Episode 57: Big Ben, Heinz Ketchup, & Unwitting Bias Against “Seasoned” Energy Leaders
On January 3, 2022, “Geriatric Millennial” Ben Roethlisberger likely played his final home game for the Steelers; and the Steelers may have played their final game under the shadows of giant ‘Heinz 57’ ketchup bottles.
And in this live episode of The Energy Detox, we use those headlines to help you defend against ageism in the oil & gas industry—regardless of whether you’re on the kicking or receiving end of this value-destroying problem.
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Transcript
(AI training in progress; please excuse any errors)
So yesterday in Pittsburgh, it was a pretty big day. Some might even say a Big Ben day because yesterday in Pittsburgh last night, Big Ben Ben Roethlisberger likely played his final home game for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who he's been a part of for the last 18 seasons. In addition to that, in Pittsburgh, the city inaugurated a brand new mayor after eight years of the prior mayor. And in addition to those two headlines, there's a good chance that the Steelers likely played their final game at Heinz Field last night, or at least, they finally are, they played their final game at a stadium named Heinz Field because Heinz which has been the namesake of Heinz Field for its 21 year existence, no longer has a contract for the naming rights. Now, again, that might change they might sign another deal. But as of now, the Steelers will be looking for a new quarterback next season. And of course, they might be looking for a new company to adorn Heinz Field or what could be soon known as the stadium, formerly known as Heinz Field. And today, we're going to take several of those headlines. And we're going to use it as an excuse to talk about longevity and legacy and things like Ben Roethlisberger, who again, has been around for 18 seasons Heinz Field, which has been around for 21 seasons. And you, regardless of whether you're brand new to the energy industry, or whether you've been around for several decades, and we're going to take this conversation about longevity and legacy, and we're gonna hit pretty straight on the topic of ageism, because in any industry in any place around the world, quite frankly, ageism is a reality. And the way in which you deal with it, whether you are an employee or an employer can really determine the value that you're able to extract again, from yourself, whatever potential you have, regardless of how old you are, and where you are in your career, and the value that companies are able to extract from their existing employees and from those who are on the sidelines who are looking to work, but who might not fit the standard profile, if you will, of some of the new hires and some of the fresh blood that's coming into organizations. So we're going to go and take these headlines. And we're going to ask several questions, as we always do, we're going to weave in some of my own experience coaching people through these ageism issues, if you will, so that you can make better decisions and so that you can be more on guard against those times when, and ageism is a hurdle, but is perhaps a bigger hurdle than it needs to be because of your approach to it. And so again, to drive this conversation, we're going to of course, we often do use plenty of sports analogies, and we're going to use plenty of numbers. If for no other reason, then, you know, the old cliche, right age is but a number. Yeah, well, the reality is that a lot of people again, whether you're job seeking, or whether you're a hiring manager or human resources, you might just say that ages but a number, but the reality is, it's a big number. So we're going to use several numbers today. And one of those is the number seven big Ben's number seven, and we're going to step through later on seven of the most common biases related to age and ageism, we're also going to look at the number 57. Because all for one, this is episode 57 of the energy detox and whether you've been with us for any of the previous 56 episodes, or whether this is your first one, we need to take a moment to honor the fact that the number 57, of course, has a pretty big significance when it comes to the Steelers in Pittsburgh and Heinz Field, because of course, the Heinz 57 varieties which has been stamped on Heinz packaging for the last 120 years. And as a quick aside, before we dive into the meat of today's conversation, it's interesting that the number 57. And the 57 varieties doesn't actually refer to the number of varieties that Heinz as a company has, in fact, when this first came to be this number 57, HJ Heinz selected it because he thought it would get people's attention. He had seen another advertisement for 21 shoes when he was traveling and said, Well, that's an interesting way to attract people's attention, you know, throw a number at them. And he thought, hey, you know, I like the number five. My wife likes the number seven, although in other tellings of the story, he chose seven because of course, it's a pretty universally positive number. But regardless, he married those two numbers together and he said, Hey, Heinz, 57 varieties to again, attract attention. And when we're talking about whether or not it works and whether we want as we talk about the legacies of individual employees, and certainly of companies safe to say that well, it worked. It's still around today. 