Comments on: Windsurfing in Schumpeter’s gale

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:22:25 +0000

In reply to Laura MacCleery. @Laura- nice to meet you too, and thanks for stopping by my blog! I like the image of inflating one's sails. There's a tendency among pundit sorts to mourn the loss of lifetime jobs, but doing one thing one's whole life certainly doesn't guarantee happiness, as you've discovered. Congrats on choosing to make your own way.

By: Laura MacCleery

Laura MacCleery — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 04:43:16 +0000

Laura,
It was a pleasure to meet you at BlogHer, and now, reading this, know we should’ve talked for longer! I recently took the plunge and left a job I didn’t love to make a new path for myself, and like your post a lot. Indeed, I was at BlogHer to learn whether that was a potential new direction — and was invigorated by the possibilities. I’ll take your advice and think of skills, not jobs, and try inflating my sails! Cheers, Laura

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 15:09:18 +0000

In reply to Cloud.

@Cloud – I think it’s a different mindset, and not necessarily about pure intelligence, though obviously that helps for all sorts of things. It’s just realizing that it’s not enough to be employed, you have to remain employable. There is more possibility to grow and learn and change.

By: Cloud

Cloud — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 01:36:11 +0000

I’ve actually found it liberating to assume that I have no job security- no job is permanent, so therefore no job is worth being miserable for. But that is because I’m in a place where job insecurity != financial insecurity, and that place is one of great privilege. I straddle the IT and scientific worlds. I watched my IT friends really struggle when IT offshoring was the big thing, and I’m watching my science friends struggle for similar reasons now. It is hard to have something you assumed was secure pulled away from you, and I don’t blame people at all for being disoriented and upset by that.

But I’m more optimistic than @Twin Mom on the future- research shows that intelligence is not static, and that you get smarter in the areas you practice. So I think that if we can refine how we educate our kids, they’ll be far better equipped for this new work world. I also think that the current generation of adults can adjust midstream, it is just harder for us.

By: Twin Mom

Twin Mom — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:05:54 +0000

I think it would be more interesting to look at statistics than stories. I think a very small portion of the human population is suited for this type of “reinvention”. Many people who would have made perfectly fine small farmers or factory workers, with instruction, will flounder.

I think there’s a reason the military has sorted by IQ for decades (arguably longer than IQ has existed) and assigns the thinking primarily to the officers.