Minority Career Network

Minority Career News
October - December 2002

Complacency Can Spell Career Disaster
By Altha Moore
Business Writer

When I was a little girl, some things were for sure. The milkman delivered the shiny, crated bottles of milk before 6:00 a.m. The sound of the 7:00 a.m. freight train was sure to awaken even the deaf. The aroma of scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon would fill the rooms of our small home by 8:00 a.m. Dad would be off to work by 8:30 a.m. in his big, loud dump truck. Mom would have dinner ready by 6:00 p.m., Dad would fix the lemonade, and we'd all sit down as a family to catch up on the day.

Now, things have changed. We rush to the store when we are out of milk and have so many choices - lactose free, chocolate, strawberry, and acidolpulus. If you don't live near a train track, you most likely won't hear one. The sound of the microwave has taken the place of the "oh so dependable" frying pan and oven. We can now work from home on our computers in our pajamas. Moms and Dads that work late may have to settle for the rotisserie chicken, and ready-made potato salad in the deli section of the fancy gourmet grocery market. Families are lucky to see everyone at the table for dinner on any given day.

I love my mother's favorite phrase: "I never thought I'd see the day." Well, complacency is why we never thought we'd see the day that thousands of workers would be laid off from seemingly stable jobs. And, corporate corruption--is that some type of disease? Yet, we never thought we'd see the day that freedom "does" come at a price-really!

Many an employed and unemployed person has found himself or herself at the critical stage of knowing that their skills weren't up to snuff months before they heard the news about a possible layoff. If they could do it all over again, do you think those individuals would have done some things differently? My guess to this answer is yes. I wouldn't want to be the weakest link on this one.

Driving by a department store today doesn't mean that it will be there tomorrow. And so would be the same of your career. It is no longer good enough to feel that you can just hibernate at your desk until retirement. The nest egg may have a few cracks, and retirement at 55 may suddenly seem unthinkable. Tim Hamilton of Primerica states, "Many investors save just enough to say that they at least do save, while others save nothing at all."

Change is now a way of life. Complacency must take the back seat. Complacency is not a fashionable logo to wear on your favorite T-shirt. It is a silent killer of careers. As we tell our children, "Learn while you can," so should we hold ourselves accountable to this golden rule? In our adult lives, no one is there to say, 'Pick up your career guide and read." We either have the determination to groom ourselves to remain marketable, or settle for whatever comes our way.

Think about complacency in this sense for a moment, if you would. If the rug were snatched from under your career right now, would you survive the fall?

Altha Moore is a freelance business writer. Excerpts from "Life after a Company Downsizing" Find out how you can "Manage Your Career During Challenging Economic Times". Seminars coming soon to the Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio areas. Email a l t h a f m o o r e (at) m s n . c o m.
This email serves as permission to grant Minority Career Net to electronically publish my article entitled, "Complacency Can Spell Career Disaster" electronically, without monetary compensation.

Approved by: Altha Moore,
President
Workshop Solutions®
Date: July 29, 2002

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