120 years later, we're still talking about Heinz 50 750 years later, his company is still in existence and doing fine. In fact, his company, you know, is almost as old as the oil and gas industry, which was founded, if you will, or at least, oil was struck 10 years prior to HJ Heinz finding Heinz Company out two hours north of Pittsburgh in Titusville. So we're going to take these things, we're going to take an industry like oil and gas, which has had tremendous longevity. And we're going to talk about the ways in which his workforce needs to allow it to sustain to keep moving forward. And again, to do that, we're going to talk about a quarterback here, and Ben Roethlisberger, whose time has come to an end. But how the organization itself, of course, needs to keep moving forward to sustain momentum into staying enthusiasm, and of course, profitability Among its many, many fans, Pittsburgh, and of course, around the world. So again, for the agenda today, if you will, we're going to piece together some of those headlines. And we're going to do it in two different chunks. The first chunk is going to be to unveil, if you will, some of the seven biases that I've pieced together from different sources and different articles and different conversations that I've had, that are all related to ageism, and we're going to lay them out quickly. And more importantly, we're going to step through some antidotes to these biases, these stereotypes, these unconscious ideas and myths, if you will, around age and ageism, and its impact on an individual's ability to function and to contribute to a company. And then the second part of this conversation, we're going to talk about some of the practical tips and suggestions and solutions that I have found in working with individuals as an executive coach, and working with individuals in particular who are very mindful of this ageism question. In fact, in my work, and in presentations that I give and off the cuff conversations, the question of ageism, comes up quite a bit. And again, it's usually worded in different ways. But essentially, it's, Hey, what do you tell people with 20 or 30 years of experience, who are in the role and gas industry who want to continue contributing in some cases need to contribute, continue contributing, but find themselves in a position where, again, they feel stuck, or they feel like they're, you know, the odd man or woman out. And again, we're going to talk through some of the practical things that we come up with to ensure that you're moving forward and you're doing the right things, and you're not wasting whatever precious time and energy you have, so that you can get back in the game, or if you're an existing employee, so that you can continue contributing as fully and completely as possible. So with all that being said, let's go back to that first part that I mentioned. And that is the unveiling, if you will, of these seven big biases that are related to ageism. And again, these aren't necessarily my own observations. Some of them are colored a bit from what I have seen and some of our cobbled together from different articles and conversations. But at the end of the day, these things are real. And if you're watching live, and you care to comment and chime in happy to address other biases and other observations that you've seen, that you've witnessed or that you suspect might exist, again, whether you are an employee, whether you are hiring manager and human resources, regardless of your role, regardless of your age, regardless of frankly, the industry that you're in, and so to, again, unveil these the seven biases, the first of which is d motivation. And the sense that those who are on the older end of the spectrum might be in some way, demotivated. The second one is that they might be less productive, that their output is going to be less than perhaps someone who is younger, fresher. And again, going back to Big Ben here, you know, perhaps healthier and hasn't had as many injuries and hasn't been knocked around quite as much. The third one is that they have some tech illiteracy, or they're not as as tech savvy. The fourth one is that they're set in their ways. And they're not as inclined to, to consider other options when it comes to solving problems. The fifth of these seven biases is that they are somewhat of a knowledge hoarder, that they're not as willing to share as you would think, or as you would hope, and that they are holding on to some of this knowledge in an attempt to remain relevant and to, you know, to have something else that they can offer, just in case, the sixth element is that they're careful or too careful, I should say. And that, you know, as they count the days or years until their time comes to an end that they're not being as aggressive as they should be, and what they're willing to put out there to the world and the risks that they're willing to take. And again, plenty of parallels between football players and those who are on the older end of the spectrum who might be a little bit more cautious and might not, you know, hold on to the ball quite as long as somebody like Big Ben has held on to the ball for you know much of his career, and they're not as inclined to scramble, they're more likely to just throw it away and take a knee if you will, and, and again, that bleeds over into some of these biases when it comes to older employees or older potential employees when it comes to hiring. And the seventh and final of these is that these folks have a short shelf life and the idea of investing in an employee or again, if you're one of those potential employees, investing in yourself in terms of career development, and coaching and going and taking classes and all of these things, you know, maybe it's not worth it, and it allows potential talent to kind of bleed away because of this, this bias that you know, what are these people are going to be around for much longer, so why should I invest? And so now to circle back on these seven myths or biases. And again, I continue to welcome any comments or feedback you have if you're watching live or listening live to, to add to this list because there are far more than seven. But let's stick with the seven. Let's go back to this first one here, which is d motivation. And this myth, this bias that those who are on the older end of the spectrum are coming in, and they're not as motivated as you would want them to be. Or perhaps they're motivated by something different, that doesn't quite jive with what the company wants. And the solution to this, the antidote to this, if you will, is clarity. And this is something we talk about quite a bit on the energy detox right is getting crystal clear about what you want and what your vision is, and in turn, getting clear about what a given company wants or an industry wants, so that you can align. And it's no different here, the key to address this demotivation, at least as I've come across it and working with clients who are working through this ageism piece is to get clear about what it is you actually want. Because far too often people get, you know, they get obsessed with this idea of ageism and how it's