«You should always have a plan B,» a boss told me once. It was one of the most valuable and honest piece of professional advice I have ever received, says Karin Klossek in her essay for finews.first.
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The cooperation with my boss at the time was excellent, I was getting on professionally and I was happy in my private life too. I wasn’t able to give him an answer to his question because I was confident and would give my best, as ever, to keep it as it was. I had seen no need to think about a plan B, let alone working in earnest on a plan B.
His advice was: you may be as good and active as you wish. But there are developments that are completely out of your hands. The company may be sold and the new owners have totally different ideas, important markets forces may change fundamentally due to political decisions and an industry that had been highly profitable all of a sudden is struggling for survival. Or, much simpler even: you get a new boss who wants to replace you with a trusted person of his choice.
«I’m certain that he already has another plan B»
He was to be proven right with his experience. A number of years ago, I met my former boss again. He once more asked me the same question and this time I was proud to tell him that I indeed had a plan B and had spent considerable time and effort to realize it.
When I asked him about his plan B, he told me what it was. He had to implement it the following year because the strategy planned by the international board for the business in the German market was no viable option for him. Today, he is very happy about what used to be his plan B. But I’m certain that he already has a new detailed plan B and that he is not going to neglect it in any shape or form.
«Developing a plan B takes time»
Plan B is like a life boat ready for you to leave from a place of action as fast as possible. Perhaps not quite as comfortably and exposed to the winds, but over time you pick up speed and will reach land. Time is the decisive factor. Many developments can’t be foreseen. Developing a plan B takes time. Time and peace of mind, both of which are a scarce commodity in difficult times as the waves tend to swell particularly strongly before the big finale.
Therefore, it is so important to consider matters when everything looks to be going the right way:
- What could I do if I had to re-invent myself tomorrow?
- Is there a different occupation that I would like to do and which would allow me to earn money?
- What do I have to do today that would allow me to take to the life boat tomorrow?
Plan B is a serious change in your personal professional career. To change employer or simply live of your own or assets acquired through a marriage don't qualify. It is about a real and serious career change.
«A properly designed plan B gives you an invaluable advantage»
To prepare a plan B takes significant amounts of thought, time and investment: new skills have to be learned or old ones refreshed, a new network developed, exams sat and passed and potential returns evaluated.
Perhaps you belong to the few who never have to implement plan B because plan A works perfectly from the beginning to the end. Congratulations. But a properly designed plan B gives you the invaluable advantage of knowing what to do in case of. With plan B in hand you will radiate with an inner strength and perhaps it is this sovereign strength that will make you succeed in plan A.
Karin Klossek has worked in Auckland, Sydney and London. She was represented the fashion, financial services and health industries with an emphasis on branding. She has recently launched gloriousme.net, a lifestyle website, together with Maike Siever.
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