Latest / Girl in the Game / It’s Never Too Late to Pivot

Transcript

It’s Never Too Late to Pivot · Girl in the Game

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Are you building a career, growing a business, or searching for your next big opportunity?
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Then this podcast is for you.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: So here's the girl in the game herself, your host, Gail Dickey.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everyone, I'm Gail Dickey and welcome back to Girl in the Game.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're talking about a word you hear all the time in business.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Pivot.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds very strategic, doesn't it?
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: We're pivoting.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, here's what nobody tells you.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes a pivot feels exciting.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes a pivot feels like, oh shit, now what?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because you don't always choose the moment when your life changes.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the industry changes, the company changes, your boss changes, technology changes, a relationship changes, you lose the job, the deal doesn't happen, the money disappears, or you simply wake up one morning and realize, I don't want this anymore.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: And suddenly the plan you had for your life doesn't quite fit.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: I've been there more than once.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you something now that I couldn't have told you when I was 25.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: A pivot isn't proof your plan failed.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's proof that you've grown beyond it.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: We have to stop thinking careers are straight lines.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think this idea has hurt a lot of people.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: You pick a career, you climb a ladder, you get promoted, you climb some more, and eventually you arrive somewhere.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Except that's increasingly not how careers work.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Industries disappear, new industries are created, technology changes jobs, companies merge, companies move, they relocate.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Businesses fail, people change, you change.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: The career you wanted at 25 might have absolutely nothing to do with the life you want at 45.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that's okay.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: The question isn't, did I stay on the path?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: The question is, is this path still taking me somewhere I want to go?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's a completely different question.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: How do you know when it's time to pivot?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: There isn't one answer, but there are signals.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've stopped learning, maybe you've become too comfortable.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're miserable every Sunday night because Monday is coming.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe your industry is clearly changing.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: You're pretending it isn't.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you keep thinking about something else.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe opportunities are appearing in an area you've never even considered before.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you got fired.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, let's talk about that one.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: I've been fired, and I have a saying: you're nobody until you've been fired at least once.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: I laugh about it now.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't particularly funny at the time.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: But being fired teaches you something.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: You discover that a company can take away your title, they can take away your office, your paycheck, but they cannot take away what you know.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: They can't take your experience, they can't take your relationships, they can't take your instincts, and they certainly can't take away your ability to begin again unless you let them.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Don't throw away your old life when you pivot.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is another mistake people make.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: They think, oh, I'm starting over.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're starting again with experience.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Big difference.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Everything you've done comes with you.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you spent 20 years in television and move into gaming, you're bringing 20 years of understanding audiences, advertisers, production, distribution, negotiation, and storytelling with you.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: I should know.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a teacher who moves into technology, you understand how people learn.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a salesperson who started a company, you understand customers.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you've raised kids and returned to the workplace, you've probably developed negotiation, crisis management, scheduling, empathy, budgeting, and leadership skills that would terrify some CEOs.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing's wasted.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Your job is to figure out what's transferable.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: What do I know that this new world needs?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's where your value lives.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Don't wait until you feel ready.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Here's some news.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: You probably won't.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: I've walked into plenty of rooms where I wasn't completely sure I belonged, and eventually I learned something.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Most of those people weren't completely sure either.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: They're just better at hiding it.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Confidence doesn't always come before the move.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the time, confidence comes because you've made the move, you survived, and realized, oh, I can do this.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's why courage matters more than confidence sometimes.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Confidence says, I know I can do it.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Courage says, I don't know if I can do it, but I'm I'm gonna try anyway.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's powerful.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Age is not your enemy.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: I've talked about this in our first episode because I believe it so strongly.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: At 31, you can pivot.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: At 41, you can pivot.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: At 51, 61, that's right, you can pivot and beyond.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Don't allow an outdated idea about age to make decisions for you.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: You might have something at 55 that you didn't have at 25.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Judgment, perspective, relationships, pattern recognition, experience, and perhaps most importantly, you know yourself better.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Use it.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Don't apologize for it.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: The goal isn't to compete with the 25-year-old.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: The goal is to bring something to the table that only you can bring.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the other side of the pivot: don't change because things get hard.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's important.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's a difference between this is difficult and this is wrong for me.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Anything worthwhile gets difficult.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Building a company is difficult.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Learning a new skill is difficult.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Relationships are difficult.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Careers are difficult.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: So don't mistake discomfort for a signal that you should run.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the lesson isn't a pivot.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the lesson is stay in the game, learn more, get better, have the uncomfortable conversation, try another approach, give it another six months.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing the difference between persistence and stubbornness, that is part of the understanding of the game.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do you make a smart pivot?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to blow up your life tomorrow.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Start exploring, get curious, talk to people in the industry you're interested in, learn the tech, take a class, attend an event, volunteer, consult, start something on the side, and test the idea.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Your next career doesn't always begin when you quit your current one.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it starts quietly while you're still doing something else.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then one day the new path becomes obvious.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Here's your girl in the game challenge.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself, what am I holding on to simply because I've already invested so much time in it?
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a hard question.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Then ask if I were starting my career today, knowing everything I know, what would I be curious about?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, what's one small move I could make toward that world this week?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Not quitting your job, not moving across the country, just one move, one conversation, one introduction, one hour learning something new.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because careers rarely change in one giant moment.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: They change through a series of small decisions that eventually take you somewhere completely different.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes somewhere much better.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're sitting there right now thinking, what the hell am I supposed to do next?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's a question that doesn't mean you're lost.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: It means you're looking.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And looking is where seeing begins.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Gail Dickey, and this is Girl in the Game.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Keep playing, keep learning.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid to change the game when the game changes on you.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, when you see the game differently, you play the game differently.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: See you next time.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: So that's it for today's episode of Girl in the Game.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Head on over to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: One lucky listener every single week that posts a review on Apple Podcasts or iTunes will be entered in the grand prize drawing to win a chance for a private VIP day with Gail Dickey herself.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to head on over to GirlInTheGame.com to pick up a free copy of Gail's gift.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Submit your question for Ask Gail.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: Then join us on the next episode.