impacting them, if they're again, on the older end of the spectrum, when in reality, it's frustrating for them, because they're trying to align themselves with jobs that they had no interest in anymore, that really doesn't, you know, kind of tickle their fancy, if you will. And so the antidote to this is to figure out what it is they actually want. And then to work backwards. And to eliminate in many cases, a lot of these jobs that don't align, they were never going to align, and looking at companies that again, are more likely to embrace someone with more experience and tenure and years under their belt, if you will, then perhaps some of the bigger companies. And again, there's no one set solution here. But getting clear about what it is that you actually want out of a job and how many years you're looking to work is the first step. And if you do that, you're going to save yourself a lot of time that could otherwise be wasted hunting down jobs and companies that quite frankly, aren't worth your time. And again, I've seen this work in practice, I couldn't recommend it more. And the reality is, This applies regardless of whether you're just at a school or whether you've been around for 30 or 40 years, get clear about what you want. And in turn, if you're a company get clear about your expectations, because far too many companies, again, they get caught up in the minutiae of the detailed requirements, right. And what these people can do and have done, etc. And they lose sight of what the actual objective is for the job, especially as these jobs get passed along to human resources from the hiring manager. As it gets passed along, people lose sight of the overall objective, because it's a lot easier to get hung up on all these little nitty gritty details. And when you do that, and you lose clarity in the objective, again, you're going to lose out on talent, quite frankly, that can actually support your objective better than everybody that checks all of the boxes, whether they're written boxes on the job description, or some of the unwritten boxes that of course, can come into play when we're talking about ageism. The second one of these is that people who are on the older side might be less productive. And again, if you look at Ben Roethlisberger his game last night, it wasn't terribly productive, it was actually a pretty poor line. In many respects, they won the game, they preserve their slim chances of making the playoffs. But at the end of the day, it wasn't something that Big Ben is going to remember, at least for what he did on the field, he's going to remember that, yes, they won the game. And there was tears and all kinds of accolades, and, and you know, all the above. But in terms of productivity, yeah, you know what, it was less productive. But the key for you, whether again, you're hiring people, and you're trying to measure their productivity or projected productivity, or whether you're seeking a job is to recognize that production and output isn't the only measure. In fact, you need to be looking at people who can produce the right results in a timely manner that produce the most value. And if you're seeking a job, you need to convey the fact that that is what you focus on that you're able to kind of separate yourself from all of the noise and the distraction and these metrics that don't even matter. And what does that lead to? Well, it leads to inefficiency, mindset. So that's the antidote. Talk about efficiency, don't, you know, do the thing that a lot of people are tempted to do, which is just pile on everything you've done over the last 30 years of your career and just just build up this big resume. Because the reality is that even people in their 20s, who have minimal experience, are trying to do the same thing. They're building this resume to make it seem like they have this big body of work, when at the end of the day, you might be somebody like, again, Ben Roethlisberger, who isn't going to talk about all of his various stats, he's not going to talk about the fact that he was able to win two Super Bowls, right. I mean, that's it. That's, that's, that's, that is a true measure. Forget about the 1000s of passes he's thrown and however many touchdowns he's had and how many interceptions he's had, which I believe he tied the Steelers record last night for that, but we're gonna set that aside, we're gonna we're gonna be positive here about Big Ben, the reality is, who cares about most of those metrics? What are the ones that matter? And can you as an individual efficiently get there? And then work backwards and say, Well, what have you done in your career to demonstrate that efficiency? That's the key look for an organization where that that actually matters, and then project the fact that that's what you've done throughout your career. And you're gonna set yourself For a much happier job hunt, if you're in the job hunt, or again, if you are seeking employees, you're going to find yourself not dismissing those who aren't just touting results that didn't really matter. The third of these the tech illiteracy piece. Again, the biggest thing that I see here is a lack of confidence. And this idea that you need to overcompensate for, you know, again, you're being on the older end of the spectrum, by talking about all of these classes you've taken and laying out every piece of software that you've ever used on your resume, when in reality, you probably need to stop, you need to stop touting the fact that you know how to use Excel and PowerPoint in Word because that's a given, right? And what you really need to do is convey confidence. That's the antidote. Confidence. And how do you do that? Well, again, you talk about how you've used various tools to solve problems, and you don't care where those tools are from, you know how to learn tools, start with what you've achieved, start with what you've actually overcome, and then work backwards on how you've adapted to various different tools. Yes, again, there's bare minimum requirements to get your foot in the door with resumes, sure. But at this stage in your career, you should be going into it competent, and not kind of squirming to say, yeah, you may be kind of check the box here. And there, you have, you know, proficiency here, or, you know, medium proficiency here, or whatever the case is, you need to go in confident. And if nothing else, you need to be confident, not just about how you can use tools, but about, again, how you carry yourself, you don't need to pretend like you're on Twitter and doing all these different things to be hip. No, you just need to carry yourself and make it like a no big deal, right? Yeah,
