Dwell in the possible…

Recently I had a conversation with a business acquaintance and we got talking about life and careers and how we’d ended up where we each are respectively.  After hearing my story she was aghast that I had given up my corporate job in favour of creating my own company and doing a bunch of things in the pursuit of my passions.

I’d truly forgotten how hard it is when you’re caught up in that world to see how any sane person could make any other choice but to pursue a “safe” corporate career.

Let me just stop you right there…if you believe for one minute that a corporate career is safe then it’s time for a reality check.  Take a look in any newspaper and see the number of large corporations laying people off.  Case in point – the retail industry.  Old, established brands declaring bankruptcy (e.g. Sears Canada), others reorganizing and cutting heads (HBC), the oil industry is another area badly hit in recent years…and the list goes on.

In fact, I would argue that layoffs and reorganizations a pretty common occurrence in the corporate world today.

So where does the myth of safety and job security come from? I realize that our parents era was a much different time and that a “good, steady job” was something that you could hold onto.  Perhaps there was a greater sense of loyalty on both sides, both from the corporations as well as from the employees.

Many might argue that it’s the speed of business coupled with technology that’s driving such change, others would say that its globalization and access to goods and services from anywhere in the world and my response is “yes” it’s all of these things and more – nothing new here.

There’s no question that the speed of business continues to accelerate and that if the wrong strategies are used by your company’s executives things can get out of whack quickly.  If tough business decisions need to be made then in the vast majority of the cases the first thing to be evaluated is headcount.  After all, wages, salaries and benefits are often the most expensive item on the books.

The reality is that companies have to do more with less every day.  The travesty is that when a company lets people go, those remaining get the work divided up among them and then it’s “business as usual”.   All well and good except for the people impacts.

Your company has impacted both groups – those let go…clearly, but also those left behind who now have to pick up the additional tasks, projects and operational activities in order to cover the shortfall in resources and continue on as if nothing has happening.

I don’t know about you but I was never thrilled with the additive nature of this equation as burnout and exhaustion are often the by-products of this scenario and a real and present danger.

For those left behind there is no salary increase for the extra workload, nope…just added expectations with now fewer people to do the work, but with the same total workload to be managed.  This is not equitable by any stretch of the imagination.

So what are your choices?  Well, you can turn a blind eye to the inequities and soldier on like the vast majority of people or you can actively do something about it.

As you know I am all for taking the initiative and creating my own destiny, rather than staying in the mainstream and doing what everyone else is doing,  And so it was with a leap of faith that I ventured out and started Indelible Adventures a little over three years ago.  There were lots of naysayers and people that thought I was crazy…”it’ll never work” was the common catch cry…

Famous last words is all I can say!

Now to be fair I’ve had the opportunity to do some interesting contract consulting work for a bunch of large companies whilst continuing to write, publish books, expand my photography business, spend quality time with Zach and Sami and travel the world – it will be 12 weeks of traveling by the end of the year alone which is beginning to be a consistent number of weeks year over year by the way – not too shabby!  🙂

I am deeply passionate about sharing my stories of “Reinvention – creating the life you want“.  If you haven’t listened to my podcast series on iTunes it may be worth the time to take a peek into how this all got started for me.

The next area of focus for me is to really work on doing more inspirational speaking. With my Second City background and a ton of experience in the corporate world talking to large groups, organizations and the like I’m feeling well positioned to begin pushing this aspect of my business.

I have a favourite new saying which is supposedly attributed to Buddha…”the trouble is you think you have time“…couldn’t have said it better myself.  How many of us have said “I’ll do it later, when I have more time””  Not sure about you but as far as I can see there are no guarantees in life

The word evangelizing is perhaps too strong, especially since I don’t have a religious bone in my body…but the essence is accurate in that I want to share my personal story with others, especially to those who are receptive to personal change and that are both willing and able to critically examine their lives and even take action.

I want you to “Dwell in the possible” – yes, this is my topic when I speak!

So I’m putting this out to the universe (and you all of course!) to elicit speaking opportunities.  Please feel free to pass on my contact information if you think my topic may resonate with a group, audience or gathering.

As always, thank you!!!   Until next week

Ciao!