess, plain and simple, not informed by any meaningful data. Whatever the average number of career changes may be, my hunch is that there is probably a striking correlation between income and career switching, with those in the top half of income distribution far less likely to switch careers with much frequency, as they ascend through the ranks of their chosen profession, whereas those in the lower to middling income brackets are far more likely to jump around from one career to another.
One good thing about career switching is that it keeps you from getting too bored on the job. It certainly has worked that way for me, as embarking on a new career adventure every six or seven years has forced me every so often to learn an entirely new set of tricks. Of course, there's a downside too, reflected in the old adage that a jack of many trades is a master of none. At this point in my life I don't really have a single clear or strong professional identity - the lawyers no longer see me as part of their flock. Among marketing professionals I stick out like a sore thumb because, as an independent consultant, I've never worked at a marketing agency nor have I worked as part of in-house marketing department. The poets - god only knows what they think of me. Neither fish nor fowl nor pickled herring, I suppose.
Yet, as I've grown older and more experienced, I've also started to think differently about my many varied careers. Instead of perceiving each undertaking as a radically different and unrelated challenge, I've become far more inclined to look for the common thread that runs through these disparate adventures. What does it all add up to, if anything, and what truisms have emerged that seem to hold equally well across the varied phases my career?
Not to put too fine a point on the matter, that's where the Practice Platform comes in. It represents my attempt to come up with a unified string theory that explains everything or at least most of what I've learned in the course of my sprawling work life. Each separate career I've undertaken may be a chapter unto itself but The Practice Platform, that is meant to capture the spirit the enterprise in its totality. I hope you'll find it both interesting and enjoyable.
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