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I got this. I use technology, I use it appropriately. But I don't go down that rabbit hole of technology. And I don't see it as an end in and of itself, I see the solution that we need to find. And I work backwards to find the tools that can get us there. So that's the key confidence. Of course, the other key there. That is I've come across is not having an AOL email address. That's probably the other thing to dispel this tech illiteracy, or this, this bias against those who are on the older end of the spectrum, perhaps being maybe not so tech savvy is, is please make sure that you don't have an email address that is@aol.com. So that's a very practical tip there. The fourth bias, the fourth myth, if you will, or stereotype regarding ageism, is of course, people are set in their ways, right. And again, this is universal, this goes beyond the world of employment and work and applies to a lot of people. When you think of those who are advanced in yours, you might assume that they're set in their ways. So what's the antidote to this? Well, of course,
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it's innovation, right? It's conveying the fact that you're not saying your ways, and you're showing curiosity. And Curiosity will lead to solutions that, quite frankly, if you're curious, and you have that blend of experience and perspective, you're going to be able to produce better results. So demonstrate that convey that have that in your mind going in and saying, Look, I want to be curious about this new job. Yes, I might have, you know, again, 30 years of experience, but that doesn't mean that I'm not in it to to learn and to be curious. So that's the key here is curiosity. And, again, whether you call it an innovative mindset or curiosity mindset, the reality is you need to ask yourself, if you're conveying that in your messaging in your resume and your cover letters, if you're getting interviews and your LinkedIn profile, whatever it is, demonstrate it without having to say it, right? Nothing irks me more than people who have to flat out say, I am a curious individual. Okay, fine. Prove it. Tell me about a time in your company where you went down a rabbit hole that wasn't prescribed, that wasn't part of the script, necessarily. And you went down that rabbit hole, and it led to something that added value to the company or again led to some efficiency, or it made things happen at a greater scale than would have otherwise, because you went down that rabbit hole. Because having people that have experience and knowledge, we're still willing to go down rabbit holes, that is tremendously valuable for companies, especially again, some of those smaller companies that as we said, on this first myth, you might want to be approaching if you're on the the older end of the spectrum, because it might be a better fit. And you might be able to actually take some of that curiosity, that innovative mindset marry with your experience, and make a bigger, faster dent on that company, then you would at some again, 20,000 person shop, if you will. The fifth of these is are you a knowledge hoarder? Right, this is the this is another myth that yeah, people have all this experience, but they're not willing to share it for some reason. All right, well, what's the antidote to that game? Whether it's true or not? What is the antidote? And again, the answer, of course, is questions, putting yourself in a position where you're asking questions, and you're allowing other people to ask you questions. This is about as basic as it gets. This is the premise of course for coaching and quite frankly, the premise for the other 56 episodes of the energy detox thus far, but the question is, are you asking questions? Are you asking questions of those around you? Are you genuinely curious? Are you doing what your demons should be demonstrating from you? myth number four is curiosity, ask questions and open yourself up for questions. And while again, this is critical if you're in the job hunt, or if you're an existing employee, we flipped this back to employers. Because if you are an employer, and you don't have any sort of system in place, ideally somewhat formal, but at least an informal system, where you're opening up forum for knowledge sharing and all of this, well, then that's on you, right. And again, there's multiple solutions. There's one here, that's homegrown in Pittsburgh, that promises to do just that lattice, la TT us, again, I recommend you check it out, it's a perfect system for ensuring that there is this transfer of knowledge, whether it's a new employee coming into a company, whether it's somebody who's just been promoted, whether it's somebody, again, who's at the tail end of their career, and it's a way to somewhat systematically without being ridiculous, capture this information. And this is something that companies can do and should be doing, instead of sitting back and letting the same old patterns evolve, where, again, you have your employees, again, not to be, you know, stereotypical here, but you have people who suspect that those on the other end of the spectrum have knowledge, but they're not willing to share and those who are on the other end of the spectrum, who might be put in a position where they feel like their value or their their knowledge, you know, nobody cares about it. So can you put in a system that isn't hokey, that isn't some fail mentor ship system, that's gonna, you know, again, fade over six to 12 months. But could you put some sort of structure in place process with technology, again, like a lattice that facilitates these conversations, does it in a natural way, does it in a way that continues to solve the issues at hand, and isn't just a knowledge transfer tool, and checks those boxes so that now you're actually leveraging people who have years of experience, you're actually building those connections. And you're not just sitting on the sidelines and hoping that people are going to continue passing the torch and passing the knowledge. So again, if you're an employer that's on you, that's on you to put in place the resources to allow this step to happen to prevent some of this stereotypical behavior from flourishing within your company. The sixth of these biases is the fact that sometimes people are perceived as being too careful towards the end of their career, right? They're not willing to take risks. So what's the antidote to that? Well, it's consciousness. And I know consciousness is a weird word. I
