Coffee with Business Ethics Expert Dr. Bettina Palazzo
Dr. Bettina Palazzo
Business Ethics Expert
Age: 54
Zoom London to Lausanne Chat
How I met Dr Palazzo
As I have noted many times, one of the best things about this project is the people I meet! That now includes Bettina. Bettina reached out to say what a good idea it is to re-brand what it means to be fifty. I had never thought about how the The 50:50 Project might be helping to rebrand what it means to be 50 - especially in terms of career opportunities and re-invention. I like the idea that we might be part of a bigger movement to help people think more expansively and positively about what it means to be 50 and in the process celebrate our experience, expertise and abilities.
So many of the people interviewed for this project from Tracey McAlpine of Fighting Fifty to Stuart Lewis of Rest Less and Genevieve Nikolopulos at @This_is_Fifty are helping to re-educate people about what 50 actually looks like (hint: it’s not frumpy and sad) and fight outdated stereotypes. For many 50 is a new beginning and not an end.
Certainly this is true for Bettina. In her own words… “Turning 50 was really great. I hadn't expected that. I had this clear feeling of possibility. You have so much more perspective. It's kind of sad, that you come to this level of confidence and trust in yourself so late in life. I would love to know how you can speed that up!”
And now for the interview…
Describe your career path in two or three sentences including any twist or turns ending with where you are now.
After finishing my degree in American Studies, I did a few internships and by chance I heard about the study of business ethics. That was in 1991 and it was a new field. I decided to do a PhD in Business Ethics and from there I went into consulting at KPMG. It was very pioneering work back in the day, explaining ethics to auditors is not so easy!
Today, I have my own Business Ethics consulting practice, I help companies define values that will inspire, develop codes of conduct to help workers in difficult situations and train leaders how to be credible and ethical role models.
In between, I had children. I wish I had known in my 30s and 40s to relax more about my career. I had worked hard and then at 35 when I had my first child, I asked myself is this it? I thought that it would be easier to do both, but time and energy are our limiting factors so sometimes it feels like you are just hanging in there.
Now, I'm 54. And I'm having my “revenge career” or maybe “catch-up career” would be a better term. I never stopped working, although I didn’t always work full-time. I tried to split my between raising kids and staying in the professional game. There were frustrations - like having to run to the doctors with your kid instead of finishing a work project.
Today, I feel that I am harvesting the compound effect of staying up-to-date in my field and gathering lots of very different experiences along the way. I feel on top of my game and that I am finally getting the professional appreciation and satisfaction, I could not get in my 40s.
What decision / experience proved to be the most helpful to your career? This could include a failure that set you up for later success.
The fun and sometimes painful part of my career is that I was always felt in between worlds and never really wanted. For example, when I did my PhD, my advisor didn't see how business ethics fit into the American Studies field and so he wanted to get rid of me.
Then I went on to do my PhD in a Philosophical Research Institute, I was the most practical person and the only non-philosopher so that was not a nice or comfortable situation. And when I went to KPMG, I was suddenly the most theoretical person in the room!
To succeed you have to build up a lot of strength and belief in your perspective, because you are often less knowledgeable than the other person who concentrated on one field. But over time, I learned that this is my secret sauce - that by working across so many fields I’ve collected different perspectives. There’s a compounding effect if you do this long enough and this has become the source of my creativity.
What advice would you give your 20 year old self knowing what you do now? And what advice would you tell her / him to ignore.
I would definitely tell my younger self to worry less and trust herself more.
And do more funky stuff like becoming a yoga teacher on the side.
Learn to Tango and Salsa. I did eventually learn Salsa, but it's so much more difficult when you are older.
Buy stocks. Investing money early on is very important one. I started late and again, with the compound effect, it's much easier if you start early.
Read books on negotiation.
Stay away from narcissistic guys.
Where or to whom do you look for inspiration?
I am very much into online learning and especially like Coursera courses. You can learn anything there.
Since COVID, I started doing winter swimming in Lake Geneva. It's great. When you jump into water that is only six degrees, you feel like Wonder Woman! In the beginning it was very hard and now it's very invigorating. I like that it is Covid friendly and good for your immune system.
I also like to listen to audiobooks in Italian.
When you are feeling stuck or uninspired, what actions do you take or what questions do you ask yourself?
Getting stuck can happen a lot when you are a knowledge worker. These days when we are all working from home, you need to force yourself to take longer breaks and go out.
Sometimes when you’re stuck, you just need to drop things and trust your brain to go into diffuse mode. And when you do all of a sudden, things pop up in your brain when you're out walking or on your bike.
How do you feel about your 50s?
Turning 50 was really great. I hadn't expected that. I had this clear feeling of possibility. You have so much more perspective. It's kind of sad, that you come to this level of confidence and trust in yourself so late in life. I would love to know how you can speed that up!
I’d like to encourage more women to see their 50s as something great. We need to fight back and ignore this whole ageism thing. We shouldn’t give it energy.
Avivah Wittenberg Cox wrote a very good article about the four different stages of women’s careers and the potential of your 40s, 50s and beyond. In our 20s, we are all ambitious. Then in our thirties we are usually dealing with children and maternity shock. And in your 40s you’re trying to hang in there. But then in your 50s, you have this kind of self realisation career. We have so much experience and self assurance and things should be easier.
In the last 5 years what new belief, behaviour or habit has most improved your working life?
The other most important thing I did was start doing hot yoga. It's so effective… suddenly, I have strong arms and strong legs. And this translates into your professional life, because you feel confident in your body and yourself. You say, wow, I can do this really scary pose now, so I can do anything!
If you could put one quote or piece of advice on a big billboard for everyone over 50 to see what would it be?
It would be “Don't worry being 50 is magic!”
What is the book or podcast you most recommend for someone thinking about designing their post-50 work life?
Playing Big by Tara Mohr is an important book that I discovered just last year. Mohr is a coach and she observed how so many brilliant women were holding themselves back partly, because they were hooked on praise and super sensitive to criticism. She gives women tools to help them overcome this and quiet their inner critic. But the biggest takeaway for me was learning to ignore minor negative feedback and accept that if you're doing important stuff, there's always going to be somebody who won't like it.
And the other book I would recommend is Big Magic: How to Live a Creative Life by Elizabeth Gilbert. After the freakish overnight success with her book Eat Love Prey, Gilbert struggled to write. Eventually she discovered the true driver of her creativity and how to be creative without suffering.
For more information on Dr Palazzo you can visit her site.
