By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO.
Sometimes it seems that no matter what you do, it’s raining. Pretty inspiring first sentence, huh? I’ll try to do better as we go along. 2023 was not a growth year for many businesses nor some careers as a corollary. Is 2024 looking brighter for you? Perhaps it is and perhaps it isn’t, we all lead different lives and go through different seasons.
In my vocation, I speak with a lot of executives who are at an inflection point in their careers. Many of these people are breadwinners and their career decisions are not only about their professional challenge and personal calling, but in supporting their family and the priorities carried on their shoulders. It can be a heavy load at times and we can all empathize. Throw in unanticipated personal challenges – the passing of a loved one, caring for an aging adult or special needs child, divorce, private school expenses, healthcare expenses, the figurative or literal roof caves in – and the weight can feel insurmountable in moments. Knowing ‘this too shall pass’ isn’t always obvious.
Immediately following the housing crash in late 2008, the recruiting industry felt like a ghost town. Companies were protecting cash and not hiring so they didn’t want to pay us to help them find talent. In early 2009, a favorite client and good friend, Andy Monfried, told me, “Mitchell, you and I now have the same job. We’re going to need to make twice as many phone calls to earn the same amount of money.” I’ll never forget the brilliance of his simple message and he was dead on accurate. I couldn’t do anything about the external environment so my team and I needed to hustle and grind it out. Although I couldn’t see it at the time, I was differentiating myself by forcing my ongoing momentum, keeping my store open, and continually helping industry colleagues. 2009 was tough, but it passed and all of the effort made in helping executives through that period ultimately helped my business tremendously. Seeds were planted, relationships were strengthened, favors and support were provided, and reciprocity has an uncanny knack of eventually showing up when positive intent is at play. Sometimes survival is winning.
By 2Q of 2020, cash was king for most businesses as the future looked uncertain if not bleak, and a conservative internal investment approach was a core strategy for most companies. It was ‘wait and see’. It was like the hiring faucet was entirely turned off for a while. The rest of the year was slow and weird and unprecedented. Like 2008/2009, a lot of people were concerned about their livelihood and career management was tenuous for many executives and professionals at all levels. However, this too shall pass, and it did. In fact the back half of 2021 and all of 2022 went gangbusters in terms of institutional investments and white collar hiring across nearly every industry. And lots of senior leaders benefited from promotions, increased responsibilities, new opportunities, liquidity events, and personal life enhancements that tend to take place in tandem with market momentum.
Then, like an accordion, 2023 slowed due to the previous 18 month’s economic ingestion and macro-concerns over war, inflation, political instability, federal stimulus funding going away, interest rates going up, and other factors. Now in 2024, there’s slightly more optimism though it remains cautious. ALL OF THIS TOO SHALL PASS.
What can these trends tell us? We should all be grateful for over a decade of steady growth and how that’s positively affected career trajectory and economic success. However, the most important observation is to take Andy’s sage words to heart, and keep going. Keep moving. Keep grinding. Build your own momentum.
- If you’re not where you want to be within your own company, what can you do to advance?
- If you’re not convinced your company is the right vehicle for your career goals, which companies might be?
- What roles are available at those companies? Who is in charge? How can you get their attention?
- Is it the right time to start your own company? How could that be achieved?
- If you want to switch functions or industries altogether, how can you go about it?
- What side hustles – consulting, investments, alternative businesses, etc – could you create?
- What philanthropic, altruistic, charitable endeavors can you participate in to feel most fulfilled?
- What intellectual endeavors can you immerse yourself into to propel your knowledge and fulfillment?
- What physical fitness regimens and achievements can you work towards to look and feel your best?
All of these broad questions around personal growth and objectives, career and otherwise, are rooted in one thing – ACTION. The basic law of momentum is that it’s much easier to keep pushing an object than it is to push, stop, and start to push again. I’m not suggesting a lack of strategic direction…..don’t just push a heavy object for the sake of pushing it! But with eyes wide open and a strategy toward a salient goal, move towards it and don’t stop. Potholes, traffic, and dead ends are all part of the process of getting to your destination. Mistakes, AKA learning experiences, are the best teachers to help narrow the guidance towards the end goal.
If you’re sitting idle waiting for the market to change or you’re taking the same actions (or inactions) you’ve always taken, you’re not going anywhere. We all gotta keep going, keep moving, keep attempting, keep trying new ideas. It’s like looking for a house or a spouse – you might need to look at a 100, but if you stick to your standards and keep the quality activity up, you’ll find the right one. All of our pasts are not the prelude to a determined future, rather our determination itself will allow for the future we desire. Keep going.