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It is commencement season across the country, so we are going to switch things up a little bit. Today I want to impart some wisdom on a younger generation that is about to or may have recently entered the workforce. Fair warning, I am going to take a moment here to be vulnerable, but in keeping with my fellow Gen X brethren, I plan to share some harsh truths without filter.
Before I kick this off, here are some baseline credentials. I have been in the workforce for over thirty years, but I also have raised four incredible children who are currently in college or have recently graduated. I have found myself having these conversations more often with them as they navigate the real world. I have had a little practice.
Here goes:
Labor Markets
One of the many rules of negotiations (in business transactions or hiring conversations) is that power is constantly shifting between counterparties. For the better part of the last decade, workers have had more power than companies. During and after Covid, workers had the leverage to demand concessions, mostly surrounding work from home benefits, because options were nearly unlimited.
The past year has seen a paradigm shift in labor markets. Companies have regained power in the form of AI, which will reduce the workforce requirements as commercialization efforts continue. The evidence is all around us. Every day there are more stories about layoffs, lockouts, and labor strikes across all industries.
J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon has led the charge in expecting workers in office full-time again, although to be fair if I just built a $4 Billion HQ, I would want the building filled up too. Others have been less empathetic, most notably Bill Winters, the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, who shared the following in an earnings call: “It’s not cost-cutting, it’s replacing low-value human capital with financial and investment capital.” The cold hard truth is that an employee is an asset with a variable, tangible value to the company holding it.
Work/Life Balance
This concept has always been a challenging topic for me. Early in my career, when my wife and I were starting our family, this line was non-existent. I worked as hard as I could to provide for my family, whatever that required. That translated into insane daily commutes, being on call 24/7 (and literally taking phone calls at 2:30am - my wife is still not happy with you, Harold), and sleeping at my desk on more occasions than I care to admit. None of that was healthy behavior, and I have the scars (both physical and emotional) to prove it.
As my children were becoming adults, I also had the opportunity to work alongside a (much) younger generation, and I learned the importance of creating boundaries from them both. Different generations will always place different weight on work/life balance, but I understand the concept much better nowadays.
My advice is this: Your emotional well-being has value, but the line you create between them is not black & white. Instead, think of it as a wide, grey barrier that flexes situationally. It is possible to maintain your self-value while being self-aware of your surroundings, it just takes effort.
Networking
The most impactful piece of advice I will share here is to put substantial effort into networking. This is a soft skill many people, myself included, do not place an adequate amount of energy into early in their professional careers. Putting yourself out there, building a wide-ranging network of mentors and contacts will show maturity that is lacking these days, and the effort will compound throughout your career.
Dichotomous Mindsets
I am going to close this out with a recommendation against polarized thinking. In today’s instant-gratification society, my observation is that many people take a position, often just to be first, and will not be swayed. While having conviction in your values and opinions is admirable, this world is not black and white. Many times, you will have to make a decision with incomplete or imperfect information.
Sometimes you will get it right, sometimes you will get it wrong. Accept that and don’t make excuses to placate your ego. That is what Kipling meant when he wrote, “If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too.” Be proud of the wins but also find the value in the losses. Nothing is final in this world, including everything I have said here.
I am sharing my observations and opinions, but my experiences will not always be relatable to every situation. Have the self-confidence that you made the best decision at the time but also have the humility that you may have been wrong. You learn much more from your mistakes than you ever will from your successes.
To those just starting out: the advice above is not a roadmap, it is a starting point. Work hard, build your network, and remember that your scars will teach you more than your trophies ever will. The rest you will figure out, one decision at a time.
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