How Successful Career Changers Turn Fantasy into Reality

Whether as a daydream or a spoken desire, nearly all of us have entertained the notion of reinventing ourselves. Feeling unfulfilled, burned out, or just plain unhappy with what we’re doing, we long to make that leap into the unknown. But we also hold on, white-knuckled, to the years of time and effort we’ve invested in our current profession.

In this powerful book, Herminia Ibarra presents a new model for career reinvention that flies in the face of everything we’ve learned from "career experts." While common wisdom holds that we must first know what we want to do before we can act, Ibarra argues that this advice is backward. Knowing, she says, is the result of doing and experimenting. Career transition is not a straight path toward some predetermined identity, but a crooked journey along which we try on a host of "possible selves" we might become.

Based on her in-depth research on professionals and managers in transition, Ibarra outlines an active process of career reinvention that leverages three ways of "working identity": experimenting with new professional activities, interacting in new networks of people, and making sense of what is happening to us in light of emerging possibilities.

Through engrossing stories—from a literature professor turned stockbroker to an investment banker turned novelist—Ibarra reveals a set of guidelines that all successful reinventions share. She explores specific ways that hopeful career changers of any background can:

Explore possible selves
Craft and execute "identity experiments"
Create "small wins" that keep momentum going
Survive the rocky period between career identities
Connect with role models and mentors who can ease the transition
Make time for reflection—without missing out on windows of opportunity
Decide when to abandon the old path in order to follow the new
Arrange new events into a coherent story of who we are becoming.

A call to the dreamer in each of us, Working Identity explores the process for crafting a more fulfilling future. Where we end up may surprise us.

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Working Identity provides a very refreshing perspective, and one that I agree with. That while introspection is good and necessary, it is doubtful that introspection alone will provide us with the answer of what we want to do. Rather, only through new experiences and relationships will we begin to "think out of the box", so to speak, and get a true sense for what we enjoy and for what motivates us.

I highly recommend this book to anybody who feels stuck in a professional rut and is not quite sure how to get out of it. Not only will you be able to empathize with some of the individuals in the case studies, but I believe the book will help you to begin thinking in a new way, in terms of how to initiate change in your life.

However, I do have a few criticisms of the book. At several times I had to ask myself who was Ibarra's intended audience, career changers or her fellow professors? Many times it just sounded unnecessarily "academic" in tone, particularly in the beginning of the book where she uses several pages to form "models" for her particular theories. Again, it is as if her audience at this point are her fellow professors and academians, rather than simply the frustrated individual who is trying to create a career change. It is not difficult to understand, but she just makes it sound much more complicated than it needs to be, when in reality the theory/model is just common sense: Make a list of things you're interested in, go explore them a bit, and then go with the flow based on how that experience makes you feel.

Another criticism I have is that all of the individuals highlighted in her case study examples are very highly educated, and seemingly have done very well for themselves financially. In and of itself this is not a problem, in that the case studies are still interesting. The subjects she uses are most likely a product of the circles in which she runs, as Ibarra is, after all, a professor. However, I really would have liked to see more diversity in the subjects that she chose, as I think the book could really have spoken to a lot more people who are struggling with career change.

For example, she frequently cites that "taking a sabbatical" from work is one great way to break out of the box and start looking at some new interests. No doubt, a sabbatical sounds really great to must of us, but unfortunately the reality is that there are not many people who can afford to just stop working. There are plenty of very intelligent, educated professionals who are supporting families or have other committments, and it's just not realistic for them to take a sabbatical. Of course, it would be impossible for Ibarra to address every different situation, but I would have liked to see her stretch the case studies beyond the $100K+ professional with a Master's or PhD. Again, this is just another area where I think Ibarra makes the change process sound more complicated than it needs to be. My personal suggestion to someone who is not in a financial position to "take a sabbatical" would be simply to volunteer an hour or two a week in a charity, church, or other organization that is important to you, where you have the opportunity to use and explore some different skills than what you would normally do during your work day. I have personally found this to be very valuable, but for some reason I never saw volunteering suggested by Ibarra in her book.

These criticisms aside however, this book is revolutionary in that it challenges 95% of the career change advice that is out there right now and provides a new and very refreshing perspective on how an individual will typically journey towards change. It is not a "how to" book that provides a step by step process, but rather a book that will help you "think out of the box" and come up with ideas that you can apply in your own life. Again, I highly recommend this book to anyone who 1. has been frustrated with the traditional career change books (as I was), and/or 2. who just feels they are in a career rut and isn't quite sure how to break out.

Best of luck to you!

