Showing posts with label career. Show all posts
Showing posts with label career. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Awareness of Age
I woke up this morning when my alarm went off in the middle of a dream where I was watching Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell play basketball in a parking lot. Random, right? I should mention that one of my favorite TV shows ever is Quantum Leap, which ran from 1989 - 1993.
So I got to wondering when woke up how old Scott Bakula was when he was in Quantum Leap. As a teenager watching the show, he didn't seem old necessarily, but maybe middle-aged. I took a rough guess that he was probably in his 40s. I was wrong.
According to IMDB, Bakula was 35 when he started Quantum Leap. That's just one year older than I am now. Now, I know I'm not an actor or a movie star, but I can't help but make a comparison. Here's this guy, at 35, starring in a television show.
Dean Stockwell, on the other hand, was 53 when Quantum Leap began. He had already had a long career (and has continued since). When he was 34, he had already managed to rack up an impressive resume of films and TV shows, but hadn't done anything that really defined his career as an adult.
Then I thought about John Wayne, arguably the most popular screen actor of all time. What about John Wayne at 34? It turns out that he, too, had been in many pictures by this time, but in reality was just starting to break out of B movies and into more starring roles. He had just made Stagecoach two years before and was still seven years from making Red River. Although by numbers of films he was roughly halfway through his career, his really defining work -the stuff that made him a legend- was still years ahead of him. Up until this point he had been building cred and paying dues. Even in Stagecoach, made when he was 32, he was called "the kid."
When we're little, we think (and we're led to believe) that we're going to go out in the world and set it on fire. In reality, there are very few that actually do, and those people tend to burn out. Look at child actors. Most are done by the time they're in their 20s or 30s. But then take Bob Newhart, whose first film credit came when he was 33.
This made me feel a lot better. I have to remind myself sometimes when I look around me that you can't get where you want to go right away. There's a journey involved, and that journey is what defines you. And as you continue along the journey, the journey - and you - get better. At age 34, in reality I'm only at the beginning of my career. I'm building cred and paying my dues and making B movies, but each project teaches me something new that allows me to grow and to hopefully be great someday.
A career is like a brand. Your current logo may be the current job or project and that can be sexy and exciting. But in reality, a brand is the accumulation of the perceptions of the public about your product. It's not any one thing - it's how all the things that your company does adds up. Your career is the accumulation of your failures and successes and projects and travels. As Jethro Tull said, "Life's a Long Song."
We're not always happy about where we've been on a journey or in a career. The key is, like in the middle of a journey, to look around and to be satisfied with where you are and have a direction ahead to aim for.
So I got to wondering when woke up how old Scott Bakula was when he was in Quantum Leap. As a teenager watching the show, he didn't seem old necessarily, but maybe middle-aged. I took a rough guess that he was probably in his 40s. I was wrong.
According to IMDB, Bakula was 35 when he started Quantum Leap. That's just one year older than I am now. Now, I know I'm not an actor or a movie star, but I can't help but make a comparison. Here's this guy, at 35, starring in a television show.
Dean Stockwell, on the other hand, was 53 when Quantum Leap began. He had already had a long career (and has continued since). When he was 34, he had already managed to rack up an impressive resume of films and TV shows, but hadn't done anything that really defined his career as an adult.
Then I thought about John Wayne, arguably the most popular screen actor of all time. What about John Wayne at 34? It turns out that he, too, had been in many pictures by this time, but in reality was just starting to break out of B movies and into more starring roles. He had just made Stagecoach two years before and was still seven years from making Red River. Although by numbers of films he was roughly halfway through his career, his really defining work -the stuff that made him a legend- was still years ahead of him. Up until this point he had been building cred and paying dues. Even in Stagecoach, made when he was 32, he was called "the kid."
When we're little, we think (and we're led to believe) that we're going to go out in the world and set it on fire. In reality, there are very few that actually do, and those people tend to burn out. Look at child actors. Most are done by the time they're in their 20s or 30s. But then take Bob Newhart, whose first film credit came when he was 33.
This made me feel a lot better. I have to remind myself sometimes when I look around me that you can't get where you want to go right away. There's a journey involved, and that journey is what defines you. And as you continue along the journey, the journey - and you - get better. At age 34, in reality I'm only at the beginning of my career. I'm building cred and paying my dues and making B movies, but each project teaches me something new that allows me to grow and to hopefully be great someday.
A career is like a brand. Your current logo may be the current job or project and that can be sexy and exciting. But in reality, a brand is the accumulation of the perceptions of the public about your product. It's not any one thing - it's how all the things that your company does adds up. Your career is the accumulation of your failures and successes and projects and travels. As Jethro Tull said, "Life's a Long Song."
