Career Survival Guide
O'Connell
Chapter One

New Economy or Old Economy, The Times They Are A Changin

There's an old phrase about adversity being the grindstone of life. 

Intended to polish you up, adversity also has the ability to grind you down. The impact and ultimate result depend on what you do with the difficulties that come your way. Not sure about that? Consider the phenomenal achievements of people experiencing adversity. 

»  Beethoven composed his greatest works after becoming deaf. 

»  Sir Walter Raleigh wrote the History of the World during a thirteen-year imprisonment. 

»  If Columbus had turned back, no one could have blamed him, considering the constant adversity he endured. Of course, no one would have remembered him either. 

»  Abraham Lincoln achieved greatness by his display of wisdom and character during the devastation of the Civil War. 

»  Luther translated the Bible while enduring confinement in the Castle of Wartburg. 

»  Under a sentence of death and during twenty years in exile, Dante wrote the Divine Comedy. John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress in a Bedford jail. 

American career professionals have certainly felt their share of adversity in recent years. 

After a 10-year economic run from 1990-to-2000 that was the envy of the global markets, the U.S economy crash-landed shortly after the birth of the 21st century. Many over-valued Internet companies imploded, leaving behind a wide swath of laid-off workers, clutching pink slips in one hand and worthless stock options in the other.

On September 11, 2001, things got worse and in a hurry. The terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington not only rendered Americans numb emotionally it left the rest of the economy ­ what pundits like to call the Old Economy ­ in tatters as well. Factory orders declined, consumer spending spiked downward, the housing market dropped precipitously, and millions more workers lost their jobs.

The timing for the American workforce could not have been worse. Economic conditions deteriorated just as the American workplace was figuring out how to blend New Economy innovation into Old Economy bottom-line values. Sure, information technology had changed enough that a musical microchip pasted on a greeting card now packs more computing power than could be found in any computer in world in 1950. But did enough people want to buy musical greeting cards to build a new industry around? The answer was no.

But that's for starters ­ other economic factors began impacting U.S. working professionals as well:

The Global Economy

All of a sudden it was not unusual for a U.S. clothing company to design a suit in Korea, buy fabric from Australia, have the suit sewn in Taiwan, hold the dress in a warehouse in Puerto Rico, and sell it in Europe. Such globetrotting strategies called for new skills and responsibilities from employees. Being passed over because you didn't speak Spanish was no longer considered a shock around water coolers and watering holes.

Employees who best accommodate such changes in U.S. business practices were the ones who know how to adapt. For example, workers who blended easily in team atmospheres which could respond efficiently to change found themselves in demand. So too employees who knew how to place a high priority on customer service and satisfaction, and did so in different languages and time zones. 

The New Economy (And its Relationship with the Old Economy)

There's no question that a huge factor in the workplace dynamic these days is the New Economy, which almost became the No Economy before being merged with the Old Economy (Got that?).

Here's what I mean when I talk about the impact of the New Economy (and the Old Economy) on the way we look at our careers.

First some background. The Old Economy is personified by companies like Ford Motor Co. and Proctor & Gamble that comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The New Economy is comprised of NASDAQ newcomers like eBay, Amazon.com and Oracle. 

To corporations and entrepreneurs (the people who hire us) the New Economy means new markets and new opportunities to consider, like biotechnology and the Internet, and new channels for transacting and a plethora of new investment opportunities to explore, like wireless telecom and real-time Web technologies. The Old Economy? It's Frito's and fan belts, bedspreads and broomsticks. You know ­ products that people actually use.

Most business observers define the New Economy as a global economy where information is as much a commodity as beer or Barbie Dolls. It's an economy in which communications technology creates geographically borderless competition - not just for brews and Barbie's, but also for mortgage loans and other services that aren't packed into a box and sent rolling down loading docks. 

But that's just the nuts and bolts. Before the dot.com implosion of 2000 and 2001, the New Economy also had a new frontier, wild, wild, west ring about it that American baby boomers weaned on John Wayne and Clint Eastwood seem to love. In the New Economy, chaos was considered creative. Horizons were short. There was no deference paid by employees to their elders. The young tried to eat the old. Every successful company in Silicon Valley seemed to beget a more successful one that made employees if not smug, at least immune to the notion that things could go sour and that pink slips would soon rain down from the sky on millions of workers who considered themselves bulletproof. 