81 of 83 found the following review helpful:

A MUST for career changers and those who guide themFeb 05, 2003
By Dr Cathy Goodwin
I recommend this book because it turns the world of career counseling upside down, offering a welcome antidote to the traditional career counselors, outplacement folks and coaches who rely heavily on "assessment" and chirpy philosophies of, "If you dream it, you can do it."

Ibarra's greatest contribution is to emphasize that self-analysis and action must go together. A focus on self-analysis is easier for the client and more lucrative for a counselor or coach. As she says, implementation is more challenging and difficult than diagnosis. Additionally, she goes beyond the typical "Get out and network!" advice, offering a theory-based prescription to network with strangers and distant acquaintances. And she emphasizes that career change is a winding road, not a straight line -- something any experienced career counselor should know. Her examples echo other recent research by career psychologists, focusing on serendipity as a career force.

Mid-career changers have to be especially creative when making career decisions. My only quibble is that her examples come from very well-educated, successful, sophisticated, under-50 career changers. (I detected one 53-year-old male, mentioned briefly.) Those over fifty tend to face additional challenges. However, the principles can be used by anyone at any career stage.

Working Identity has a more serious tone than the typical self-help book, perhaps reflecting the author's research and the Harvard publishing imprint. It is not a fast, entertaining read, like so many self-help books, and the author offers no exercises to the reader.

Ibarra does not discuss social support that might come from friends, family or a paid coach or counselor. I would have liked to see more discussion of the role of personal conflict, such as divorce, on career change, and I would expect to see at least a disclaimer to differentiate a desire for a new career from depression or other psychological crises. The author stresses the need to find a new community, but there's usually a lonely spot when a career-changer has left the old community yet not been accepted by the new. There are several parallels with my own book, Making the Big Move, which discusses identity loss in the context of relocation.

On the other hand, this book succeeds precisely because it avoids many of the pitfalls of the mass market self-help genre. I am recommending Working Identity to just about everyone I know. No glitz, no hype -- it's the Real Deal.

58 of 58 found the following review helpful:

Excellent book on finding the right careerMar 02, 2003
By Stacy E. Burrell "stacyburrell.blogspot.com"
In a nutshell, this book has helped me immensely in developing possible career paths. The main premise of the book is that the answer to "What should I do with my life?" does not typically come in a flash of insight or by seeking to discover yourself first. Rather, it comes from trying different ideas or alternatives and then reflecting on the experiences.

I have been engaged in the exercise of finding the right career for the past three years. I have did all manners of self-tests, journals, coaching and personality tests to find the answer. This isn't to say that my efforts were wasted because I was able to gain clarity into what I liked and disliked. The problem is that I never took action because I was looking for an "aha!" moment of discovery that never came. By reading "Working Identity" I have discovered that it is normal not to have an "aha!" and that the real value is taking what I have done and put it into action in order to discover what I would like to do.

In addition to the approach described by the author, the book is a short read, is well researched(with the research methods included) and has numerous stories as examples. The writing does get somewhat dry and academic in parts, but that is more than offset by the approach, short length and the stories.

I highly recommend!

26 of 26 found the following review helpful:

A great book for the totally cluelessDec 06, 2002
By golden boy
This is a book for people that don't know what they want to do when they grow up. Most career books take the position that you can divine what you want to do through introspection and self-analysis.(See, for example, What Color is Your Parachute?)
The primary message of this book is get out of your head, get out in the real world and start experimenting,even on a part time basis,with the things you think you might like to do. It's a decent read and full of interesting ideas for people who want to change their careers.

25 of 25 found the following review helpful:

Finally - a career advice book that offers real adviceJul 07, 2004

Even after completing an MBA and spending 12 years in marketing in various companies, I still had no real sense of what I wanted to do with my life (career-wise). I undertook many so-called career tests (Myer-B, etc) and completed many exercises in loads of books (Parachute, etc), but none seemed to offer any plan or guidance as to what to do next. It was nice to know what I enjoyed doing, what skills are preferred and so on - but that really offered little in practical advice as to what to do next. This book offers practicality, and interesting case studies that I could directly relate to, thus providing a reference map of what to do next. So many of Herminia's people profiled in this book had similar career issues as me, and it was nice to know I wasn't alone. But better still, it was nice to know there was a way out too. I particularly related to the person in the book who had so many interests (like me) but no clear singular passion, so he built a portfolio of jobs and activities to satisfy his interests. It was nice to know that such a choice can be made in today's world, where specialisation in corporate environments appears the only way to get ahead, at least financially and status of position. But sometimes being a generalist can be even more satisfying, as you're doing what you really want to do, not what others think you should do. I highly recommend this book.

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