The triad above frames my now focus, and passions. I am in my 3rd Career.

I suggest that one can have a simple three-part view of a career. This simplistic triadic view can serve as a top-of-mind reference for what you are about. As you confront decisions along the path, it can help prompt you to evaluate with a long-term view.

You have three lifelong careers –

1st Career> Learning to succeed.

Almost any field has ‘tricks of the trade’ that you don’t learn or practice in school or college. Those ‘hey, no one told me about that’ situation or confrontation. There is a wealth of techniques that you learn from experienced coworkers. Both observing and asking – how, why, when, where, what did I miss, questions. If you want to succeed, you need to invest in learning what’s key to your field and industry and grow your personal skill set.

That includes fact knowledge and your emotional intelligence! As a subset, moving up a career ladder often has two paths: 1) becoming a technical expert, or 2) becoming a manager. Each path can eventually expand to managing other functions as you approach a Director, or “C” level. However, both pathways require you to learn how to succeed.

2nd Career > Proving You Can Perform – Leveling up.

At this stage, you are a value-add to the enterprise. Hopefully, this is not just doing core responsibilities in the best of circumstances, but succeeding when the unexpected occurs. Those crises and confrontations can range from internal to external events. The key is that your boss, your peers, and staff have confidence that your performance will not falter. You’ve made your bones; you possess the credibility and respect of others. This doesn’t come easy nor without some missteps, but you persevered and have acquired wisdom (and artfulness) to meet those challenges.

3rd Career> Giving back

Fun in the sun? Pickleball play? Chess, anyone? You’ve made it to David Bowie’s golden years. Well, alright, and congrats. But why let the knowledge and techniques you’ve spent decades honing evaporate? I suggest that this time of life is most fulfilling when you give back your wisdom – and yes, some time and effort is required to do so. Maybe you’ve heard of ‘servant leadership’, helping others with contacts or advice – especially whether that benefits you in any way. Staying young in mind and spirit comes by being a lifelong learner and a giver. Who should you help? I recommend staying involved with industry associations and finding trusted friends who may know individuals who need mentoring or business referrals. At this stage, I would hope you have a passion for some worthy aspect of life. An aspect that doesn’t drive self-centered behaviors, but one that adds positive value to society as a whole. Is there a non-profit or educational center that needs your talents?

Example from my experience:

Neal’s 1st Career> Learning to succeed.

I started by learning how to audit and handle accounting and its attendant reporting systems. Learning to manage and lead became my pathway. I did this by advancing through the ranks from property and equipment accountant to analyst, then to internal audit manager, and finally to director of accounting. In this position, I supervised 4 managers with a team of 60 personnel. The industries involved were public accounting, food service & manufacturing, and healthcare.

Neal’s 2nd Career> Proving You Can Perform – Leveling up.

I eventually advanced to leading enterprises as a President & COO, CFO, Sr. Vice President of Finance, and Vice President Controller. The company’s revenues ranged from $60 to $500 million, and most were multi-unit operations with a national footprint. In these roles, I led acquisitions totaling over $2 billion in accretive revenue. The functional span, even as CFO, included non-financial areas such as legal, risk management, information systems, purchasing, and recruiting. You can find more details about my commercial roles on my LinkedIn page. I am most proud of is the outstanding staff and peers who worked with me. I was fortunate (or artful) to hire some fantastic staff, several of whom worked for me for over 7 years. What I look for in hires is something I will share as part of my now-3rd career.

Neal’s 3rd Career> Giving back

So here I am, now, Translator, Pathfinder, Poet, you will learn more about each of these as I give back on this site and others. To stay focused on the commercial and business arena, I give back by mentoring and advising career-minded individuals. This includes meeting individually with younger and older people to discuss career moves and related issues. I am also writing and posting the insights I have garnered—find these here and on my other media sites, LinkedIn, X, and Substack (coming soon). Additionally, I enjoy advising business owners to achieve financial clarity about their businesses, based on my 30+ years in the financial world.

In a macro view, I am passionate about the need for the financial profession to move into the 21st century. This involves a couple of key structural changes—first, the need for three separate financial statements. Second, freeing our Congressional Budget Office (CBO) from any political party influence and making the measured impacts of laws proposed independent. Other countries have been successful with this reformation. A collateral need is a ‘Plunder Index’ to measure government waste. You can learn more about this and my efforts at these sites – 21st Financials and Plunder Index.