When it became apparent to the professional investors on Wall Street that the value of New Economy companies was vastly inflated they picked up their marbles and went home. That resulted in a catastrophic domino effect as suddenly cash-strapped entrepreneurs got on their cell phones and speed-dialed their investors looking for more infusions of cash. But like a chronic gambler who keeps going back to the betting window for another shot, the entrepreneurs found that venture capitalists had stopped returning their phone calls. 

Short on money and short on time, many dot.com business owners pulled the plug, sending millions of shocked employees out into the streets, clutching their "Leftovers.com" coffee mug in one hand and a fistful of worthless stock options in the other.

At about the same time the Old Economy companies, many of whom who'd made massive investments in New Economy companies, decided to take some, but not all, of the dot.com workforce into their happy fold. Companies like Barnes and Noble and Citibank, who'd figured out how to merge their brick-and-mortar business components with their Internet businesses, welcomed the technological know-how that the ex-New Economy workers they hired brought with them to the table. Other Old Economy companies followed suit, but not nearly enough to hire the army of software engineers, Web content managers, graphic designers, and account managers wandering the streets looking for work.

Even though many dot.coms crashed, the New Economy, personified by the Internet, remains the single most important factor in commerce, in communication, in education, in medicine and every other field that requires human interaction. It's not going away, obviously, and will rise once again in stature, although it may not get within shouting distance of its heights in the late 1990's. Still, the roller coaster ride the New Economy took legions of workers on has left a bitter taste that won't easily go away. The idea that the Internet empowered employees and gave them more leverage in the workplace than ever before was a tempting one. After all, how can you argue with six-figure salaries, comfy telecommuting gigs, and ballooning stock option programs? That's why when the bubble finally burst it seemed like a death in the family. First there was shock, then denial, then frustration, and then, as always, the insecurity that inevitably follows a deep, negative lifetime experience.

It was a wake up call that we're still waking up to, but the lessons formed by our workplace experiences in the New Economy form many of the career-advancement values and strategies that you'll find in this book.

Information Technology

New workplace initiatives like flex-time, independent contractors and telecommuting could never exist without the toys and tools that high technology has developed. Few would argue that the Internet, fax machines, cellular telephones, and other related technology make it possible for workers to work away from the office on a full-time basis. This concept is revolutionizing the typical day at the office.

It's no secret that computer knowledge will be essential for your work life. Let's face it, traditional work as we know it is disappearing. High tech gadgets now operate machinery for banking, parts assembly, warehouse inventory, truck and taxi dispatching, driver license renewals. Brand new jobs are constantly being created to develop and run computer hardware, software and computer networks. That means that forward-thing professionals will have to continually upgrade their work-related skills to keep pace with rapid changes in technology. 

But information technology is impacting American working professionals in ways high-tech tool developers likely didn't imagine. Or at least didn't let on if they did. Sure, information technology made us better workplace "producers", but that has meant bringing the workplace with us wherever we go, via lap top computers, personal digital assistants, cell phones, and fax machines. 

Such high tech instruments were supposed to free us from the surly bonds of inefficiency. But in a pact with the devil that would make Machiavelli proud, we've traded higher productivity for a good chunk of our personal freedom. Think about it. Did you check e-mail on your last vacation? Do you bring your cell phone to dinners? Ballgames? Your daughter's ballet recital (hopefully not).

Our dependence on our telecommunications toys reveals an insecurity toward our jobs and careers that we don't want to think about. A secure vice-president at a large bank might not dash off and take a phone call at her son's birthday party at Chucky Cheese. But if she did, she'd easily rationalize it away by elevating the importance of the call to the military equivalent of DefCon 5. Two forces are gnawing away at executives in moments like those: the responsibility of family (it doesn't have to be a mother at a birthday party; it could just as easily be a singleton at his parent's house for Thanksgiving dinner or an empty-nester out with friends on bowling night) and the responsibility toward one's career. Our kids, our families, and our friends aren't going to fire us. They might roll their eyes but they understand our commitment to our careers. 

