Several months ago Huffington Post ran a story titled “Post 50 Celebs On What They Wish They Knew Growing Up” It got me to thinking that it would be interesting to share our collective wisdom by asking you
What do you wish you had known earlier in your senior career?
I will start it out with mine in the first comment.
Early in my senior housing career, when I was still quite young and the industry was just coming into it’s own, I found myself with a VP title in a little senior housing development and management company that ultimately failed because they were over leveraged. While holding that position, I was pretty impressed with it and very busy doing day to day management and marketing activities. I knew there were some networking groups and once in awhile I would check out a local meeting, but couldn’t be bothered to put in a serious effort.
My big title and small list of contacts made it impossible to find a job that fit with my experience and forced me to take several steps backward in my career path.
The lesson: We all need to networking like crazy.
Steve Moran
The importance of networking was something I learned very early in my career as a social worker – I couldn’t broker resources for needy communties and organisations unless I “got out there” and networked with as many groups, forums, associations etc as possible – however, huge in the lesson of networking is “relevance”. My greatest networking opportunities have been opened up through my invlovement with IAHSA – I have been able to establish widespread global networks that have impacted South African organisations very positively. I really believe in the power of networking, so much so that I am busy facilitating the establishment of the South African Care Forum.
I ditto the networking and also wish I would have known that I did not need to know everything as the Administrator. Early on I felt like I had to be an expert in nursing, finance, building code, etc. If someone came to me with a problem I had to have a solution.
I now realize the value of asking the right questions and actively listening. I thought I was listening to staff, but really most of the time I was deciding in my head what the right thing to do was. Amazing all the creative ideas that come out when many minds tackle an issue. Not to mention people are encouraged to be problem solvers instead of dependent on the administrator for every little issue. Glad I figured it out eventually! Great question to ask people Steve!
Hey Steve – Great thread here.
We’re all told that there’s never a better time than the present, and it couldn’t be more true.
Most of the world has a short memory; there are few elephants out there and even those are typically soft spoken. The best experience is learning from your own mistakes. And the only way to gather those is to make mistakes. You don’t need to try to make mistakes, it’s a byproduct of putting yourself out there. As Denise wrote, you don’t need to be an expert in everything.
-Tal
Steve, GREAT question! Being relatively young myself, I appreciate all the comments and advice given here and the value of the knowledge that comes out in them. Even in my short tenure in the senior housing industry, I too have learned something: celebrate your successes. You can be a perfectionist if you want, but you still need to stop from time to time and pat yourself on the back when you achieve something, anything, you are proud of. Without recognizing the small successes, you run the risk of burning out; continually thinking you are not doing a good enough job. Truth is, the small successes give you energy. Have a hard time “tooting” your own horn? Celebrate someone else’s success.
Amira, it’s always far easier to “toot” someone else’s horn. We all need to learn that it’s okay to “toot” our own horn and this can be done without being arrogant and bombastic. Great point you raised.
From LinkedIn Groups
Steve,
This is a good question for discussion. In my first career, as an attorney, I wish I’d known that hard work alone was not going to get me to partnership. I didn’t understand schmoozing….
By Lorie Eber
From LinkedIn Groups
I wish I knew much earlier in my career about how valuable the wisdom that comes from years of experiences can be.
By Rick Banas
From LinkedIn Groups
Stay in school. I was a hippie in my teens and early 20s and dropped out of university after my 1st year. A friend and I drove across Canada; I ended up living in an ashram for 2 and 1/2 years before I got smart and re-entered school. I lost 3 years of school and I often think what would have happened if I’d kept up with my education sans interruption. It was really hard to get back into the academic gear.
By Stephen Winbaum
From LinkedIn Groups
Actually, I am not sure there is anything. Although I learned alot of things the hard way, they have stuck with me.
By Kellie Gundling
From LinkedIn Groups
I wish I could have predicted future trends.
By Ellie Vollme
From LinkedIn Groups
Obiviously, growing up one lacks maturity, specifically solid confidence versus bold desire. With maturity comes experience which I define a person with experience as: ” a person who has made mistakes and learned from those mistakes”, ie other approaches, other options. A “fool” is a person who makes the mistakes and is oblivious or too arrogant to admit to mistakes or understand alternative approaches. Me personally. I am very experienced.
By Ron Preston
From LinkedIn Groups
That my interests lay more in the policy sphere than in managerial activity.
By Neil Dworkin
I wish I would not have worked 100 hours a week !
Here’s what I wish … Getting smarter when i was younger about how to market the novels and short stories I have written that are now winning awards and being published. The picture on my website in not me it’s an old moonshiner who lived down the rivers from us when I helped my uncle run a fishing camp. http://ozarkstories.com The other thing i wish I had known earlier is that the Jacks Fork River where my stories are set was named by Life Magazine as one of the most scenic fishing and float streams in the world!
By Rolland Love