Their stock portfolios must be good.
They can afford the property taxes and maintenance for their outsized lodgings, both first and second houses. They still pony up the fees to attend conferences, including global ones. They make hefty contributions to causes.
But for these communications pros, at least right now, their best work is behind them. Everyone seems to know that. Prospects for assignments, media personalities and the disruptors ignore them.
Do they know that they are yesterday? Well, the good news is that if they embrace such a reality they can transform that into a platform for building fresh accomplishments - and branding.
For example, they could uproot themselves from the hyper-competitive Northeast Corridor (where the first question is "What do you do?") and experiment elsewhere. There are fly-over country (midwest), the southeast and west and nations hungry for hungry people such as Mexico. Just exiting the stale air of their comfort zone could catapult them into an high-energy state of professional being.
For me, 69 has become the new 22. The path I should have taken when graduating college I finally started traveling. It was obvious the Northeast Corridor has hardened into the brittle space for the young and the wealthy well-connected. I was getting some assignments for my executive communications boutique but not enough to sustain the illusion that I was still a New York Metro player.
Last month I headed west. My vision was to live by my wits. In 1967, with low inflation and the U.S. economy providing Everyman and Everywoman with affluence, I could have decided to do just that. I didn't. Finally, after somewhat of a delay, I have.
Professional life here in Tucson, Arizona has been amazing. Renewed, I am selling smart and more assignments have come in, including from the Northeast Corridor. Being based here makes me more attractive to businesses which are here. I wake up to the sun. The Northeast Corridor agita - a sort of MERS - doesn't have a chance in hell to incubate and take me over.
The solution to career stuckness seems so simple. Then why won't the old pros flee their haunted houses?
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