This document discusses midlife career crises and provides two case studies as examples. It begins by defining midlife crisis and some of the common triggers in the workplace like burnout, office politics, and lack of growth. It then presents two case studies - one of a woman in her mid-50s facing health issues from stress after an unhappy marriage and job loss of interest, and another of a man who grew steadily in his career by maintaining balance and seeking new challenges to avoid boredom. Finally, it outlines some of the stages of midlife crisis and strategies for individuals and organizations to address crises, such as taking time for hobbies, counseling, training, and career changes.

1. MIDLIFE CAREER:
Career Stages &
Managing Confusions
GROUP 7
GARIMA ARORA (#02)
VISHESH PILLAI (#33)
KRISHNAKANT SHARMA (#42)
SUBH KUMAR SHARMA (#45)
SHIKHAR SODHANI (#53)
GAURAV SYAL (#55)

2. INTRODUCTION:
• In a paper published in 1965, Elliott Jaques, then 48 and a relatively
unknown Canadian psychoanalyst and organizational consultant,
coined the term “midlife crisis.”
• It’s only a matter of time before working men and women will start
facing the heat of a mid-life career crisis in their job. It’s seldom an
overnight development that you can quickly put your finger on.
Instead it starts creeping up slowly but surely. Office politics, burnout,
ego clashes, loss of management trust, self defeating feelings of self-
doubt.

3. Woman in her mid 50’s
Pleasant childhood-loving
parents, friends, good
education
Special interest in
numbers-graduated from
JBIMS
Mental torture of being
labeled as a ‘divorcee’
Single parent-loving
daughter
But married against her
parent’s wishes ad
realized she got married
to a wrong person.
Difficult to get on with
her work and reluctant to
go to work.
Completely lost interest in
the job
Mental stress and anguish
affected her performance
and she is facing lot of
health problems.
Case of Amrita
Aggarwal

4. Born in 1962 in a
small village in UP
Lower middle class
family with
agricultural
background, first one
in the family to go to
college
Wanted to do
engineering but due
to financial
constraints did B.Sc.
and M.Sc. Physics
Got a job in ISRO
Bangalore as a
scientist. After
working for a few
years, found no
growth
Joined global
consumer electronics
company in
Bangalore
Married and
maintained good
relations with family
and friends, balanced
life and took time to
pursue his hobbies
Grew with the
company. Restricted
abroad trips while
the birth of his 1st
daughter and
supported his wife.
Defined priorities and
found company
exciting and
challenging.
Felt exhausted but
knew how to
overcome boredom
by constantly seeking
new challenges.
Case of Deepak
Anand

5. STAGES OF MIDLIFE CRISIS:

6. A CRISIS OR AN OPPORTUNITY IN DISGUISE:
• Midlife Crisis generally occur when people are in their mid career and
re-evaluate their goals and thus are faced with career dilemmas.
• There are tendency to change their geographic locations, shifting of
priorities, pursuit of alternate lifestyles, etc.
• Various people deal with these crisis differently. While some regret
the things which they lost during their early stages of career, other
take time out and seek out new challenges.

7. A REALITY OR MYTH:
• Termed as: “A loss of self-confidence and feeling of anxiety or
disappointment that can occur in early middle age”
• Typically used to set in the age of 40-50 , but nowadays it has been
reduced to 30-35.
• Various factors come into play for the midlife crisis like experiences they
have faced in their life, family/work pressure which leads to added
mental stress.
• Other factors include lack of progression at the workplace or lack of
intellectual competency required.

8. INDIVIDUAL:
• Better work life balance
• Therapy
• Take time out for yourself and family
• Creative exploration/Hobbies
• Health
• Keep learning new things
• Set yourselves new goals for self improvement

9. ORGANIZATION:
• Reduce monotony
• Assigning new tasks
• Internal career change options
• Training and development programs
• Help employees expand their horizons
• Sabbaticals
• Provide counselling

10. Questions?