(Jack and I together again..with a bag of money in between)
Thank you Jack. Your simple, but powerful eight word quote is what the theme of this blog is for 2008…..
Here it is:
“Control your own destiny, or someone else will.”
Jack Welch, of course was the Chairman and CEO of General Electric from 1981 until 2001. Under his tenure, GE’s market capitalization increased over $400 billion.
Mr. Welch’s net worth is an estimated $700 million. Did Jack control his own destiny?
Wow! It really is a simple concept. What it means is that you have to be the one that is in control of things, if you want to end up wherever you want to end up. If you have a traditional “job”, here is some Breaking News:
You are not in control!
Now of course you are in control of how you choose to perform at your job, or if you will be there on time, etc. But you certainly cannot control the stuff that happens above your head..i.e. the management decisions that affect your pay, your health insurance, and even when you are allowed to take your vacations. Are you really ok with that? I suspect that some of you are. For some, the illusion of security that comes with a traditional job suits them fine. But for others, and I would guess the ones that are still reading this post, the insecurity, and lack of control are what is driving you to start thinking proactively about some other career options.
Are you ready to take some control back? Control of your career, your time…your life? Nada Norval, an executive outplacement counselor at Ratliff-Taylor in Cleveland tells me that “The average middle management to executive type position lasts about 3.5 to 4 years.” How secure is that?
