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Hello, everyone! My name is John McGrail, I have one incredible wife, four amazing children, two awesome dogs and therefore much to work for, and I believe that if you’re not learning, you’re not living. Today I’m going to be talking about the turn in my career path and what it could mean.
So, what’s today’s fun fact? According to the website About Careers the average person changes jobs ten to fifteen times during their career. Many workers spend less than five years in each job so they spend more time and energy devoted to changing jobs than actually working in one. During the most established part of many peoples’ careers, ages 40-48, workers held an average of only 2.4 jobs. Employers with whom you will be applying for jobs with, expect or at least accept that workers will be changing jobs approximately every three years.
Speaking of changing your life’s direction, the Friday Forum is always there ready for you—your chance to share what you have been learning. You can add your voice to the Friday Forum in several ways—by calling 3048372278 and leaving a voicemail, going to www.goldenspiralmedia.com/feedback and leaving your feedback by uploading an audio file, using the provided speakpipe widget, or you can type out an email and send it in that way.
Now, here’s what I learned yesterday:
I started my new job on February 1st. For those Stuff I Learned Yesterday faithful you’ll remember that I talked about my journey through unemployment on Episode 375 that posted on December 16, 2015. This turn in my career path is significant for many reasons so let me give you a little bit of my history. When I started as a student in college one of my best friends, who was two years ahead of me asked me if I could sit for three hours a week and take loan applications. Sure, I said. That started what would turn into more than 25 years of service in the credit union movement. For school it was all-volunteer but it was learning everything that made a credit union run the way it does. After school it was becoming a loan officer then a Vice President at a municipal employees credit union where I really learned what it meant to serve and lead people all at the same time. From there I took over as CEO of the credit union for the Food Lion grocery store employees and their families. It was an amazing eleven years where I grew our small staff into a real family that supported and challenged one another all the time. I had many, many wins and more than a few face-palm moments. It’s hard to sum up 11 years into a few concise thoughts. Suffice to say I look back and smile a lot.
I should take a minute to explain why credit unions play such an important role in the financial services world. The common thought is that they’re just another form of bank and that just isn’t true. The structural differences are big because banks are owned by stockholders who expect dividends from their shares of that stock. So, the money that banks make eventually go to paying management of those banks (usually) enormous amounts of money and to pay those stock dividends. That money is made off their customers of course, usually through service charges for things their customers need. A credit union is owned by the members who belong to it and those members are usually made up of a specific population group—a common bond is what it’s called. Today, that common bond can be the community where you live or work so almost everyone should have access to joining a credit union. The bottom line with credit unions is they are not-for-profit institutions so the money they make goes back into the credit union so the members benefit from lower fees, better interest rates on savings and loans, and improved services. I can also tell you that their executives are not grossly overpaid—I know from firsthand experience!
The reason all of this is important is that it takes a buy-in to the principles and philosophies of credit unions to make them successful. I caught the credit union bug very early on in college and it only continued to grow over my career. After my stint as CEO for a specific credit union I decided to go in a different direction but still within the credit union movement. I took on a non-profit foundation that worked with all of the credit unions of two states to coordinate the largest philanthropic projects and to increase awareness of those credit unions investing back into their communities—not because they are mandated to do so, but because it’s what you should do. My four years with the foundation were the most rewarding work that I’ve ever done and at the same time the hardest and at times the most devastating. I was the only staff member of the foundation so there was just never enough—enough time, enough money, enough volunteers, enough support from the leadership. The truth is I became depressed and went for a while into a very dark place. That being said I never lost my passion for the credit union movement and what it can accomplish in the lives of the members and their communities.
So, when the day came last July and I was told I was no longer needed in the organization it was both devastating and a relief at the same time. I’ve never been “fired,” “laid off,” “displaced,” whatever you want to call it. I’ve always left a job on my terms and the experience is has your emotions all over the place.
But the whole thing was a gift. Just like I spoke about back in December my family has watched our faith come alive in ways we never could have imagined as we’ve watched our needs being met over and over again from the most unexpected places. I’ve been able to take the time to examine what is really important to me professionally and what I want to be about moving on from here. I’ve decided that moving forward my work will have the following characteristics: honesty and integrity, a work-life balance, spirituality, family, helping others, helping society, working as a team, and it will have moral fulfillment.
So, what am I doing? I’m staying within financial services. I am becoming a Financial Advisor with a well-known investment firm that I won’t name here because this is not about building my future business. I have decided to not pursue any more work in the credit union space. I won’t lie, the decision hurt my heart. I have so much love and passion for the credit union space and that will not be leaving me. But, it’s time to take on a different role and that is a good thing. I will be able to concentrate my professional life right here in Salisbury where we have lived for almost 13 years. For the last 15 years I have been concerned over members scattered throughout everywhere on the east coast or over all of the communities and credit unions throughout the Carolinas. I am ready to be at home professionally for the first time since 1999.
Here’s what I learned:
Transitions ________________ (fill in the blank). Transitions suck, transitions are cool, transitions are just hard, transitions are opportunities. For me, today, this transition is wiping the slate clean and –literally- starting over. I am feeling excited, terrified, but most of all full of hope. Hope that I can fulfill all of the characteristics that I identified this summer that I want my work to be about. Hope that I can build a successful business on my own and that I can provide for the needs of my family. Hope that I can be successful enough to be the first person that folks think of when they need things sponsored or for volunteerism. If you’re going through a transition do you know what you’re after? Do you already have the border of the puzzle done so that the middle details can shape themselves into the picture that you’re looking for? The scariest moments I had over the last six and a half months were the unknown and what it could mean. Being out of control is hard. If you find yourself there right now I just encourage you to settle into that unknown and let it wash over you until you come to the point where you find those few anchor points that will continue to show the path that may yet be untaken—but it is yours to take.
I’m John McGrail, and this has been Stuff I Learned Yesterday.
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