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From Contracts to Kayaks: How Michael Cox Moved from Law to Experiential Education
Michael Cox is a real career pivoter. Unlike many of Amy’s guests who have “spun off” from one related career to another, Mike has changed fields entirely. He chats with Amy today about the thoughtful process he followed to find his eventual career fulfillment. If you are fearful of moving away from work and a career you don’t enjoy, listen to how one man managed a deliberate and brave major change for his own life and career.
Mike grew up in Maryland and the Washington, D.C. metro area where he became an avid reader, yoga enthusiast, hockey player, skier, kayaker, hiker and rock climber. He participated as a youth in the prestigious National Outdoor Leadership School in Alaska as well. His academic interests in high school were government and politics with a special curiosity about international affairs. So, with this background, Mike chose the University of Colorado at Boulder for undergrad school. There he could easily pursue his hobbies as he studied for a double major in international affairs and philosophy. While attending, he developed a particular interest in Latin America. It was at this time when he began to focus on foreign service as his ultimate career.
After graduating magna cum laude, Mike received an opportunity to be a paralegal and the assistant to the Honorary Consul of Mongolia at a law firm in the greater Denver area. This was good experience while he considered the best route to take forward to his foreign service goal. He decided his next step would be to enhance his resume further with a law degree, so he enrolled in the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. While there, in the summer of 2011, he traveled to Argentina with the Southwestern Law Study Abroad Program and became fluent in Spanish. It was also during law school that he determined to take the foreign service exam. The FSOT is part of a rigorous 6 step process for entry into foreign service. He was cut at step 5, the oral evaluation phase. He could have easily retaken the exam as many do, but the experience caused him to rethink this long time goal. He sought out conversations with people in the foreign service and others who could help him better understand the reality of what life would be like. Did he want to move every couple of years? What would family life be like if he did? He had a myriad of questions that needed honest answers. As he explored more deeply, he was inclined to think that a career in the foreign service was not really what he wanted after all. But then what was?
He was still in law school, and he needed to finish while he continued to think things through. He hadn’t entered the law program with the intention of eventually practicing law, but that’s what happened next. It didn’t happen right away though. It was 2013 and graduates were having a difficult time finding work in the post-recession job market. (The unemployment rate for this group was 18.3% at the time.) It took Mike 9 months, but he landed a position in a law office in the Washington, D.C. area. The firm specialized in government contracts and construction, neither of which held much interest for him, but it allowed him to gain yet more experience. He stayed for 3 years. He learned some necessary legal fundamentals, but that period of time assured him this was not the fulfilling work he sought to spend his career doing. He began a process of self-examination which included quite a few tough questions.
Mike explains a “red flag” for him was the realization that there was no one’s position there at the firm he had an interest in or aspired to. This was a clear indication to him that he had no goals to accomplish or strive for where he was. He also realized that no one was going to come along and offer him the perfect job. He was going to have to become proactive. But how? Where would he look? What work would he find joy in doing? As it turned out, the answers were waiting to be discovered within himself.
During high school and college, Mike had enjoyed many outdoor sports and activities. Throughout his school years, he had spent his free time in competition with others or just challenging himself. He had even entertained passing his love of all his favorite activities on to others as an instructor. These thoughts were fleeting as he never seriously considered turning his recreational pastimes into a career. He had pushed ahead with his more intellectual interests in political science and international affairs. But now he revisited thoughts of this old passion that was still an integral part of his life.
Amy inquired how he made this big transition. Mike said he began by looking to outdoor travel companies, outdoor education organizations and so forth. This led him to the then Baltimore based Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School, conveniently close to Washington, D.C. where he lives. The school had an administrative opening, so he applied, hoping to get his foot in the door.
Outward Bound is a non-profit, experiential education organization. It serves people of all ages and backgrounds by offering challenging outdoor programs of many types designed to inspire strength of character, leadership and service to others, both in and out of the classroom. This organization seemed like a perfect fit for Mike, and hopefully he would be able to have some direct interaction with the students who participated.
His interviewer (later his mentor and supervisor) called him and told him she could tell he really wanted to be an instructor, not an administrator. Mike had to admit that was the case. So, she offered to place him in an apprenticeship program that would teach him the basics he would need to begin as an instructor. Mike accepted the offer, took a deep breath and resigned as an attorney. Listen to him describe how this hugely difficult decision changed his life. He shares with listeners how he summoned the courage to reinvent his own personal narrative.
After four years as a field instructor, he is now the Associate Program Director of the Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School. He still gets out in the field with students and enjoys sharing his passion for nature and outdoor adventuring. He has some good advice to offer for those who might also struggle to make a major career change as he did. If you’re on the career fence, listening to this podcast might just be time very well spent.
Topics in this episode:
- How to face the tough questions
- How avoidance and regret can catch up with you
- Why to become proactive and how to go about it
- Networking with people in the know
- How to recognize what you can control and what you cannot
Worthy Quote: “I didn’t want anyone’s job there. If I’m not striving, going for the next position, that means something’s wrong. That was a red flag.”