We're not always happy about where we've been on a journey or in a career. The key is, like in the middle of a journey, to look around and to be satisfied with where you are and have a direction ahead to aim for.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
At What Are You Awesome?
I'm not a manager. Far from it. In fact, I don't really have any authority over, well, anyone at work except maybe vendors. I suspect that our summer part-time help is probably higher up the org chart than I am. But I digress...
But I was thinking today about my performance evaluation, which was two weeks ago. On the written self-evaluation, one of the questions asks you to list your weaknesses and what measurable goals you can make to show that you are growing. Or something like that.
It strikes me as completely ridiculous to focus only on one's weaknesses and shortfalls, which is primarily what performance evaluations tend to be. And job interviews, sometimes. When I was interviewing at Germania (and a couple of other places, as well), one of the questions I was asked was "what would you say is your greatest weakness." What a bullshit question. How in the world does that really tell you anything about the candidate, other than to see how well they can lie to your face? There's no way I'm going to go into a job interview and tell them that I hate working on sunny days or pretty much any day in October. I'm not going to tell them that I have a bad habit of getting sidetracked (much like this post has) when I'm working on something because I found something more interesting to do. No way I'm going to mention my habit of procrastination. And I'm sure not telling them about that wet underwear contest in Juarez.
And that got me thinking about what I would do if I were a manager and had the ability to hire and fire. How would I do things differently?
For starters, the very first question I would ask in an interview is "at what are you awesome?" Who cares what you suck at? I'll find out soon enough if you suck at something. I want to know what you love to do. I want to know what drives you. I want to know what you consider your absolute best skills to be. Now that's valuable information. That will tell me if you fit on our team and where. It will tell me how passionate you are about what you do. And it's a great way to start a real dialogue about the job you're applying for, instead of just reading talking points off of some worksheet.
My answer is: "I'm awesome at looking at things at a slightly different perspective than anyone else. I'm also good at seeing something in my head and making it real - whether that means on paper or on a computer screen. I'm good at Photoshop. And I have awesome opinions."
And I'm proud of my opinions, which is something most people seem to have a difficult time saying. Most people run from their opinions. I embrace mine. In the creative field, your opinions are the only thing you have. They are the basis of creative decision. If you hate a color - embrace it. If you love a typeface - embrace that, too. Not everyone will agree with you, but that's also good. If everyone agreed the world would be a pretty boring place.
So embrace your awesomeness. Own it. Love it. Know what your weaknesses are, but don't dwell on them. Learn to overcome them, if you can, but take your strengths and make them strengthier. It's not arrogance. It's good marketing.
But I was thinking today about my performance evaluation, which was two weeks ago. On the written self-evaluation, one of the questions asks you to list your weaknesses and what measurable goals you can make to show that you are growing. Or something like that.
It strikes me as completely ridiculous to focus only on one's weaknesses and shortfalls, which is primarily what performance evaluations tend to be. And job interviews, sometimes. When I was interviewing at Germania (and a couple of other places, as well), one of the questions I was asked was "what would you say is your greatest weakness." What a bullshit question. How in the world does that really tell you anything about the candidate, other than to see how well they can lie to your face? There's no way I'm going to go into a job interview and tell them that I hate working on sunny days or pretty much any day in October. I'm not going to tell them that I have a bad habit of getting sidetracked (much like this post has) when I'm working on something because I found something more interesting to do. No way I'm going to mention my habit of procrastination. And I'm sure not telling them about that wet underwear contest in Juarez.
And that got me thinking about what I would do if I were a manager and had the ability to hire and fire. How would I do things differently?
For starters, the very first question I would ask in an interview is "at what are you awesome?" Who cares what you suck at? I'll find out soon enough if you suck at something. I want to know what you love to do. I want to know what drives you. I want to know what you consider your absolute best skills to be. Now that's valuable information. That will tell me if you fit on our team and where. It will tell me how passionate you are about what you do. And it's a great way to start a real dialogue about the job you're applying for, instead of just reading talking points off of some worksheet.
My answer is: "I'm awesome at looking at things at a slightly different perspective than anyone else. I'm also good at seeing something in my head and making it real - whether that means on paper or on a computer screen. I'm good at Photoshop. And I have awesome opinions."
And I'm proud of my opinions, which is something most people seem to have a difficult time saying. Most people run from their opinions. I embrace mine. In the creative field, your opinions are the only thing you have. They are the basis of creative decision. If you hate a color - embrace it. If you love a typeface - embrace that, too. Not everyone will agree with you, but that's also good. If everyone agreed the world would be a pretty boring place.
So embrace your awesomeness. Own it. Love it. Know what your weaknesses are, but don't dwell on them. Learn to overcome them, if you can, but take your strengths and make them strengthier. It's not arrogance. It's good marketing.
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