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mean, what does that mean? Well, it's being aware of those situations where you might come across as being unnecessarily risk averse. And this applies across the spectrum. But particularly for those who are elevated at the company, right? The higher up you are, the more risk there might be to your personal financials to your nest egg to your golden parachute to whatever stock options are potentially on the table for you, whatever the case is, it happens quite a bit right? That the higher up you go, the more risk averse you are. But the reality is that whether you are in that position, or whether you are an individual contributor, that's just hoping to, you know, again, get five more years of a nice steady salary and benefits. It is human nature in many ways to kind of close yourself in and to not take risks, to not be aggressive. And the key to solving this is to be aware of it to listen to what you're saying. And to simply ask yourself, again, it'll have a meeting at the end of a meeting, you can write this down. Are you aware of how what you're saying and doing could be perceived? That doesn't mean that you change your actions necessarily, that doesn't mean you change your words, but are you at least aware of how other people might be perceiving you? Because the reality is, and again, this is, you know, fairly widespread beyond the workforce. Many people who might see this in someone who is advanced in age, if you will, or at least has more 10 years experience, that people who are observing this are not as inclined to say, hey, it sounds like you're being unnecessarily risk averse, or it sounds like you're too scared to make this decision. That's not something that's gonna come out of their mouths. So it's on you to be aware of it and to say, hey, if I were in their shoes, 20 years prior, or, again, regardless of your tenure experience, if I was in anybody else's shoes, and they're looking at you, what does it sound like? Does it sound like you're being risk averse? Does it sound like you're being scared? Does it sound like you're you're not willing to push forward and to do something bold? And if so, ask yourself if there's truth to that, and if maybe you need to shift your thinking and if you're doing your company, your stakeholders and at the end of the day, yourself a disservice by being too careful. So again, be aware, be conscious, be a willing participant, if you will, in your own sort of self appraisal process as you move along towards the tail end of your career. And finally, short shelf life. short shelf life can be difficult to say here, but that is again another common myth stereotype bias when it comes to older employees that they've only got a couple years left and again, obviously it flows from the previous one where it might be too careful. But what else comes with short shelf life? Well, it might be this desire to not in invest in yourself, it might be a desire to not seek additional training to not invest in again, what other people have to say, to not invest in, in coaching or personnel development or anything like that. And again, how do you address that bias? Who else? Quite frankly, the answer is, say, so what? So what if your short shelf fitness, if you will? So what if the fact that you only have one or two seasons remaining? So what if you're not going to be doing the same things that you would have been doing 20 years prior? So what can you not still add value? Can you not potentially add more value, you know, there's no shortage, again, going back to the sports world of quarterbacks, in particular who, onto a team sign a one or two year deal make a huge impact. I mean, obviously, we can look at Super Bowl champion, Tom Brady, right. And what he did with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he, he goes down there and boom, you know, shines, signs a short contract and wins the Super Bowl, quite frankly, there's going to be a lot of people, you know, speculating whether or not Ben Roethlisberger could do the same thing, or probably more likely whether Aaron Rodgers comes over from the Packers and comes in. And again, he has nothing to prove he's won a Super Bowl against the Steelers, I believe. And, again, he could just come in and make an impact, you need to be conscious of it if you're the leader, and you're the owner of the team. But the reality is that some of these short timers, if you will, some of those with short shelf life, they can actually be that bridge, and they can actually lead to long term sustainable results, if you're smart about it. And if it's not being done in a disruptive manner, it can be done in a again, wildly cohesive manner as, as we've seen in the past. And, of course, it can be done in the wrong way. But the basic question of saying, well, this person only has X number of years left is a ridiculous question. If you start with clarity about what your goals are as a company, or again, if you're an individual, and you're clear about the fact that you only want to extract three to five years, for whatever reason, if you're clear and honest about that. And the reality is, you might want some of these people, I mean, again, look at consultants and advisors that come in and work on six month projects, 12 month projects, it's, it's there already, and clearly a nice balance between short timers and then contract workers and long term tenured people. Again, it's nice, and each company's gonna have a different balance, which is all the more reason to say, look, if you feel that you're being discriminated against, because you are only looking for a couple more years, then flip it and say, Well, so what so what you can be