Career

 Someone on facebook asked "What is a 20 year career in aviation worth?"  I had an immediate response to this question having left a 19+ career in aviation 9 months ago.   It is worth nothing.  20 years says you're old, stale and stagnant.  There is no residual value.  Only negative equity.  That's from the outside looking in.  No perspective employer sees any value in the time I spent at JetBlue.  None whatsoever.  If anything it says I played it safe, I took comfort over courage and couldn't make it anywhere else.  I didn't even try.

However - I see value in my career.  It may not have worth to anyone else besides me.  I learned an incredible amount about leadership, service, tracking and moving the needle on Key Performance Indicators.  I learned the art of influence.  I learned the art of thoughtful response instead of instinctual reaction. I learned to control cost.  I learned how to advocate.  I learned how to cultivate business relationships.  I learned the art of leveraging relationships to mutually benefit involved parties.  My career may not have value to others; it was a breeding ground for the next step.

Corporations are a safe place to build skill and learn.  The company enjoys the success and absorbs the cost of mistakes.  Over the last few weeks I've concluded that I am not meant to spend 20-30 years working somewhere.  Everyone I know who has spent significant time inside a corporation enters bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to concur the world.  They come out the other side used up, at home with years of wear and tear that can't be undone.  Spending their career for the perceived security of trading their lives for a paycheck that comes with the cost of wasting your best years  and the cost of slowly abandoning your dreams.  The sweat equity of working to make someone else's dreams come true instead of your own.  Who really wants their legacy to be "i made senior manager at company x and drive a Benz and own a fancy house?"  No thanks.  What's your legacy?  Will you be remembered?  A posting to back fill your role will be posted before your funeral concludes.  Your job will be filled soon after you're body is placed in the ground to slowly rot away.

My friend Ron worked at JetBlue for nearly 18 years as a flight attendant.  He walked away from his career on Christmas Day a few years ago to begin his entrepreneurial journey.  Ron and I shared more than a few galley/airport therapy sessions over the years.  A friendship that only comes traveling similar journeys with years sharing the commonality of a career in aviation.

Ron and I were visiting; sharing updates on our post aviation career journeys.  He had some excited updates - he hired his first employee.  I was sharing the crossroads I am standing and a bit of the journey post aviation where I am now.  Ron hosts the "Courage Over Comfort" podcast.  He extended an invitation to be a guest on the next episode.  I was honored to be invited.  My response - my journey is not ready to tell as it's still unfolding.  More to the story is coming and it will be worth sharing.

It's been nine months since I stepped away from my career.  The journey has been filled with questions, doubts, banging my head against the wall wondering why no one will give me an opportunity.  Patience is a virtue.  Experimentation in what works, what doesn't.  Clarity gained through seeing what is and isn't working.  A constant calibration in experience, thought and direction.  Patience.  Evaluating.  Due diligence.  Keep moving forward.

If I was a woman I could have gestated a baby and given birth to a new life.  Maybe that's how long it takes for humans to bring something new to life.  Anything before that is considered a premature birth.