Maturity and the Benefits of Thinking Younger in Business
By Joe Molineaux
I just celebrated a milestone birthday. If you take a look at my picture, you can guess it was not my 21st, 30th or 40th birthday. Those were all terrific birthdays. Becoming a legal adult with full adult benefits at 21 was a big deal. Turning both 30 and 40 felt pretty good too, as my decades on this planet added up. However, turning 50 turned my thinking completely around. That number for some reason has made me so much more reflective about my life. A big part of that reflection is thinking about what I have done as well as what I have left undone. While I have the experience and ability to accomplish so much of what I want to do, do I still have the youthful passion and drive to do it all?
So that got me thinking about business and how we approach and view the work that we do. And some of the things I did back then that helped me and the businesses and organizations that I represented grow. The following are a few key areas that contributed to where I find myself today.
Action – When I was younger I tried not to take unnecessary risks, I did however research options and then go full force into achieving a business goal or objective. By sheer passion plus will and maybe a little luck the goals were achieved. It may sound a little obvious but another key to youthful action is many times you “do not know what you do not know” so I would find myself approaching and doing things differently before life taught me what I needed to know through experience.
Style – As a younger man, with the helpful suggestions of my girlfriend who then became my wife, I tried or at least attempted to be more stylish in my approach to my appearance and “look”. Thankfully my style and look on a personal level carried over to my business dealings.
Technology – Another benefit of my youth was being a member of Generation X. Being plugged in and coming of age from 1982 to 1994 meant I had the unique opportunity to grow up with the introduction of the IBM PC, CD-ROMs, PowerPoint, the World Wide Web, the Browser, e-mail, and JPEGs. All this leading up to Windows 95, Google, Wi-Fi and everything else! The other huge benefit was this technology was invented over time, allowing me to master or at least become comfortable with each technology before the next big thing arrived on the tech scene. That is a sharp contrast to today with a new technology platform seemingly coming out every few weeks, not every few years!
Aspirations – I always seemed to have an idea, no matter what role or work I was undertaking at the time. The goal or objective was always to master the skills being offered within the work opportunity in front of me, then move on to the next job and growth opportunity. That lead to much shorter engagements with employers than what would seem to be normal. It was not until I found myself in a career of business development and consulting that offered so many different learning lessons every day that my time in that role lasted fifteen years. Yet it did not curb my aspirations to master the skills and move on.
Results – It may go back to my first job as a paperboy, but I have always been results driven. Deliver the paper and collect your money at the end of each week. Perform at an acceptable or above expected level and the desired results will follow. However as easy as that sound, in reality conditions throughout my career were not always equitable and as simple as I would have hoped or had expected them to be. Those less than positive experiences will most likely find their way into future columns. The results driven model of my life was something that followed me throughout my entire career.
As I reflect upon these five words that became the elements that formed and followed me through my work backstory, I realize that they are still areas that I utilize regularly. I have just modified and updated these the way I view these areas based on the world and my world of today.
I am still very action oriented. However, today I do my best to work smarter not necessarily harder.
My wife and now my daughters do their best to keep me looking stylish, if you see me let me know how they are doing!
As far as technology goes, it is extremely difficult to keep up with every new platform, app or next big thing. I think the fact that I attempt to tweet about my Instagram, Linkedin and Facebook on blog, may give you a glimpse into my tech savviness these days.
I still have aspirations to achieve more and the concept of mastering the skills I am learning every day and searching out new opportunities to do so will always be part of my model.
And no matter what occurs during the work that I do now and continue to do in the future, despite the fact they do not always materialize I will focus on results that allow me to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment of a job well done.
While my youth may be gone my ability to act youthful and stay connected to the key elements that brought me to where I am today are still real. And remembering that a certain amount of energy, enthusiasm and excitement is still something I have access to and have the ability to control, the future looks very promising.
