Think Outside the Box

Tom spent fifteen years as a flight test engineer and branch supervisor managing a team of thirty some people before he jumped the ladder and became a deputy director, he was a deputy director for ten years. It was a huge deal for him, and shocking news for his peers. He climbed the ladder the fastest he could've imagined, he became a senior pay grade engineer before age of 40. This is also a big deal in Government defense industry.

It seemed so perfect to him, his entire career is flight test or test and evaluation. He followed his passion enthusiastically, worked hard and got rewarded accordingly. Your dream job is never as perfect as you want it to be, there is always some of but this and but that. He reached his mid-late career at age of 47 and one day he told himself, I am stuck. He didn't want to do that same job for the rest of his career. He had his goal, he reached most of it but he is just a little shy from the final destination. More importantly, he wasn't as motivated and passionate about his job as before. He spent so much time in flight test, he planned out his career so perfectly structured and got stuck.

He told me he lived in three years of confusion, not knowing what to do with his career, not to mention he was also dealing with divorce issues at the same time. What kept him energized, motivated and optimistic is networking with other peers. When I meant other peers, its not just people who are ranked higher than him, I meant everyone and anyone. It could be people working for him, people working with him, people who he works for, people in Government and private industries; and countless technology and leadership conferences he attended.

I may have said this before, it is not about who you know, it is about who knows you. But your choice of people who you network is a science of itself. This is the first thing I learned from him, never belittle people who are more junior than you, or your peers. Desperate boss and leader want to be's just aim for big name people, don't blame them, they are hungry. But Tom told me firmly, these people will get stuck some day just I like did. I wasn't sure if he spoke from experience or just simply his natural wisdom. But that doesn't matter.

New graduates come every year for the most advanced technology, industry peers join every year looking to stabilize their retirement pension, and people who do internal transfer for career advancement. There is no accurate number to statistically quantity the average number of years for switching jobs. But I learned this general rule of thumb for large organizations, one month to get people to recognize you, six months to learn acronyms, one year to get an idea of what your job is, two years to stabilize your performance, three to four years to make a difference, and five to six years to become an expert. Why do I mention about the time frame, it is because technology changes faster than you can imagine, people's mindset, thinking and perspectives change as new generation shuffles back older generation. So it is not a bad idea to look around and keep options open.

So about every four to six years accounting for mid to large size organizations, it is highly recommended to diversify one's career. Now the magic question is how and what path to take. Everyone starts with a vague idea of what they want to. A five-year-old boy's biggest dream was to become superman. A twelve-year-old girl wanted to become a professional pianist. I wanted to become a professional soccer player. Teenagers who watched Top Gun tried to join the Navy and thought that they could become pilots but end up mopping floors. The point is we all have a dream and it is based on some past experience; but it will change with respect to time.

Tom's career in the first fifteen years is a great example of drawing a box around a career, paving inch-stones so structurally that when it hits the endpoint, opportunities are slim. Okay, fast forwarding to how Tom is doing now. Tom took two steps back in job rank and joined a totally different department. He used to direct his employees and making technical decisions and now he is making power point presentations briefing technical information. Within three years, he made two steps again back to his equivalent job rank. He didn't waste three years of his time, he made a very smart move opening up more options, it is very tough to do during mid-late career. We occasionally disagree on some subject matters on the professional level, but on a personal level, he is one of my mentor and he gives me very valuable suggestions. He also listens to my input as well.

There is no perfect way to get to the endpoint. Opportunities arise faster than you can figure things out. Tom's best advise for me is write down your interests, research about them, network and talk to related people about them, narrow things down and make a decision. But once you made a decision, never ever stop exploring, interviewing and networking - always keep your options open. When you do things you like and things that motivate you, very likely you will give your best and do a very good job, and hence the most beneficial learning curve. Climbing up the ladder to gain rank, moving horizontally to diversify, moving back down to appreciate the work, moving back up again to be a good leader, and this and that. Just keep your options open and do what is best for you.

Tom is who I find a true leader, he listens, he cares and he is very influential. I am sure he is onto some bigger objective, and he will get there.