Readers in mid-career – or those responsible for recruitment of (lower case) career builders – likely understand this truism all too well. How refreshing, then, to read about professional superstars in varied industries and walks of life who have suffered admittedly severe setbacks at some point in their careers; and who not only lived to tell the tales but thrived as a result of getting knocked off their pedestals.
Take Virgin Group’s Richard Branson, whose business partners thought a start-up airline was a recipe for disaster. Or spiritual guru Deepak Chopra, who crowned his medical fellowship advisor with a box of files in the heat of an argument, thereby ending a promising career in endocrinology. That is until he found his true calling.
Then there’s billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens, diagnosed with crippling depression at the age of 68. Luckily, he was able to seek out medical help that enabled him to recover and to resume his stellar career. And personal finance expert and television personality Suze Orman, who naively thought early on that she’d be able to depend on the “kindness of strangers” to further her career. Once she woke up to the realities of self-reliance, there was no stopping her.
The stories are inspiring and excerpted from more than 60 similar profiles in a recent LinkedIn “Influencers” article, which can also be accessed from the link below.