5 Ways to Rebuild Your Career After Personal Failure

Over the last year we’ve seen a number of high-profile men ousted from positions of power in the wake of the #metoo movement and increased (and necessary) attention to sexual harassment and abuse, particularly in the workplace. Matt Lauer, Louise C.K., Bill O’Reilly, Charlie Rose, and many others, have lost jobs and are seeking to make a comeback.

For every famous person who has seen their career go up in smoke, there are countless others who don’t make the news, and many ways beyond harassment to blow up a career.

When our personal failures lead to career failure how do we rebuild our lives, careers, and reputation? Let’s consider a few steps.

Own it. This might be the most difficult part of the process and our first inclination is usually to defend ourselves, but we must take responsibility for our actions. It does no good to deny or minimize our behavior and will only result in prolonging our career (and personal) problems.

Part of owning it requires us also to accept the consequences and learn from them without blaming others for our failures. When we take full responsibility, making restitution when possible, we can then move on to the next step.

Change. Our failures are a clear indication of the issues in our lives that we must change. And the change must be genuine and involve accountability. Often this change cannot happen alone and requires us to seek out help, usually in the form of therapy, a support group, or from a mentor.

Change takes time and is hard work. We must do the work if we truly want to rebuild our career and reputation.

  

Be patient, vulnerable & authentic. There is no defined time period for change to occur but know this: if you have a long-established pattern of inappropriate or unethical behavior, it will take considerably longer than you think for real, lasting change to occur in your life.

Therefore, be patient and vulnerable as you work through your issues and authentically share your struggle with those closest to you. But keep a low profile and avoid making a pronouncement that you’ve been “cured” or have changed. Let others make that judgment based on your behavior.

Humility. When we’ve abused our authority or engaged in unethical behavior in the workplace it’s unreasonable to assume we should return to a position with similar status or levels of authority. Accept that you will need to prove yourself again and be willing to demonstrate humility by working in a job or position that could be considered a step (or multiple steps) down. 

And don’t expect to be quickly promoted or restored to your previous position. Accept that you’re in the place you need to be now while you work to regain trust and rebuild your reputation.

Work hard. This should go without saying, but your focus on the job should be on how to do outstanding work. Make an effort to be recognized by the quality of your work and your integrity on the job.

Following these guidelines will put you on the path to restoring your career and reputation.