[CAREER NEWS] What if you were simply a late bloomer?

At a time when we celebrate dazzling career paths and precocious successes, many people feel out of step with their own professional trajectory. Yet there is another path, one of maturity, resilience and the search for meaning: that of the late bloomers.

True accomplishment is not measured by speed, but by the depth of the road travelled.

Sometimes, however, it takes a lot of courage not to hurry and to accept that your true power can reveal itself at a moment's notice. What if your "delay" was in fact a privilege? That of having had the time to explore, to understand, to build yourself...

Welcome to the world of late bloomers!

What is a late bloomer? A quiet force

The term comes from the English word for "a flower that blooms later than others".
It refers to those who, after an often atypical or sketchy career, come into their own later in life. Not because they lack talent or ambition, but because their timing is different.

What do the authors who have studied the subject have to say?

In her essay 'Il n'est jamais trop tard pour éclore', Catherine Taret recounts how this simple word changed her perspective on her own life. No, she wasn't out of step. She was simply on a different rhythm.

This simple idea is radically counter-cultural in today's society. Ever since school, we've been conditioned to succeed early, fast and hard. Rankings, charts and success stories are littered with millionaires in their thirties, entrepreneurs with advanced degrees at 28, athletes and precocious artists. The obsession with youthful performance leaves little room for slower, more inner trajectories...

And yet, they do exist. Better still, they carry with them a kind of invisible richness: that of a long period of training, of an intimate and powerful foundation, sometimes unsuspected... until a triggering element - a break, a trigger, a crisis, an opportunity - activates a whole potential that has remained dormant until then.

In other words, understanding that you're a late bloomer can change everything: it gives a helping hand to those who doubt they still have a card to play. It's not that they've missed the train. It's that their train leaves later.

In his book 'Second Act: What 'Late Bloomers' Can Tell You About Success and Reinventing Your Life', Henry Oliver analyzes the trajectories of people who achieved some form of significant success in the second half of their working lives.

What characterizes these late bloomers is not sudden genius. It's the shift between two phases of life:

1. A phase of exploration: winding, sometimes frustrating, marked by forks in the road, trial and error, aborted quests. It's not a waste of time, but a long, often invisible process.
2. A phase of exploitation: when an opportunity arises, when an alignment is made between desire, competence and context, these people are ready. They transform into impact what they have been working on for a long time without knowing it.

This dynamic shows that success is not linked to age, but to the quality of the transition between these two periods, which marks their late switch to recognition and impact.

The hidden superpowers of late bloomers

Contrary to popular belief, succeeding late in life is neither a miracle nor the result of a failure. It's often the fruit of a slow but powerful maturation

Catherine Taret's insights, combined with those of Henry Oliver and other late-career experts, highlight several traits shared by those who succeed late in life:

• Silent perseverance: these people didn't always follow a clear goal, but they never gave up on their underground passions. They kept learning, trying and searching.
• Emotional maturity: their choices are often more aligned with their deepest values and less dictated by social image or performance.
• Resilience: these people have often gone through moments of doubt or rupture, but their trials have strengthened them.
• Polymorphous curiosity: these people have been involved in several fields, tried out different jobs, and crossed worlds, from which they derive a singular vision.
• Fertile discretion: they advance quietly, often in the shadows, but gather skills, experience and clarity.
• An intimate relationship with time: they know that there's no rush, but that nothing happens without movement.

The silent challenges of the late bloomers

Being a late bloomer isn't always easy, as you have to deal with:

• Social invisibility: in a world that values early success, it's hard to admit that you're still finding your feet at 40 or 50.
• The pressure of social norms: "At your age, you should have figured it out by now...". Tackles like subtle but formidable poisons that prevent exploration.
• Self-judgment: the feeling that you're "out of it", "behind schedule", that you don't deserve another chance.
• Existential fatigue: after years of ticking all the right boxes, thinking "it's all for nothing!" and not knowing what to aim for...

And yet... these challenges can become springboards.

Some famous and late trajectories:

• Charles Perrault published his tales (such as Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood) at over 60 years of age.
• Katharine Graham, CEO of the Washington Post at 45, after a personal tragedy. Despised and underestimated, she became one of the most powerful figures in the American press.
• Harland Sanders is the founder of KFC at… 65.
• Laura Ingalls Wilder finally managed to publish her first book, Little House on the Prairie, at the age of 65, and it was an instant success.

They all have one thing in common: their story seemed "banal", even invisible, before the turning point came. And it's precisely this non-linear path that has forged their uniqueness!

Another success is possible... yours!

The late bloomer is an illustration that another path is possible. There's no age limit to becoming yourself. There are just different rhythms, invisible maturations, inner calls that sometimes take years to hear.

Maybe you're not rebooting. Maybe you're finally ready to unfold what you've always carried within you.

The real gap is not in time, it's in the look... You haven't fallen behind: you've simply chosen to mature before flowering!

What if the real question wasn't "when" but "how"😊

Elizabeth TOUCAS - Executive Strengths Coach & Head of Career Development Services

IÉSEG Network

For all your needs in terms of personalized Executive Coaching or any other type of support, and for all requests for information about the IÉSEG Network’s Career Development Services, please contact me:

e.toucas@ieseg.fr or 06.85.33.01.57.