bold, you can go out there and say, I am looking to contribute to a company for three to five years, I don't need personal growth and development necessarily, I'm happy to help other people grow and develop and address all of these different things, particularly when it comes to knowledge sharing. So again, if that enters your mind as a potential employee, if you're ever looking for work, or if you were on the hiring side, whether the hiring manager human resources or just some other colleague or employee, and that thought enters your mind, say, so what? So what if there's only a couple of years left? How could you maximize value in that period of time. And the best way to maximize value, of course, and preserve energy is, of course, to set that stuff aside and focus on the job at hand. And so with that here, closing up the first part of this episode, we'll go ahead and take a look at a comment here that we have. And that seems to be some spam. So we will not read that comment out out loud. But I will keep moving on to part two then, which is of course, talking about all of these things and talking about some practical tips and some things that I've seen in working with individuals. And the first of which is if you're a job seeker, again, recognize that you as a bridge or a conduit is something that is incredibly valuable, if you can convey that. And again, I'm not saying go out and update your resume your LinkedIn profile to
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you know, just put the word bridge in there as many times as possible. And of course, on this pretty Pittsburgh themed episode, putting a bridge reference is probably not a bad thing, right, if not a bit overplayed and stereotypical but talk about the fact that, again, you can be that bridge, and you can be more of a bridge on the older end of the spectrum, typically, then you can be on younger side. And again, that's just a reality. You've seen more and you can connect the dots more, you've experienced more. Again, that's something that I enjoy being you know, being the same ages as the geriatric millennial Ben Roethlisberger here, the ripe old age of 39, I enjoy being smack dab in the middle of the average C suite age and the average age of somebody coming out of college, right? It's a great position to be in to understand both perspectives and and again, to be that bridge. But the reality is, if you're 49, or 59, or even older than that, you still have the ability to be a bridge more so than those who are junior to you. If you allow it to happen if you don't fall into this trap. So think about that. Does your resume does your language does your ability to interview does it convey you as a bridge or again, is it conveying you as some sort of box that is either going to align with whatever the job description is, or not? The next thing that comes in To play is people that I work with, who are able to give concrete examples of where their extensive experience helped generate a solution and actual solution, because of their perspective. See, it's not enough to say, All right, you know, I've got this one example, you complete the, you know, whatever the star situation is on your resume, and all these type of things and your stories for interviews, but to actually say how, you know, you went a step further, and you took that experience, and you applied it to a problem, and you came up with another solution that wouldn't have happened otherwise. So again, to restate that, I'm saying you need to be clear about I didn't just do X, I did x, because I was able to draw on my wealth of experience, because I was able to use my perspective, and again, my talent and my knowledge and my insights, and recognize patterns in this problem, and then solve a new problem, or a new problem or find a solution or whatever the case is. So it's taking that extra step, again, going back to this bridge concept, and being able to demonstrate that clearly, at least in an interview, if not in a resume, or in a cover letter of some sort, especially if you're focused on a specific company. The other big piece that I recommend quite a bit is, don't be afraid to use humor, again, you have a wealth of experiences and knowledge. And quite frankly, if you can't stand out, and you're already working against some of these biases here, then again, you're asking for trouble, right? So how can you stand out and in many cases, it's more laid back, right? It's using humor, it's, it's engaging people. And again, this is something that doesn't maybe come naturally to everybody else. But make sure that you don't have this unnecessary filter on because by and large, what I find with people who have this wealth of experience and stories is that they can quickly draw upon experiences and instances that are relevant to the here and now. And they can do it in a way that just kind of makes people on the other end feel more comfortable and confident. And that this person is less of a an unknown quantity and less of a black hole, if you will, and is somebody who can jump right into action doesn't need to be retrained, of course, and can actually start connecting with individuals in a way that again, quite frankly, younger talent might not be able to, or some older talent who are exhibiting some of these stereotypical tendencies that are again, in many cases unfairly attached to those with many years of experience, so lean on humor. And you know, don't be afraid to use it and be bold, and, and don't be too careful, in some cases, again, all adhering to the normal rules of humor that is not offensive, and so on, and so forth. And then the final piece in all of this, of course, is for many individuals who are been out of work for the last year or two, which is common, and who feel like it's now being compounded by the fact that they're, again, with 20 3040 years of experience, obviously, have a plan to address the gaps. And do it in a way of course, that actually makes it sound like it helps the company right. And again, the language is different for each individual that I work with. So there's no one size fits all solution other than working backwards, right, getting crystal clear about what you want, what the company wants, and then working that into your gap story, if you will. And it doesn't have to