Smart Rabbits Have Three Holes - Then There Are Leaders Who Don't Change Lanes, High School Students Boxed into College Prep

 How many times founder and CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz had returned after retiring. Could that have boxed in the coffee chain's ability to keep transforming? Despite myriad turnaround strategies Starbucks remains stuck. Smirk. Its latest: Have baristers interact more with customers. What we want is not the relationship but faster service, more affordability and being part of cool. 

At Vogue after stepping down from the top job Anna Wintour will be down the hall from new head Chloe Malle. Can the brand which has seen better days pull out of its decline?

In prominent law firms there's a tendency for leaders who step down from the top job to hang around. Surely in their high-profile careers they have developed the contacts for very different career paths. 

At Jones Day former partner-in-charge at the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania office Laura Ellsworth is still there as the head of global community initiatives. The late Paul, Weiss Alfred Youngwood was only 73 when he stepped down in 2009 from chairman. Not old in the 21st understanding of aging. Could he have changed lanes? Instead, he stayed on as counsel. Does their presence hover, when it should have gone poof. Out with the old, in with the new. As a corporate speechwriter/ghostwriter I served myriad former CEOs who remained "part of." 

This syndrome of sticking in a lane should be getting more scrutiny as the Chinese snippet of wisdom is catching on in power circles: The smart rabbit has three holes. That's a meme for flexibility and mobility. Don't limit yourself. 

From the get-go when careers should be considered high school students might be nudged to step out of the college-prep track and take courses in shop. Immediately that could dig a new hole or maybe two for them.

It was in 2015 that former Yale professor William Deresiewicz outed how boxed in the best and brightest were. In his book "Excellent Sheep" he details how they had been railroaded into conforming with rigid success formulas. Currently that could be a major contributor to the inability of the highly educated to get, hold and move on to better work. And not only the young. Read the chronicles of despair among all generations on Reddit, Fishbowl, Glassdoor and Blind. 

Those formulas are an infrastructure for failure because:

1. They're rigid. Ha-ha, good luck trying to earn a good living with that kind of circumscribed mindset.

2. Nothing fails like success formulas. They seek to replicate past success in the present. The present is full of many new variables, as Bob Iger learned when he returned to the CEO role again. He began generating results when he finally saw the business differently. Incidentally the mantra of the Toledo Museum of Art is See Differently.

In my intuitive coaching/tarot reading, the first question I ask even those thriving professionally: What else can you do? It's best if they name two. Yes, the smart rabbit has three holes. 

Thrown off your game, maybe the first time since you started working? You made all the right moves and then the world moved in another direction.

Intuitive Coaching. Special expertise with transitions, reskilling and aging. Psychic/tarot readings, upon request. Complimentary consultation with Jane Genova (Text 203-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com). Yes, test out the chemistry. There’s no risk.