Business Boomers Penetrate Arts Leadership — Part Two

Why Do Some Boomers Leave the Corporate World?

Not everyone who reaches 50 and thinks about a career change is really going to do it. But some career experts say most 45- and 50-somethings at least consider a change. Every career change is personal, but these interviews revealed a few common circumstances under which some boomers leave the corporate world and why jobs at nonprofit arts organizations attract them.

New Challenges
Most of those interviewed indicated that they were happy and successful in the corporate world during their time there. Most believe they were treated well financially and otherwise. Some may have been less than thrilled about a merger or some other change in their corporate environment, but none said that they were extremely unhappy in their business careers. They were just ready for a new challenge.

Boomers in general have been well-educated, and they want to keep their minds working. They have swelled the ranks of continuing education and community learning classes through their local colleges and community centers. According to Dr. Linda Edington, director of academic affairs at the University of Phoenix in Indianapolis, “Boomers are signing up for online education at a rapid pace.” This surprised many in the career services field, since most boomers did not grow up with online technology. Few had their own computers until they were in their late 30s. But boomers know that the best way to keep their minds sharp is to keep learning new things. After years in the corporate world, career changers said that learning about a new field from the inside was a key motivation.

Quality of Work Life and Burnout
Those interviewed felt strongly about quality of life issues and these issues have seemed more important to them as they get older. Some felt constrained by corporate regulations. One former retail executive said that she wanted to leave the corporate world so that she could “work better, not just faster.”

Judith Sommerstein, a career counselor in California, says she doesn’t see many career shifts among people under 35 or 40 that are motivated by quality of life issues, but she certainly does see this among baby boomers. “Salary becomes less of a priority to many boomers (despite the fact that retirement time gets closer), and job fulfillment means more. As we get older, the importance of personal job satisfaction becomes stronger.”

After more than 20 years in the business world, some boomers felt worn out or burned out. One former businessman said, “When I realized that every year was just a slightly different version of the year before and the year before that, I knew I had to leave. It’s not enough to just change the color of the annual report cover every year.”

According to one recent transplant to the arts community, “It wasn’t a blinding flash of realization, but just a feeling every morning that I didn’t love my job anymore, and I knew I needed to work somewhere else, do something entirely different, feel more needed.”

Less Corporate Loyalty
Unlike earlier generations, boomers don’t have the sense of a lifetime commitment to a job or a career. Mary Lyn Miller, a career consultant in New York City, has noted that there are several reasons why people look for a midcareer change. “Corporate life has changed,” Miller said. “No longer is there a promise of cradle-to-grave support, so the loyalty factor has been reduced a lot. Boomers realize they can’t depend on a job to take care of them.”

”The parents of baby boomers, especially those who lived through the Depression, perceived a job as something that gave them stability and money, so they stayed in jobs whether they liked them or not. Many boomers excelled at whatever they did and then they hit a wall. They were paying the bills, but not feeling fulfilled and happy. At the core of every success story is passion,” Miller said.

“A lot of boomers are looking out at the future and they don’t see a lot of career years left so they're changing in hopes of living their dream,” said Gerald Celente, director of Trends Research Institute. Boomers don’t believe that it makes sense to “give their heart and soul to a job that doesn’t make a difference and that has no guarantees. They may have been well-compensated, but at some point that may not be enough,” said Celente.

Personal Finances, Career Futures, and Changing Job Markets
Financially, many boomers in business have done well. Some have made substantial money, and others have been offered early retirement or an exit package. This financial security may not be the only reason to leave the corporate world for the nonprofit world, but it may make the possibility of that change more attractive.

Some of those interviewed have spent the past 20 years climbing the corporate ladder only to hit the glass ceiling. They became aware (slowly, over time, or in one quick announcement) that they were not going to be the CEO. Some realized that they didn’t want the job and were just as happy to discover it was not in their future. For others, it was a signal to move on and do something else.

There has also been a tremendous amount of downsizing and consolidation in the business world over the past 10 to15 years. According to the FDIC, for example, there are less than half as many banks in the United States today as there were in 1991. For some, a changing job market meant a much different approach to their careers.

Shifting Priorities and Deeper Meaning
Gene Cohen, director of the Center on Aging, Health and Humanities at George Washington University, said, “There is a period of exploration which begins in a person’s early 50s and continues through the early 70s. It’s a time when people begin to hear an inner voice that says, ’if not now, when?‘ These are powerful feelings of liberation. People often move into areas they haven’t tried, or embark on experimentation. In many ways, it is the counterpart to adolescence, but with a formed sense of identity.”

Some boomers reported having reached a time in their lives when they are searching for more meaning. According to Daniel Pink in the January 2005 issue of Wired magazine, many boomers are “liberated by prosperity but not fulfilled by it…and more people are searching for meaning. From the mainstream embrace of such once-exotic practices as yoga and meditation to the rise of spirituality in the workplace to the influence of evangelism in pop culture and politics, the quest for meaning and purpose has become an integral part of everyday life.”

“Baby boomers think they should be happy,” said Andrew Taylor, director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin. “They want to find some deeper meaning, some deeper fulfillment. And for some that means doing things differently—finding a job that makes their heart sing. Maybe they don’t get the upscale house or the new car but they’re happy.”