“I wish my husband never read your book,” a friend said to me some years ago, referring to Working Identity, my book about how people make career changes at mid-career. A successful corporate executive, my friend’s husband had been thinking of making a career shift when he was offered a severance package. The package was generous: It paid him well enough that he was able to explore some of his entrepreneurial ideas for two years, notably one that he’d been dreaming about for years: starting a wine business.
Reinventing Your Career — When It’s Not Just About You
A two-pronged approach for thinking creatively about your next step.
January 16, 2024
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Summary.
When you decide to change careers, the important people in your life have a stake in what you do, so it’s important to factor them in to your decision process. The challenge is to figure out how to honor your responsibilities to them without allowing yourself to be defined exclusively by what they feel you ought to be. To do this most effectively, Herminia Ibarra, an expert on career transitions, recommends a two-pronged approach that involves working closely with the primary “stakeholder” in your personal life to explore many different possibilities for yourself, and expanding the reference group within which you consider and evaluate possibilities.