Raising Money, Raising Minds
As a college undergrad, Tom Hooper had two dreams: to get into politics and to teach first grade. The political dream died of disillusionment after a summer interning for a congressman. The teaching dream was dropped because "I wanted to something important and still make money."
Armed with a Harvard MBA, Hooper decided he wanted to buy a radio station. By 1981, he and his wife owned a 50,000-watt, daytime station in Greenville, South Carolina. They ran it successfully for six years. But Greenville began to pall, so he sold the station in 1987, weeks before the crash.
For the next seven years, Hooper worked as a self-styled "turnaround specialist," consulting with radio stations in trouble. He settled in Montclair, New Jersey, and took a job with a nearby radio station. He also joined a career transition group at Burton Strategies in New York. He recalls the group leader remarking that she could see him working at a school. It was an insightful remark.
Tom had worked at a Montessori school in college. He loved it and so did the kids. "They crawled all over me." But in the career group, his reply was automatic: "You can't make money at a school."
By 1994, Hooper was floundering. The radio industry was consolidating and jobs were drying up. He went to work on the sales floor of a nearby Macy's and wondered what to do with his life. Then he attended a reunion at his prep-school in Middletown, Delaware, where he'd been one of seven or eight black students in the whole school. A classmate mentioned a new school in Newark called St. Phillips and suggested he check it out. At the age of 42, he found a fresh start. "I walked into that school, met the people, saw the fire in their eyes and knew I wanted to be there."
His wife's reaction was equally clear: "That's the place you need to be," she said. In 1996, he signed on as director of development; his starting salary was $45,000 a year. "It was a step up from Macy's, but it wasn't what I'd been earning before."
St. Phillips is a K-8 state school where every student receives some measure of financial aid. For some, the school provides everything from books to lunch to uniforms. "Our goal is to get these kids into good high schools and then into college," Hooper says.
When Hooper arrived, the school had raised about $400,000 a year to cover expenses. Last year it raised $2 million, and it has successfully collected $16 million toward a $21 million fund.
Tom now earns a good deal more than he did when he started at St. Phillips, but that's not what keeps him there. Something that does is the opportunity to serve as a role model for St. Phillips students. Tom keenly recalls the lack of mentors during his own high school days.
After years as a hired gun, he has learned that he loves to be part of a team and, more importantly, that "I have to be with people who share my values." Those values are simple: "equity and justice."
Hooper plans to work into his 80s. It's a safe bet many will benefit from his efforts.
The Firestarter
Mary Lindley Burton has been helping people make career transitions since 1978, when she founded Burton Strategies. At the time, career consulting was not an established profession. Even today, it's unregulated, without any agreed-upon standards or qualifications.
Burton has watched the American business landscape change drastically over the past 28 years. "In the '70s and '80s, the business community was disoriented and surprised by radical changes in the business environment... People were fired who never expected to be fired."
That sense of complacency is gone. "Many of my clients should expect to have four to seven careers in their working lives." The reasons aren't hard to divine. "The world changes rapidly now. It's not likely that one individual can amass enough knowledge to last a lifetime of work."
Of course, the world has always changed rapidly. But now there is a crucial difference: There's no one to help you keep pace. "From World War II through the '70s, major American companies provided retraining for their employees. You had reason to think your company would take care of you. Not any more."
Just as the expectations for employers have changed, so have those of employees. "People focus on the contribution they can make to a company, but they are not thinking of a lifetime commitment."
She likens her clientele to churchgoers. Some just want to change pews -- doing the work they have always done, but for a different employer. Some want to change churches -- staying within their professional community, but moving to a different part of it, like another field of law or marketing. Others want to change faiths and do something entirely different. "These are the people who take a 360-degree look at their lives and decide to repot."
Burtonhas worked with an estimated 12,000 people in her career -- and she's learned that changing pews, churches or faiths is not easy. "Learning to go inward and find out what you value is an acquired skill, not a natural one." But those who do it often find enormous benefit.
Knowing When It's Time to Go
In an old comedy routine, Mel Brooks explains how you know when you've fallen out of favor at work: "You come into work one morning and your desk is on fire." All second actors seem to identify a specific moment when they knew their current jobs had passed their sell-by date. Here's a sampling:
"Seven years before they dissolved my department, they started a new one that was full of people younger than those in my department. I had an inkling that we would teach the new group what we knew, and then they would cut us loose. I was right." – Bob Seymore
"When I was commuting into my office, I'd get off the PATH train and see this herd of people who all looked like they hated where they were going. I thought, I can find another way." – Jason Harris, who after ten years as a lawyer and six as a stock broker, sits at home in sweat pants and trades commodities.
"I was in this big bank and one day I realized I was in the same place I was in 10 years earlier." – David Kelman
"During my performance review, which was a tirade, I suggested maybe my boss didn't want me in the job anymore. She reacted with complete relaxation, as if she'd been meditating." – John Harvey
Speak Up!
Many What's Next readers have gone through interesting, dramatic, or challenging career transitions and we know many of you are interested in hearing about those experiences. If you have a personal story that you would like to contribute, please do so in the Comments box below. Or if you would like to put us in touch with someone you know who has a compelling story to tell, send us a confidential email at .
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