50 year old “Corporate Toast”: the silent career trend we all know about but don’t talk about…and what to do about it.
“The whole truth is that 50+ year olds are an endangered species in big corporates.”
I’ve written hundreds of articles on how to design more satisfying midlife careers, but I realised about a year into my new career that I’d made a mistake.
I hadn’t made it crystal clear why professionals in their 40s and 50s NEED to start taking action if they want to continue working beyond their next few birthdays.
This mistake became very clear when one of my clients asked my opinion on his career options post-50 within big corporates.
I drew breath before responding:
“If you are in your 50s in a big corporate, get ready to be toasted!”
Not my most eloquent moment, but a characteristically truthful one, nonetheless.
I’d spent nearly 20 years watching silently as big corporates did everything in their power to recruit “high potentials”.
Whilst at the same time doing everything in their power to encourage the 50+ contingent to leave.
It felt exhilarating to say out loud what I knew to be the truth.
50+ year olds are an endangered species in big corporates.
Ageism has simply not been tackled by big corporations.
The only people who would tackle it are of a similar age and this would do nothing but highlight their vulnerability.
These endangered 50+ year olds are often positioned in general leadership roles, or in very specialist roles - where they have been shrunk-to-fit.
Both positions are extremely time-limited.
No matter how “high potential” you were considered in your 20s and 30s, if you are facing, or have already faced, the “BIG 5-0” within a big corporation…your days are numbered.
4 varieties of 50 year old “corporate toast”.
Continuing the corporate toast analogy, in my experience, there are four dominant varieties of 50 year old “Corporate Toast”:
The “Golden-toasted” variety:
The luckiest of these rare creatures have amassed a pension fortune for when THEY decide that they’ve been perfectly toasted. They can press their own eject button at any time if the company starts to turn up the heat setting. They have almost full control of the toaster.
This allows for a speedy and relatively burn-free exit, as long as they are self-aware enough to eject themselves before their company does - ego and identity intact.
2. The “Almost-toasted” variety:
These self-aware leaders have their toes crossed that they’ll be able to keep working until they can afford to release themselves.
There are two different pairs of hands on the eject button, so anyone could press it…at any time.
They hope to have enough time to leave the toaster with a lovely glow (ego and identity pretty much intact), with a bag of either pension/redundancy/exit treasure.
While all fingers and toes are crossed for a lucrative exit, their impact on the business is very slowly declining - making the eject button ever-more attractive to their employers.
3. The “I’m in the-wrong toaster” variety:
These leaders have a long-term focus and often enjoy work for its own sake. They are clear that their future lies in smaller businesses (or their own business) and have already begun to think through options, perhaps even testing those options out.
They have always been great at serious networking and taking actions so it won’t be a shock when their toaster’s heat setting is turned up. They fully understand the toasting game.
Very often they proactively position themselves for their future. Many have job offers before the toaster pops them out, so that there is a neutral impact on ego and identity.
Many forgo possible redundancy packages, as the long-term benefit of 10+ extra years of an (almost) enjoyable career on their terms, is so attractive.
Time on the golf course is not their goal.
4. The “Almost-burned” variety:
The trickiest situation is that held by the 50+ year old leaders who are keeping their heads down so that they can continue to be amazing at what they do for as long as they can. The short-term looks fabulous, doesn’t it?
They feel valuable and valued. They enjoy work but have no time to have a serious look beyond the toaster to see what’s happening.
They haven't had time for networking and don’t have relationships with executive search businesses because they haven’t needed them.
But someone else is controlling the heat-setting on their career toaster. Without their knowledge, they have been turning up the heat.
When this variety of toast burns, it will scar deeply . It will take a great deal of time, effort and support to recover from. Both, ego and identity will be bruised for years to come.
If you’re in the “almost-burned” category, what you just read will hurt like hell.
I’m sorry.
I write this article not to instil fear, but to highlight the necessary CHOICE element in our midlife careers.
I feel so strongly that we, as individuals, cannot change the dominant realities of the corporate world today.
But, we can start to change the realities of our personal career situation today.
We can choose to:
accept our special variety of toast,
change to a different variety of toast,
swap our toaster, or
design our own toaster.
If you are planning to retire in your early 50s to your yacht to sail the Caribbean, I have nothing to offer you…I make a great Negroni though!
However, if you are in any of the other toast situations please consider taking a long, hard look at your career longevity and work enjoyment from a different angle.
Based on insights gained from more than 1500 leadership interviews over the last 15 years, pausing to redesign your career to fulfil more of your life goals is time VERY well spent.
Choose not to be toast.
Choose to let your midlife become the jam years of your career.
Ready to take a small step forward?
The ONLY place to start is exactly where you are.
Most professionals I work with find it hard to assess their current situation - beyond that ugly “stuck” feeling that won’t disappear.
Let’s face it, stuck means different things to each of us!
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It’s my mini-programme (that takes about 40 minutes), designed as a quiz-with-benefits! You can do it today.
The insights it offers are so valuable, I’ve integrated it into all of my client programmes as ‘Step One’.
Even if you choose not to work with me, this mini-programme will give you the clarity and career change insights that you need move forward.
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The smart way to begin to get your career back on track.
You’re not too old and it’s not too late!
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