Reinventing yourself with Dorie Clark

Hello Monday is LinkedIn News’ weekly career podcast hosted by me,?Jessi Hempel. You’ll hear from thoughtful experts, authors and business leaders about the changing nature of work—and how that work is changing us. Each week, this newsletter shares learnings and practices connected to the conversations.?Subscribe to the show's newsletter?here. This week I spoke with?business thought leader Dorie Clark.

What is your PLAN B?

Quick question, don’t overthink it: what’s your Plan B??That idea for what you’ll do if your job goes away? Your industry flatlines?

Because this is definitely part of what’s going on this year. Take media companies. I spent most of my career working for them. I’ve been crushed to watch so many talented people get laid off. It’s got me thinking: as we prepare for the next big shift, maybe we shouldn’t be looking for a job just like the one we had. Maybe it’s time to look for something else altogether. So how do you do this?

I recorded this episode with my friend Dorie Clark several years ago, but it's even more relevant today. Dorie is a master at reinvention. She’s actually written a book called Reinventing You. It’s one of a few she’s written. She’s also a coach, and she has taught at the business schools of both Columbia and Duke.

Dori’s the person I called up for a drink a couple years ago when I needed advice on my own side hustle. Because she’s all action. Tips. Ideas. And she’s always in your corner. You can listen to this episode here, or below:

Office Hours:?Find us here!

Dreaming forward. Moving backward. Making sense of Colorado Springs.

The morning after five people were murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs, I sunk into a booth with a childhood friend and her family at a gay-friendly brunch spot outside Miami. The news hadn’t made it to us, and the mood was light as we waited for our food. Ours was the only table in the place with little kids, and the waitress—a drag queen with fabulous sparkle lipstick—brought them bacon shortly after we sat down. Little sister ate hers and then stole a piece off her brother’s plate, and we all cracked up at her precociousness.

Kris and I attended middle school together; her family moved after 8th grade. As anyone who has read The Family Outing knows, middle school years were not my best years. (See photo above!) I was a gay kid who had no reference point for my condition. A couple years ago, Kris found me on social media.?I watched her life unfold on Instagram for a long time before I reached out to chat with her. She’d become a school teacher, and married her girlfriend. In a bit of symmetry bestowed upon us by the universe, we had had kids at exactly the same time.

When?I was invited to Florida?for the Miami Book Fair, I seized the opportunity to finally meet my old classmate in person. As her little kids, who so closely approximate my own, wiggled in their seats and took walks to explore the restaurant, Kris and I compared notes on our middle school memories. The English teacher we loved. Her uncle, a beloved track coach, who’d recently passed. That overnight field trip to Mystic Seaport where we slept in triple bunks on a real boat. The crushes we had, and crushes we didn’t understand. “Did you know gay people back then?” I asked her.

“No,” she said, “Not really. Not anyone I?knew?was gay.”

For the rest of this essay, you can check out Jessiwrites here. And, you can find out more about The Family Outing right here. Then send me a photo of you reading...or listening to...it like these Hello Monday listeners have done!