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-cox-82929970/
www.outwardbooundchesapeake.org
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By Amy RowlandMichael Cox is a real career pivoter. Unlike many of Amy’s guests who have “spun off” from one related career to another, Mike has changed fields entirely. He chats with Amy today about the thoughtful process he followed to find his eventual career fulfillment. If you are fearful of moving away from work and a career you don’t enjoy, listen to how one man managed a deliberate and brave major change for his own life and career.
Mike grew up in Maryland and the Washington, D.C. metro area where he became an avid reader, yoga enthusiast, hockey player, skier, kayaker, hiker and rock climber. He participated as a youth in the prestigious National Outdoor Leadership School in Alaska as well. His academic interests in high school were government and politics with a special curiosity about international affairs. So, with this background, Mike chose the University of Colorado at Boulder for undergrad school. There he could easily pursue his hobbies as he studied for a double major in international affairs and philosophy. While attending, he developed a particular interest in Latin America. It was at this time when he began to focus on foreign service as his ultimate career.
After graduating magna cum laude, Mike received an opportunity to be a paralegal and the assistant to the Honorary Consul of Mongolia at a law firm in the greater Denver area. This was good experience while he considered the best route to take forward to his foreign service goal. He decided his next step would be to enhance his resume further with a law degree, so he enrolled in the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. While there, in the summer of 2011, he traveled to Argentina with the Southwestern Law Study Abroad Program and became fluent in Spanish. It was also during law school that he determined to take the foreign service exam. The FSOT is part of a rigorous 6 step process for entry into foreign service. He was cut at step 5, the oral evaluation phase. He could have easily retaken the exam as many do, but the experience caused him to rethink this long time goal. He sought out conversations with people in the foreign service and others who could help him better understand the reality of what life would be like. Did he want to move every couple of years? What would family life be like if he did? He had a myriad of questions that needed honest answers. As he explored more deeply, he was inclined to think that a career in the foreign service was not really what he wanted after all. But then what was?
He was still in law school, and he needed to finish while he continued to think things through. He hadn’t entered the law program with the intention of eventually practicing law, but that’s what happened next. It didn’t happen right away though. It was 2013 and graduates were having a difficult time finding work in the post-recession job market. (The unemployment rate for this group was 18.3% at the time.) It took Mike 9 months, but he landed a position in a law office in the Washington, D.C. area. The firm specialized in government contracts and construction, neither of which held much interest for him, but it allowed him to gain yet more experience. He stayed for 3 years. He learned some necessary legal fundamentals, but that period of time assured him this was not the fulfilling work he sought to spend his career doing. He began a process of self-examination which included quite a few tough questions.
Mike explains a “red flag” for him was the realization that there was no one’s position there at the firm he had an interest in or aspired to. This was a clear indication to him that he had no goals to accomplish or strive for where he was. He also realized that no one was going to come along and offer him the perfect job. He was going to have to become proactive. But how? Where would he look? What work would he find joy in doing? As it turned out, the answers were waiting to be discovered within himself.
During high school and college, Mike had enjoyed many outdoor sports and activities. Throughout his school years, he had spent his free time in competition with others or just challenging himself. He had even entertained passing his love of all his favorite activities on to others as an instructor. These thoughts were fleeting as he never seriously considered turning his recreational pastimes into a career. He had pushed ahead with his more intellectual interests in political science and international affairs. But now he revisited thoughts of this old passion that was still an integral part of his life.
Amy inquired how he made this big transition. Mike said he began by looking to outdoor travel companies, outdoor education organizations and so forth. This led him to the then Baltimore based Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School, conveniently close to Washington, D.C. where he lives. The school had an administrative opening, so he applied, hoping to get his foot in the door.
Outward Bound is a non-profit, experiential education organization. It serves people of all ages and backgrounds by offering challenging outdoor programs of many types designed to inspire strength of character, leadership and service to others, both in and out of the classroom. This organization seemed like a perfect fit for Mike, and hopefully he would be able to have some direct interaction with the students who participated.
His interviewer (later his mentor and supervisor) called him and told him she could tell he really wanted to be an instructor, not an administrator. Mike had to admit that was the case. So, she offered to place him in an apprenticeship program that would teach him the basics he would need to begin as an instructor. Mike accepted the offer, took a deep breath and resigned as an attorney. Listen to him describe how this hugely difficult decision changed his life. He shares with listeners how he summoned the courage to reinvent his own personal narrative.
After four years as a field instructor, he is now the Associate Program Director of the Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School. He still gets out in the field with students and enjoys sharing his passion for nature and outdoor adventuring. He has some good advice to offer for those who might also struggle to make a major career change as he did. If you’re on the career fence, listening to this podcast might just be time very well spent.
Topics in this episode:
- How to face the tough questions
- How avoidance and regret can catch up with you
- Why to become proactive and how to go about it
- Networking with people in the know
- How to recognize what you can control and what you cannot
Worthy Quote: “I didn’t want anyone’s job there. If I’m not striving, going for the next position, that means something’s wrong. That was a red flag.”
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-cox-82929970/
www.outwardbooundchesapeake.org