Excerpt: 'The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers'
Sept. 2 -- Why is it that some people's careers just seem to soar while others — who are equally talented — see their careers stagnate?
You might think it is just dumb luck, but there are actually distinct patterns that distinguish those at the top from the rest of the pack, James M. Citrin and Richard A. Smith write in their new book, The Five Patterns of Extraordinary Careers.
If you want to take a career quiz and see how you stack up against top professionals, go to fivepatterns.com.
Here is an excerpt of the book:
Introduction to The Five Patterns of Extraordinary Careers
You don't just luck into things as much as you'd like to think you do. You build step by step, whether it's friendships or opportunities.— Barbara Bush
— We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like?— Jean Cocteau
The Five Patterns of Extraordinary Careers reveals the subtle yetpowerful factors that determine career success: why some people ascend to the top and prosper, while others who are equally talented never reach their expectations. The latter was a fate Timothy Reynolds suddenly feared might have fallen upon him.
For many years, Tim Reynolds had every reason to think he wason the path of an extraordinary career. After all, he seemed to have itall — three kids, a beautiful wife, a four-bedroom house in a leafyChicago suburb, and a good job as vice president of marketing at aleading consumer-products company, all before the age of forty. Butstanding beside his classmates at his fifteenth college reunion on anunseasonably warm spring day, Tim began to feel a little unsettled.
That's no surprise. Reunions are famous for making ordinarypeople feel rather unsure of themselves. Especially disconcerting isfacing the former classmates who have somehow blossomed into thenext generation of leaders. But Tim wasn't just one of those peoplewho always see the grass as greener on the other side. He was someoneeveryone admired and considered successful and put together. Yet overthe course of this particular weekend, Tim found himself going into afull-scale reexamination of where he was with his career and life andwhat he had accomplished.
Early in his career, Tim had been a star in his corporation's managementtraining program, which led to rapid promotions and increasingresponsibilities. Throughout the first dozen years of his workinglife, he was spontaneous, optimistic, energetic, and confident, feelingthat continued professional success was almost inevitable. But nowthat he thought about it, he realized that more recently, he wasn't feelingquite as sure of himself — or of his professional direction. He hadsurvived two rounds of layoffs at the company, but it was always possiblethat more were to come. The prospect of being forced into the jobmarket in a difficult economy was a grim scenario for Tim to consider.Even more disquieting, however, was a growing sense that he wason a path that wasn't leading him exactly where he wanted to go. Hehad never even thought about this consciously before. After all, Timhad been on a well-defined career track and he had progressedsteadily, achieving many of the milestones for position and compensationthat he had set for himself. But as he reflected, he found that theresponsibilities, daily activities, and politics associated with his jobwere increasingly debilitating. Whatever happened to his starry-eyeddreams of becoming an ambassador, a university professor, or a publicservant?
Tim had suppressed these feelings, but now that he'd let them outof the cage, he was beset with a sense of being ensnared in a directionthat he could not change. He was actually unsure if he even wanted tobe promoted again, fearing that this might move him still further awayfrom the things that mattered most to him — a strong family, making apositive impact on society, being passionate and proud about his work,and continuing to develop a broader set of skills and knowledge.On that particular spring day at the reunion, all of this pent-upanxiety surfaced as Tim was reunited with old friends and classmates.The alumni association had organized a panel, "Career Success andSatisfaction," that included some of Tim's most successful peers. Thestar-studded panel went something like this:
John recently had been appointed the president of a televisiongroup for one of the major broadcast networks after a five-year rundeveloping critically acclaimed and commercially successful televisionshows. John had begun his career as a lawyer and migrated into theentertainment business by coming to represent actors, directors, andwriters in Los Angeles.
Martha was a professor of law and history at an Ivy League university,specializing in the areas of property, religion, and legal history inthe university's law school. Before joining the faculty, Martha hadserved as a clerk in the United States Court of Appeals, which shejoined after having been an associate at a Washington, D.C., law firm.
Stephen was a senior vice president of the National Association ofSecurities Dealers, with the responsibility to develop programs, services,and technological innovations to benefit the entire securitiesindustry. He had joined the industry trade association after the emergingtechnology company that he co-founded in 1999 ran out of capitaland was liquidated.
Todd was the founder of a small specialty restaurant company inChicago that was generating profit in each of its seven locations. Previouslyhe had co-founded and built a natural foods supermarketcompany over seven years into a twenty-store chain serving five metropolitanareas, which he sold to a major food company. Before movinginto the food business, he had been an account executive with a majorWall Street brokerage firm.
Lynn was a doctor of audiology and president of the parent/teacherassociation at her daughters' private school in Manhattan,now working three days a week. She had worked full time in privatepractice for twelve years after medical school.
As Tim listened to each of their stories, he wondered why thesefolks had met with such good fortune. Thinking back to school, herealized that none of them were necessarily smarter, more energetic, ormore charismatic than he, nor did they seem to have any special connections.This certainly wasn't the group the graduating class wouldhave predicted as most likely to succeed. But they seemed to have itnailed.
While Tim thought that his career seemed to have become morecomplicated and difficult to manage, this group seemed not only successful,but also fulfilled by their personal and professional lives.
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