I recently spoke with Dr. Heather Christman, the Entrepreneurial Ph. D. She currently is a Shopper Insights leader for Bayer Corporation. Heather didn’t start her career with Bayer, though. She is a Ph. D, who began her career guiding undergrads at Miami University in Oxford, OH.
Heather completed her Ph. D. with Miami University in Ohio. Her focus: Adult Learning & Development. Heather a self proclaimed Career Adventurer. She also has researched how being a Career Adventurer fits with personal growth throughout our lives.
Five themes emerged during our discussion. They ranged from the power of disorienting moments in fueling adventure to the need to embrace freedom. I’ve included an informal poll to hear which theme resonates most with you.
Listen to the entire 30 minute episode. We focus on why being a Career Adventurer makes sense from an educational point of view and how she has been a career adventurer in her own life. Your sure to get a useful nugget or three beyond the themes I outline below:
Five Overarching Themes:
During our time together, we covered how life events shape our career adventures. We discussed how many future careers might not even exist yet due to the volatile world in which we live. We recognized that Career Adventures need helpers, pushers to knock us out of our comfort zone. Five themes emerged during our discussion. A quote from the interview accompanies each theme.
Disorienting Moments Fuel Career Adventure
Heather talks about how we oftentimes need a disorienting dilemma to fuel career adventure. We train people to be box checkers, who approach career advancement as if we’re ticking off boxes on a to-do list. From a very young age, we encourage people to hop on a path and follow it. Nonetheless, this is becoming less relevant in our world. People routinely are decades into a career journey and realize they aren’t on the right path. This is typically because we rarely take the time to step back and analyze our path. Disorienting dilemmas rock our worlds; they help us to see and to explore new adventures.
“When there are critical life circumstances that shake up that path. It could be the death of a loved one, the loss of a job for the first time. Some transformative experience that really makes you be more introspective. For a lot of people we called it a disorienting dilemma? Kind of shakes you up at your core and makes you reexamine things.”
Do a Job Inventory
Heather recommends exposure. We don’t expose ourselves to enough possibilities. In her mind, we must identify divergent possibilities for our careers. One way to do this is by analytically dissecting jobs. Heather suggests that we expose ourselves to new opportunities in a variety of ways. One easy way to get started is by analyzing jobs on LinkedIn. Peruse the jobs and then take note of their defining characteristics. Put them in a spreadsheet. This will help you objectively identify resonating traits and link it back to your own interests.
“My other favorite exercise is when you're looking for a job, keep a file of all the jobs. You should always be looking at jobs, job descriptions, job postings. Highlight the things that it is that you like about those jobs, and what skills they require. Treat it like a researcher, what are the themes in all of these job descriptions.”
Choose Your Own Adventure
When discussing future career rolls, Heather says her future role might not exist yet. With the AI revolution upon us, many of us are likely in the same boat. Who knows what work looks like five years from now. “What do you do?” you may ask. This is where knowing your skill and passion sets and what makes you tick is critical. Plus, it is likely a better filter in making the leap to a new job whether it’s with your current company or another. Career Adventurers use these tools to minimize the possibility of leaping into a misaligned venture.
“If you need someone who's gonna help fix the system or build it and use creativity to like launch new ideas, that's where I thrive….It's less about the role and it's more about who I get to be and what I get to do in that role.”
Listen to Pushers and Pullers
We all need people to help us on our journey. We can’t achieve everything alone. This is where trusted mentors, or in this case pushers and pullers, are involved. This theme is consistent in many people’s career adventures. We are more likely to stay stagnant, comfortable if we do not have people to encourage us to try something new. Pushers encourage us to make a leap, to stick our neck out. (For example, I started this Substack with the encouragement of Bob Gilbreath.) Pullers ask us to jump in the car with them. They call us and say, “I need you. I want you to join me on this journey.” When we trust the puller, stepping into the car may not be as big a risk as it seems.
“I had this community of mentors that I aligned with in the startup ecosystem. They were like, “Hey, you can do this. Let me introduce you to people.”
“She called and said, “Hey, I need your skills. I need your background. I need you to come and join me on this ride.”
Embrace Freedom
Heather describes being a Career Adventurer as exhilarating, scary, and filled with freedom. We discussed freedom most. In leaving academia she embraced another world. She embraced a world with less constraints relative to her goals. She recognizes that many academics create great paths, but academia didn’t offer the freedom she needed. She also found that a similar path could be had in Corporate America.
“I realized that you've got the freedom to chart your own journey and feeling that freedom, really makes looking to the future full of possibilities.”
Which Theme Resonates Most For You?
Heather and I discussed five themes. I’d love to know which one resonates most for you. I’ll use your input to help deliver information on this Substack in the future.
Summing it Up
Listen to the whole episode. It’s about the length of a commute to the office. We hit on five themes. That said, Heather and I discuss these in greater depth. Whether you’re looking for inspiration to make a new career leap or seeking tips to inject more adventure into your journey, you’ll find the time spent to be valuable.
Coming Soon…
The podcast is growing! More than a dozen people have committed to discussing their career adventures on the podcast. Subscribe now so you can have their stories delivered straight to your inbox.
Next up is my discussion with Kelly Berry, a Fractional Futurist, who writes Five for the Future.
The Adventures of an Entrepreneurial Ph.D