be a lie, shouldn't be a lie. But if it's conveying the fact that it's positioning you to better again, connect with people to better maximize the the timeframe that you're looking at to work through. Well, if you're able to convey that you're able to convey a clear, confident story that demonstrates some some curiosity or perhaps that you were, you know, recharging yourself so that you went into things competently? Well, again, you're going to start chipping away at a lot of these things, you're going to chip away at this fear, if you will, that you're just out there, and you're desperate, right, and you're trying to check the boxes, make yourself out to be, you know, a data data analyst who all of a sudden, in the last, you know, six months of your 40 year career is now a data analyst and all those type of things that can come across as desperate. Whereas if you use that gap period to say, look, I wanted to thoughtfully enter the final phase of my career. And here's how I did it. Wow, I mean, you're going to get people's attention. And they're going to, again, not just say, Okay, check the box, I understand why you haven't worked in the last 12 to 18 months, they're gonna see that as a positive as something that, hey, this person wants the right job, and they want to contribute to a company or to a role that makes sense for them. And they're not just sliding into it, convey that story. And again, you're going to be in a better shape than others who are just trying to scramble and, and again, fill in the box, if you will, when it comes to the gaps. And then again, coming back to you, if you're an employer, if you're a hiring manager, if you're in human resources. I will reiterate what we've talked about several times already, which is to make it very clear what your ultimate objective is with this individual and what you hope to get out of them. Resist the temptation to make this overly formulaic and overly about the idea that you want a six to 10 year person or a 12 to 16 year person and all of these things that, at the end of the day don't matter. And this almost seems ridiculous to say, right? You know, when I first got into the world of coaching and was, you know, helping people on on a formal basis with job hunting and such, and we would go over, you know, job requirements, and you'd look at this, you know, age ranges, or I should say experience ranges. And again, it's absurd, and in my mind was almost like, well, this is gonna fade away, but you still see them, right? Why is there a cap in some cases? And again, there might be a very good answer, but let's be clear about it. Because if you can't answer it as a hiring manager, or as a human resources professional within your company, you can't explain why you're putting in, you know, eight to 12 year experience, okay, maybe I get the eight, right. But why are you capping it? Is it? Is it PE? Is it? Is it fear? Is it because you're worried about the impact on everyone else, because if it is, or if there's some other issues, well, again, you got bigger problems on your hands, right. And again, you're missing opportunities to extract value from those who are sitting on the sidelines and jump into the game, whether it's only for a quarter for a couple plays, or again, perhaps for only a season or two, you're missing opportunities to bring them in, especially at a time when of course, as we all know, from you know, reading the headlines, talent is needed. It's a precious commodity right
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now. So if you're doing anything that is reducing your ability to find talent on the sidelines, because that's the short sighted approach and short sighted version of job requirements, well, again, you're doing yourself a disservice you're doing your company disservice you're doing your stakeholders, your investors, your your board members, your bosses, everybody's being done a disservice simply because of some formal, formal limit on who you're looking to bring in to potentially help your company out, let alone the informal limitations that are exhibited by these seven common biases that impact those when it comes to ageism. And so all that being said, I appreciate again, your comments, your feedback, I see that we have one non spam comment, at least or at least the content of it is non spam. So whoever you are generic LinkedIn user that doesn't flow into the live stream here. Good morning to you as well. And I appreciate you watching and, and again, as we wrap up here with the last couple questions for you, again, whether you are seeking a job, whether you're an existing employee, or whether you're a hiring manager in human resources, I continue to welcome your feedback, your questions, your comments about this topic, and all of the topics that we've covered over the prior 56 episodes of the energy detox. And so with that, we will slide into the final three questions today, as we've done on again, the last 30 or so episodes of the energy detox, where we will help you arm yourself with questions that will ensure that you will continue to grow, protect and sustain success, regardless of where you are your career, regardless of the industry that you work in, regardless of your tenure with the company. And regardless of again, whether you're hiring people or whether you're looking to be hired. So with that, the first question is, what game changing talent are you leaving on the sidelines, as we just said, over and over again, these unconscious approaches to tenure and experience, not age can be detrimental to you and your company. If you're leaving talent on the sidelines that could come in, and perhaps help you more efficiently set you up for more sustainable success. And you're ignoring these, again, merely because of unconscious bias or conscious bias or arbitrary limitations in your job descriptions, you're doing yourself and your team a disservice. So stop it. And if you're on the job, seeker side, same thing, why are you not emphasizing talent that you have that knowledge that you have? Simply because you don't feel like it's relevant or warranted? Ask yourself, what are the things that aren't on your resume? What are the things that aren't conveyed in your LinkedIn profile? What are the things that typically don't come out? When