Lessons Learned from Material Changes in my Career
“Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.” Henry Ford
Born and raised in Venezuela, I have experienced a multifunctional and changing professional career for 45 years. (the first in the US and the last 15 in Spain and Chile).
I will share next how I overcame the most radical challenges and why there might be lessons that one can draw from it.
My first important transition came in 1975 while working for a transnational O&G company in the U.S. After graduating as a Chemical Engineer at LSU, I was on a training assignment in the U.S. Later, they offered me a permanent job, but I had already decided to return to Venezuela and restart my career.
Years later, while working at the highest level of a state-owned company, I was forced to resign due to political turmoil. At 52 years of age, I had to decide whether to leave the country and search for a new job in the sector or stay and change careers. I opted for the latter.
I joined my wife, an executive director of an ONG, in ranking social and business plans, on a pro bono basis. In 2012, I was part of a program funded by the TELEFONICA digital startup accelerator. This opportunity allowed my wife and I to advise entrepreneurs in Peru and Chile until 2019 when the startup acceleration program ceased. We continued advising SME owners in Venezuela and Chile for a couple of years after the pandemic hit the sector badly, and we decided to stop.
We then spent a year visiting our children and grandchildren on three continents. Reflecting on how to share my experience, I chose to write about it in a blog and chose Medium as the best option.
So, how did I find appropriate answers to those challenges, and What have I learned from it? I will give some tips based on my experience:
Listen to your instincts, but stay alert.
I am the type of person that works out solutions in steps. I have realized that important matters need reflection, and material issues such as salaries and job positions are rarely the primary factors.
When I was in the US, my mother asked me to return to Venezuela. My father was ill then, and I felt frustrated by the events in my assignment, so I decided to go back to Venezuela. Shortly after my return, he suffered a massive heart attack. He survived and lived 15 more years, but his life was never the same. Being able to accompany my father during most of those years comforts me today.
One should always compare options.
Doing nothing is one of them. When forced to do something, as was the case of my resignation from the board of the state-owned company, the option left was to leave the country or stay. My wife and I decided to stay. She was then responsible, as an executive director, for an ONG. I joined as an advisor, on a pro bono basis, to social entrepreneurs. I found it challenging, and when offered the job of advising startup leaders, I had no doubts that I was ready for the challenge. The salary was ten times less than my last post, but I have enjoyed helping entrepreneurs for 15 years and have had no regrets since I decided to make that material change.
Being instrumental to others matters.
No matter what you do at a professional level, you can achieve this as a visionary, a strategic planner, or in a team executing projects. You will be responsible for creating wealth as a leader in mentoring and tutoring young people. My only advice to you is to realize it sooner than later. The longer it takes, the more troubling it will get. One needs feedback from people on our contribution to them as supervisors. Plans alone do little as a witness of our contribution to society.
Note: I have used Grammarly for editing quotes and content
