I don’t wear pearls anymore -  that was more fashionable in my mom’s generation.

Still, in thinking about the hand-me-down string of pearls I own, I began thinking about pearls of wisdom and  how those little tidbits are passed down from generation to generation. Like, “Eat your carrots, they are good for your eyes!” Or, “Always wear clean underwear in case you get in an accident.” I wonder if my parents’ generation felt as inadequate in handing down advice as much as I sometimes do. Getting that glazed over look from a recipient of my “pearls” is humbling at times.

Life seems fast, changing and above all, the latest buzz word, transparent. I just finished reading an article about job advice given 20 years ago and now. Yeesh, a bit like night and day. What happened to being a bit formal in the workplace? Was that really so bad? What happened to a little separation of work and home?

I have expressed concern to my own kids and my “kids” at work about being so transparent on Facebook and Twitter. That stuff is going to live out there for a long time, so be smart about what you let out. The lines between work and home are definitely blurred these days.  I’m not saying any of this is bad, really. I like being able to wear jeans to work occasionally.  And no nylons! Don’t even get me started on the benefits of that!

I have to wonder though, what the workplace will look like as these young kids enter into senior positions. I do think things feel a bit more fluid and collaborative than they used to. The 21^st century work space is much more conducive to creativity. All good things. Now, I am beginning to wonder how we ever got anything done in the past with all these little behavioral norms constraining us.

I am sure I will continue to pass on little pearls of wisdom – it comes with being the office “mom” – but they will be handed out with the knowledge that they could all end up rolling around on the floor.

I am a marketer.
I love it, I live it, I thrive on it. 

It was not always that way though. In my generation you tended to stick to a career from college on … often maintaining employment with the same company until you retired.

Maybe you shifted responsibilities throughout that time but life was pretty well planned out; a career path they called it. If I had followed my preordained career path I would definitely have never found my calling.

I followed in my dad’s footsteps and became a mechanical engineer. I worked most of my early years as a development engineer -  testing transmission, designing air conditioning systems, radios and instrument panels for vehicles. It was okay but didn’t really knock my socks off.

A seismic shift occurred about 2/3 rds of the way through my career. I had the opportunity to become a marketer. Now mind you, I have had statistics, calc IV, thermodynamics and physics but never a marketing class.

I seized the challenge but was a nervous wreck. I liken it to being a surgeon and then shifting to being lawyer, both very professional careers but hardly interchangeable. But I went at it like I would have any other class I took in school.

The one attribute that connected the dots for me was that I really like to be a project manager; I tried to be pretty organized, always keeping lots of balls in the air. I learned, I asked lots of questions, I screwed up a few times, I leaned on my team and slowly I became pretty proficient at it. It has been a huge life lesson for me.

I tell the potential interns we hire that they can do anything. Coming out of school with an advertising degree, most think they need to get a job in a big marketing firm right out of the barrel. But there are so many more options and with the job market being what it is, adaptability is a critical skill. Look beyond what your sheepskin says and consider being open to lots of options. Go into it with an open mind and a learning heart.  Don’t let yourself get stuck in a career rut. You never know what lies ahead.

My favorite color is white. Well, at least when it comes to brainstorming, managing a big project or needing to monitor a big list of to-dos. Then, white is the only color that works for me – my beloved white board.

I first came to love white boards in my early days as a marketer. The conference room we frequented to manage our brand was lined completely with white boards. Even before it was fashionable, we developed our entire branding and marketing campaign on that white board — it circled the room in all its glory. No need to write things down on paper. We saved a lot of trees. Presentations to leadership were made on that white board. Changes were swift and easy, just erase and rewrite. We used different color markers to denote plan details.

Then, alas, as my career progressed, white boards did not come along for the ride. Gone were the days of getting a crack marketing team in the room and brainstorming ideas and concepts with immediate results highlighted on the board. I became stifled. My creativity was limited to the confines of the computer. But how can you show ideas as they flow, how can you make sweeping arrows to show connections in thoughts? It was rough.

When I started my current job and moved into the great office at 614 Seymour, I asked for one thing … a big white board. Now, I have one wall dedicated to my white board, filled with whatever the hot project of the moment is. People actually now come into my office to check out what is on the white board.

So take all your colorful creative thoughts and let them come to life on white … the white board!