What I learnt from a 75 year old Uber driver!
All rights reserved. Copyright: Ashish Gupta
On one of my recent trips to Boston, I got into an Uber cab with a 75 year old driver. We started talking and he narrated his past, fondly remembering the 60s, when he used to be an engineer at NASA, working on the lunar project. After the successful landing of man on the Moon, he found himself out of job with his experience finding no use here on earth.
Not losing heart, he leveraged the help of a few friends to setup a factory to manufacture plastic components for some larger device. He did reasonable business for two decades, saving enough for retirement by the time the device became obsolete.
He was close to 60 by now, but his desire to keep working was still just as strong. His next venture was to run a Limousine service — he purchased five cars, drove one himself and hired drivers for the rest. He ran this business for almost a decade. Today, he lives with his wife in a beachfront house where his grandchildren frequently visit him. In order to remain active, he likes to spend a few hours each day driving Uber .
Most of us would find it difficult to imagine what we would do if our skills become obsolete. However, with the fast changing world and ever lengthening lifespans, most of us are likely to go through at least a few career transitions. When change beckons us, we can look up to stories like this one for hope and inspiration.