you get an interview? What are those things? And if they're valuable, they could add value? Well, how can you re spin them? How can you make sure they're front and center? How could you leverage those things to make it crystal clear to people that you know what you are unique talent that can add value moreso than other people who might check all the boxes on that silly job description? The next question for you today is What are you doing to protect knowledge and experiences. And again, we talked about that a little bit over the last however many minutes we are here. And one of the best ways you can do that is to ensure that you have a process or a system in place that encourages these conversations, and to do it with a little bit of formality. And I'm going to throw out one option that's out there lattice la te to us, because it's hitting that sweet spot, right? It's doing what no other technologies are out there or doing. It's doing what no other processes that are out there are doing. And it's finding that mix of knowledge transfer, regardless of whether you're talking about new hires, whether you're talking about people at the tail end of their career, and it's doing in a systematic but natural way to make sure that you all are protecting the knowledge and experiences and you're not letting them just fade away. And the third question for you to ask today and really throughout the rest of your career is, what do you want your legacy to be built upon? What is it? Is it the last several years of your career? Is it the last season of your NFL career for somebody like Ben Roethlisberger? Probably not, it certainly is not the last game of the year for for Ben Roethlisberger. Because, again, that wasn't, that wasn't his best showing, maybe we'll have a slightly better showing down to Baltimore to close out the regular season, unless, of course, a miracle happens and then make the playoffs. But again, what do you want your legacy to be? We talked about Ben Roethlisberger burger earlier, where, you know, his legacy certainly will center around two Super Bowls, certainly. And the third that he went to and didn't win, you know, it'll talk about some of his statistics as longevity, of course, but what do you want your legacy it'd be, because it's probably not going to be built again on the last couple years of your career.
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So if you're in a position where you can start forming that legacy, now, then do it. And if you are at the tail end of your career, and you feel like something is undone, well, again, let's go back to what we talked about, get clarity about what you feel is missing, get clear about that, so that you can start working towards it. And so you can start conveying it. Because the better you can convey it and the more specific you can be. And the less you sound like you're just desperate for some sort of job to wrap up your career, then again, the better off you're going to be, the better you're going to sound. And so to flipping it on to the employer and the companies and again, human resources, hiring managers, distinct leaders, what do you want your company's legacy to be? Because, again, Legacy implies some long term sustainable performance, think about a Heinz Company, right? 150 years talk about sustainability, right? As we said at the outset, few things are as sustainable as the Heinz ketchup industry, if you will, of course, oil and gas is one of them predating it by 10 years. But the reality is that you're probably not looking at short term solutions, you're probably not going to establish your legacy by just going through the same motions that you've been going through when it comes to hiring people and talent acquisition. But yet so many companies that I engage with, and so many individuals I speak with, convey that you are doing the same things over and over again. And a legacy that is built on doing the same things that everybody else is doing is really no legacy at all right? If you're just copying whatever your other team is doing in the NFL, well, the odds of you getting to Super Bowl are pretty slim, right? But if you're taking bold actions, and you're addressing a lot of these issues head on that, yes, apply to ageism, but also apply to other areas of talent development, if you're hitting these head on, and you're conscious of them. And people are tasked with, you know, going out and actually solving these problems and not just going through the motions and trying to find talent and and fill positions and do the same darn things and use the same darn playbook that everybody else is using. Well, again, what kind of results do you expect if you're going through the same motions using the same playbook? Well, not very good ones. Right. So with that, again, I encourage you to ask yourself, what do you want your legacy to be? Where do you want your company's legacy to be? And what should you be doing now to ensure that that legacy is bet and is realized? And with that, of course, I encourage you to ask those questions. And some of the other questions we've asked, not just today, not just on the heels of Ben Roethlisberger his final game at Heinz Field. But of course, to day in and day out as you go through your career. If you're in a position to hire, you're asking questions, ask whether some of these unconscious biases, whether they're related to age or any other number of elements regarding talent acquisition, how they might be interfering with your ultimate objective, which is I would hope to bring on the best talent available that aligns with your company's goals, to align with your goals and to align with all your stakeholders goals. And with that, again, I thank you of course for tuning into the energy detox today. We'll consider this a kickoff of a fresh season. The fresh year we went a little bit longer than usual today. But again, there's no shortage of headlines here in Pittsburgh where we have of course, a pending new quarterback for the Steelers a potential new name for Heinz Field, a new mayor and again a fresh start to 2022. So hopefully your 2022 is off to a fresh start. Again, I continue to welcome your comments or feedback on the energy detox and I hope you have an excellent afternoon and a safe and enjoyable rest of the week. Take care