Coaching the vocation of mid-life
by Craig Nathanson
Since moving here last July, one thing Craig Nathanson has noticed is the 10,000 people commuting out of Brentwood down Vasco Road to miserable jobs. It reminds him, he adds, of his own life four years ago, when I left corporate America after 25 years.
Calling himself the vocational coach, a trademark he instituted when he started his new business, Nathanson, 49, explains that he helps adults in their mid-lives discover and live their vocational passions. Im not a traditional career counselor. I help people understand how to align their abilities and interests. I give them the momentum that they need. My goal is to help people discover what they are really passionate about doing, and then be able to make the money they need doing it.
To this end, Nathanson works with individual clients from four different countries and throughout the United States in weekly sessions, typically lasting from three to six months. Most of those he coaches are in their 40s, and a majority are women.
Reflecting the results of the research hes been conducting for his doctoral thesis over the past dozen years, Nathanson has found that what happens to people in their 40s is they come to the point of realizing its time to rediscover themselves. What we do defines what we are. When people are over 40, they want fulfillment. Many of us dont ask if what were doing has value until that age. Society tends to ignore people over 40, and retirement is for people who dont love what they do.
Noting that most of those who seek his services are coming out of some tragedy - illness, being laid off, divorced - Nathanson attributes to the latter and to newly empty nests the preponderance of women he coaches. The author of the book P is for Perfect, published in Canada through a former client, Nathanson begins each coaching assignment with a 100-question assessment, helping one look at ones whole life, the work in relation to other life aspects.
Although Nathanson speaks throughout the country, his clients come to him mostly through referrals. He regularly travels to Russia where, in his view, people dont make any connections between joy and work. Attributing his coaching skills to his academic research, corporate background, and personal experience, Nathanson says at the end of the day, Im just the fellow who helps people find themselves.
Nathanson was born, and grew up, in San Francisco in, he remembers, a 300-square-foot apartment with his mom. They were poor enough, he recalls, to have to invent his own toys. He attended both San Francisco State and USF, earning two masters degrees, one in telecommunications from Golden Gate University, and the other in human development from the Fielding Graduate Institute.
In his pre-coaching days, Nathanson was a senior manager for Intel as well as one of the founders of an internet e-commerce company. With his wife and daughter and two sons, and as dictated by the job, he moved back and forth from Danville and Sacramento. Of his years as a corporate executive, Nathansons assessment is: I was good at it, but I was not liking it. And so, effectively his own first client, he changed his life.
Now in the process of finalizing a divorce, Nathanson admits, Im living more of my research than I ever expected to. I walked away from the six-figure income. I gave up the fancy cars, and traded the 4,000-square foot mansion for a 400-square-foot apartment. He also found himself with a prostate tumor, fortunately benign; used up his retirement funds; went through bankruptcy; and helped his middle son confront and combat a serious illness.
The lesson, Nathanson believes, is that you must follow your heart. The world would be a better place if we all did what we love. As an example, he cites the new generation, the 18-to-25-year-olds who, he finds, really want a balanced lifestyle. And Nathanson suspects that when they reach their 40s, were going to see a real paradigm switch.
The Vocational Coachs address is Suite D, 7960 Brentwood Blvd. The phone is 240-0770, and the fax is 240-0721. Online, the e-mails craig, and theres more information on the Web at www.thevocationalcoach.com.
Article Source: http://www.elrincondelantropologo.com/
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