But your boss on the other end of the line ­ who doesn't care if he's interrupting your personal life -- can fire you if you don't take the call ­ or at least question your dedication to the firm and use his influence to derail you from your firm's promotional fast track. 

25 years ago the notion of being wired into your workplace from your home, your car, or from an 747 30,000 feet above Phoenix was a fantasy. Sure, your dad might have brought home a briefcase crammed with paperwork once in a while but it was the exception rather than the rule. The advent of the New Economy, which among other delights, promised to abolish the paper-strewn office and replace it with a digital one we could carry around with us, stirred something deep inside us, career-wise.

Here was a chance to become more productive, to show our employers what we could really do if given the right tools. I remember the crushing disappointment at one of my first jobs on a Wall Street bond desk when I was deemed unworthy of receiving a corporate cell phone. The fact that I was a trading assistant who merely executed trades, worked the phones, and compiled everything into a neat little package at the end of the trading day had nothing to do with it. So what if the market closed at 4:00? So what if my bosses, portfolio managers and senior managers, mostly, never needed to reach me when the markets were closed? So what if I rarely traveled or took part in social events away from the office during trading hours? I wanted that $#@&! phone. I raged silently as my workplace "superiors" grabbed those gleaming new cell phones with the zeal of Anna Nicole Smith glomming phone numbers at a Metamucil convention.

Alas I didn't get one and, sure enough, creeping insecurity shortly turned into raging paranoia when management began giving laptops away to "critical" workers a few months later. I felt like one of those "unnecessary" government workers who get to go home in snowstorms and other natural disasters. Unnecessary? Me? Somebody pass me the Valium.

As I progressed along in my career I began noticing that these "mobile office" products were as much a curse as they were a blessing. Sure, getting a company-paid cell phone seems like a badge of honor. But sooner or later the lucky recipient finds himself tethered to the workplace, always a phone call away from the boss or the big client.

The Internet

Despite the dot.com disasters of 2000 and 2001, there's no doubt that the broader perspective that the Web has given global businesses has taken hold in boardrooms like barnacles to the side of a boat.

Indeed, the Web has helped businesses of all sizes find opportunities in the international marketplace, know more about their competition in The U.S. and around the world, advertise and sell their products to global audiences through their Web sites, use e-mail as a way to communicate with employees, suppliers and buyers, and use B2B to help their business grow.

For career professionals the Internet meant having to handle increasing amounts of information, develop excellent communication skills, and continuously upgrade their technology skills.

The Internet has especially impacted small business, as computerization and use of the Internet has given small companies to "level the playing field" in global commerce.
The Internet allows small companies to advertise equally with big companies and target customers in specialized markets--markets too small for big business that have to sell to millions of people to be profitable.

The Changing Workplace

The way Americans viewed the workplace and their careers have changed as well. Instead of landing a nice steady job for 30 years like the Dads (and some Moms) did, U.S. workers counted on landing five or six steady jobs in their lifetime, bracing themselves for a constant retooling of skills in the process.

The workplace changed along with workers attitudes toward their careers, as new technology breakthroughs like E-mail, voice mail, stripped the traditional workplace of its boundaries, making any car, living room, airplane, or commuter train a branch office. Toss into the mix corporate downsizing, out-souring, global competition, two-earner families, independent contracting, wage stagnation, workplace anxiety, office politics, and surly bosses, and it's no wonder that so many working professionals felt stifled, confused, and even fearful about their careers

The good news is that, by and large, U.S. businesses of all sizes are trying to keep workers ­ those who weren't pink-slipped, anyway ­ satisfied and productive. More and more companies adopted policies that accommodated workers' busy lives. Flexible work arrangements, telecommuting, performance-based compensation programs, profit-sharing plans, and fatter benefits packages became standard operating procedure for companies that wanted to attract the best talent possible.

Independent Contractors

Raise a glass to the fearless freelancer, willing to forego trivial tokens like a regular paycheck and company-paid benefits to be the boss.

