Coaching the vocation of mid-life
Coaching the vocation of mid-life by Milt Bullard -
Correspondent Posted on October 21, 2005
http://www.brentwoodpress.com/html/bwdhome.htm 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. I'm 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 he's 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 it's time to rediscover themselves. What
we do defines what we are. When people are over 40, they want
fulfillment. Many of us don't ask if what we're doing has value
until that age. Society tends to ignore people over 40, and
retirement is for people who don't 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 one's 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 don't 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, I'm 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 master's
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, Nathanson's
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,
"I'm 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, we're going to see a real paradigm switch."
The Vocational Coach's address is Suite D, 7960 Brentwood Blvd.
The phone is 240-0770, and the fax is 240-0721. Online, the
e-mail's nathanson@thevocationalcoach.com, and there's more
information on the Web at www.thevocationalcoach.com.