Keeping a foot in the door

People grow like rings on trees. If you're reinventing yourself, you haven't left that previous self behind. What you were is still there, underneath what you are now.

I spent a lot of time with career # 5, the museum career. I truly love museums. Always have. Always will. I have a lot of friends in that world. And I still know a lot about it. So, it was important to me to retain a connection so this identity didn't just erode.

First, I tried serving on the board of a museum professional association. That didn't work very well. The organization needed people on its board who currently represent museums. After three years, although I keep up with the field, I'm not in the trenches any more and my knowledge base is getting obsolete. And yes, I do mean trenches. The persistent ivory tower image of museums was far removed from reality before the bottom dropped out of the global economy.

I've found a niche that keeps me involved with museum, or at least with museum conferences where I can see my friends and stay connected. The last two years, I've spoken at the annual meeting of the American Association of Museums about change. This year, I led two sessions on resume development and one on managing career change. I got a call last week about another museum conference-- same topic. I'll probably do it too. The conference is at the Maryland shore in February, and I've always liked the ocean in the winter. I'm a walking advertisement for a skills-based resume. Living proof that you can take what you've learned in one career and apply it in another context. Proof that there's life after museums.

Change is a funny topic in a museum context. Museums are all about preserving stuff. Someone I admire very much told me once that she thought many people were drawn to museums looking for what she called "an island of stasis in a sea of change." She knows, as do I, that there is no island of stasis. There is only the sea of change.

This image is used by permission of www.freefoto.com