Navigating turning points
This time of year, newspapers turn to best and worst lists and reflections on the year's biggest stories. Countering these often lighthearted articles are write-ups about corporate end-of-year financial reckoning, which too often brings news of company closings and layoffs.
The Verso Paper mill in Bucksport, for example, was scheduled to close Dec. 1, displacing more than 500 workers and costing the town almost half of its tax revenue. If someone doesn't buy it, the closure could be Maine's third mill this year.
Company shutdowns, job losses, career changes, job burnout, age and exclusions from opportunities all are career setbacks that can be daunting, even defeating. Most people, including myself, have been there. And as a journalist, I take no joy in writing about them. But also being part optimist, I look for the lessons learned, especially from those who have dug themselves out and moved forward, sometimes by a giant leap, other times by taking one step at a time.
Tom Chappell, founder of Tom's of Maine, recently told me he sold Tom's because he “got sick of being a manager, running a board, running a leadership team, not having my hands in things and living in a world that was dependent upon what Walmart and Target decided.” He also didn't have the resources to grow the business to the next level.
Just weeks after the sale closed, and unsure about his future, he hiked in Wales with his son. He found the clothing he was wearing uncomfortable for two weeks of daily, 12-hour treks. Thus was born the idea for his new company, Ramblers Way Farm, which makes fashionable, lightweight clothing that dries quickly and keeps wearers warm.
Not everyone has the means to start a new company. But many of us can recall a turning point in our careers when we acted — either on impulse or with forethought — and improved our future.
Mine came early in my career, when I was one of a handful of women reporters in the country focused on covering the computer industry. At a press conference led by a panel of executives and engineers of a major computer maker, I asked a technical question typical of the information our magazine's readers would want to know. One of the engineers perked up, saying, “Well, honey, if you want to talk 'bits' and 'bytes' why don't you come to my office later.”
The room fell silent. After what seemed an eternity, but was more likely a few seconds, several other reporters turned to me to apologize for the gaffe. I looked at the panel: the engineer already had left the room.
I wondered if I should do the same. Instead, I found myself standing up, and in a calm voice that surprised even me, re-asked the question. One of the executives answered with extensive details, some that normally would have been kept proprietary. That was a win for our readers. And it was a moment that made me realize that small actions can produce big results.
Since then, I've experienced other blocks and setbacks, including getting laid off from two failed dot-com publications. But I've also recalled that simply trying to move forward could work to my advantage.
And on this Dec. 1, I'm reminded of a person whose strength in the face of enormous adversity inspired generations, including myself. On this date in 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Alabama for not giving up her seat in the “colored” section of a bus to a white man. The diminutive Parks, who was 42 at the time, said later that she wasn't tired from a day's work as a department store seamstress and hadn't planned the action. She simply wanted to be treated like any other citizen, to move on with her day.
Said Parks, “All I was doing was trying to get home from work.”
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