The Internet has had much to do with the upward trend in freelancing as well. Because of trends such as globalization, companies can't afford to have full-time employees available on a 24/7/365 basis. Consequently, business has stepped up the rate at which they hire part-time workers, launch job-sharing programs, or contract work out to freelancers.

While doing without a regular paycheck and having to pay for your own health benefits in the bargain, millions of Americans have turned to independent contracting, rolling out new desktop publishing, Web content-producing, or public relations businesses and found themselves in demand and in the drivers seat of their own careers.

Building Your Own Brand

Remember that old Chinese proverb "May you live in interesting times". History will no doubt record the turn of the 21st Century as one for the books. The advancement of the Internet, the rise of global terrorism, and the shift to global markets all will fill chapters of their own in future academic tomes.

But perhaps a separate chapter may be written in history books about the metamorphosis of the modern worker from long-term corporate lifer to an independent-minded master of their own careers.

Call them the gold collar workers ­ the people who take more responsibility for their careers, constantly assessing their strengths and weaknesses, planning career paths like a military commander draws up a battlefield plan. Today's gold collar professionals understand that the days where anyone could step into a lifetime job with regular pay raises, promotions and a good pension at retirement are a thing of the past, gone the way of the slide rule, the drive-in movie, or the hula hoop. 

Recognizing that those without something to offer will face significant career difficulties, gold collar workers will constantly upgrade their skills and retrain themselves. They'll learn to understand the entire business, not just their own jobs. They'll learn marketable skills that they can take from company to company. They know that in a tough job climate, companies will cling to their best employees, instead of vice-versa. They'll be curious, constantly researching their field of career interest and keeping an eye on trends to anticipate what will happen in your industry.

Gold collar workers will also be opportunity-makers, looking for areas that lack skilled workers and build their knowledge in that area. They'll be networks, recognizing that their contacts may be lifelines to the work they want to get.

In short, gold collar workers will be in demand.

And this book will show you how to become one.


CHAPTER END



SIDEBAR I: Workplace Trends in the Early 2000's


* In 1994, 62% of the jobs that were eliminated were supervisory, managerial or professional (compared to 44% in 1991) and 85% of those who have lost white collar jobs will never get them back

* Work that used to require a hundred workers a few years ago can be done by fifty today and probably ten tomorrow

* Jobs are a social artifact - intelligence is the new form of property

* We work on average 20 hours per month more than our parents did after W.W. II

* 80% of jobs will be taken over by automation or cheaper labor in other countries

* 35% of North Americans in the labor force either are unemployed or are temporary, part time or contractual workers (in Europe the figure is 50%)

* The employee-employer contract has now been broken and loyalty to the organization no longer ensures job security

* Technology is complex and no one person can "know" a function completely; we will need to collaborate with each other

* Organizations are becoming flatter and more horizontal

* Bureaucracy is ineffective when dealing with the multidimensional complexity caused by the diversity of customers, employees, partners, suppliers and technologies

* Functional-based work based on single skills are being replaced by project based work with multi-skilled knowledge workers

* Loyalty to traditional business will make a comeback. With the dot-com frenzy subsiding and career opportunities in that sector becoming less attractive, many workers will return to traditional corporate jobs with a renewed appreciation for stability and structure. 

* Corporate culture will be critical for attracting new talent. Individuals will seek employers that are committed to fostering a dynamic and challenging work environment, one in which opportunities to hone new skills abound and in which flexible work schedules and telecommuting are possible. 

* Employers will improve at letting people go. Because the manner in which an employer lays off employees directly impacts its reputation and ultimately its future recruitment and retention efforts, human resources professionals will be placing further emphasis on establishing sound employee separation practices to effectively manage organizational change and resultant job loss. 

* Older workers will get creative with finding new employment. Individuals over 50 will enjoy great opportunity to craft unique employment positions for themselves. To combat perceptions that they are less open to new ideas and are a risky investment because they are so close to retirement, they will propose creative contractual and consulting arrangements with potential employers. 

* Companies will address the e-communication overload. As a result of e-mail depersonalizing the workplace, more employers will take a closer look at how their workforces use e-mail to ensure that the longstanding benefits of traditional communication techniques do not become a thing of the past.