The Authentic Career
Author: Maggie Craddock

Money is one of the most emotional topics in our culture today. Credit card companies, brokerage firms, and professional financial planners devote millions of dollars to providing clients with spreadsheets tracking everything from the asset allocation of their investments to the history of their spending habits to help them make “logical” investment decisions. The irony is that there is little that is logical about many people’s relationship with money. Money taps into our fantasies about pleasure and power – and into our most primal drives for safety and security.

Vagueness about monetary expectations contributes to professional inertia. Many of us have done goal-setting exercises and have a pretty good idea about what we would do with our lives if money were not a consideration. However, those of us who are not independently wealthy must consider the need to support ourselves and our families while charting our career strategy. Without having a practical plan in place for how you are going to get paid for doing the job you love – or how you are going to fund your own business – you will miss a vital component of turning dreams into your reality.

Throughout my career, I have learned to listen very carefully to my clients’ hopes and fears about money. As a portfolio manager, I knew that since there were so many talented managers competing for business, the best of us had to connect with potential clients at an emotional level. When someone hires a portfolio manager they are not just paying for logic, they are paying for peace of mind.

As a coach, it’s even more vital that I understand the way the emotional dynamics surrounding money influence my clients’ decisions. Coaching clients wrestle with questions such as, “Will this job provide me with a secure financial future? Will I make enough money to travel if I freelance? Should I invest my personal savings in the stock of the company I work for?” Although these all sound like logical questions, they also tap into the fantasies and fears of those asking them.

People limit their professional potential when they don’t do the monetary detective work necessary to be honest about how much money they need to feel secure enough to pursue their authentic career goals. For example, some clients that I have worked with have managed to get independent films financed and books published (accomplishments that were dreams for them) by keeping their living expenses low and supporting themselves through consulting or part-time work that left them free to pursue their creative ambitions. Sadly, I’ve seen other people remain trapped in dead-end careers for years because they believed they could not afford to leave their jobs. These clients frequently discover, once they take an objective look at their living expenses, that emotional factors have been holding them back more than economic ones.







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Maggie Craddock

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