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Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career
by
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 ...more
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 ...more
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Paperback, 224 pages
Published
January 1st 2004
by Harvard Business Review Press
(first published 2002)
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Start your review of Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career
This book wants to be a self-help book. In actuality it's more of a theory book, with little in the way of practical solutions or strategies.
Ibarra states in the Preface that this book is not for everyone--it's aimed specifically at "the mid-career professional who questions his or her career path after having made a long-term investment of time, energy, and education in that path." Great, right? Actually, probably half the case studies that Ibarra presents describe people who were to my eye ...more
Ibarra states in the Preface that this book is not for everyone--it's aimed specifically at "the mid-career professional who questions his or her career path after having made a long-term investment of time, energy, and education in that path." Great, right? Actually, probably half the case studies that Ibarra presents describe people who were to my eye ...more
Rings true, very interesting, slightly academic tone.
Author has interviewed a lot of people who made career changes, mostly around the age of 40. It's basically a critique of the classic "top down" approach, where you start by picking a long term goal, and move from there. She argues that the way career changes happen in the real world is through a series of small steps and experiments, and that people mostly learn through experimentation, not through introspection about "what was I meant to ...more
Author has interviewed a lot of people who made career changes, mostly around the age of 40. It's basically a critique of the classic "top down" approach, where you start by picking a long term goal, and move from there. She argues that the way career changes happen in the real world is through a series of small steps and experiments, and that people mostly learn through experimentation, not through introspection about "what was I meant to ...more
Good book. But like others have written, all the examples were from upper-level executives; this seems to be the world that the author resides in. Despite this focus on upper executive positions, the author gave good insight and guidelines that can be applied to any situation.
A must-read book on career change.
It could have been summarised in half a page in my view and I didn't find any breakthrough-type insight
Explore! Try! Action!
These are the key words that shake up the paradigm that I've been taught to thoughtfully, logically and methodologically figure out next career steps.
The author focuses on how to go about acting and trying your plans first and learning oneself that way. She "reverses the conventional 'thinking before doing' logic to successfully change careers".
It's refreshing. Similar to the way the education system is flipping how to learn. Instead of going to class for a lecture and ...more
These are the key words that shake up the paradigm that I've been taught to thoughtfully, logically and methodologically figure out next career steps.
The author focuses on how to go about acting and trying your plans first and learning oneself that way. She "reverses the conventional 'thinking before doing' logic to successfully change careers".
It's refreshing. Similar to the way the education system is flipping how to learn. Instead of going to class for a lecture and ...more
As the author so clearly mentions, if you are expecting a 10-point plan for career transaction, this might not be the book you want.
However, in what might be missing in practicality, in my view, the author clearly hits the nail in the head with an incredible framework based more in experimentation that introspection, that might help the reader make sense of some of the confusion of the transaction he might be going.
The examples and stories the author showcase in the book, are great and ...more
However, in what might be missing in practicality, in my view, the author clearly hits the nail in the head with an incredible framework based more in experimentation that introspection, that might help the reader make sense of some of the confusion of the transaction he might be going.
The examples and stories the author showcase in the book, are great and ...more
Considering a career change - read this first
One of the best books on career change I have read. Ibarra does not set out a neat and tidy, step-by-step to do list because everybody's path will be different. Instead, the reader is through the process of change with a variety of research subjects and given a theoretical model that explains why some of these subjects were satisfied after the change and why others failed to make a fulfilling shift.
And then, the book ends with a few principles that ...more
One of the best books on career change I have read. Ibarra does not set out a neat and tidy, step-by-step to do list because everybody's path will be different. Instead, the reader is through the process of change with a variety of research subjects and given a theoretical model that explains why some of these subjects were satisfied after the change and why others failed to make a fulfilling shift.
And then, the book ends with a few principles that ...more
If you are like me going through a career/identity phase, you need to read this book. Very unbiased analysis of people who have been going through the career change laying out their doubts and the dilemmas. what I enjoyed about this book was Herminia Ibarra's tone and the use of research and data to prove a point and not just support her point of view. I took notes all through the books and have been going back to my notes again and again, Very useful, very easy to read and not a
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Someone I met recently recommended this book to me. I would have liked more concrete tips, though I do understand the basic message of the book. Rather than spending time figuring ourselves out, we should just start doing things - taking action, and making little experiments. She also talked about portfolio careers, where you have a few different things you work on at the same time. I liked that concept. It's good for those of us who don't know what we want to be when we grow up!
Boring and a little unrelateable. All the examples seemed to be of extremely successful people with an excellent network to exploit. There wasn't much for Joe the Plumber to learn about changing his career. It was occasionally interesting to learn how these kinds of changes usually progress and pick out those behaviors in myself - testing the waters, finding a new network, exploring different identities. Still, it felt like it could have been a HBR article instead of a whole book.
unconventional book about mid-life or career changes, thought provoking
this book give real life examples of transition and provokes one to think about how to apply it to self.... less structure than other similar genres, however a great read to get ideas and also identifying oneself.
this book give real life examples of transition and provokes one to think about how to apply it to self.... less structure than other similar genres, however a great read to get ideas and also identifying oneself.
Very well written and based on the premise that finding your "true self" should come at the end of your journey, and not at the very beginning. Finding non-committal opportunities to flirt those different selves will assist in identifying a new desired working identity.
Would have given it 5 stars if the interviewees varied more.
Would have given it 5 stars if the interviewees varied more.
I rarely reread books, but I will likely reread this one, it's fantastic. Obviously not for everyone, but if you are a professional considering a career change this is by far the best book I've read on the topic.
This is the first career change book I’ve read that’s resonated with me. And it has the added benefit of being based on actual research.
A good book for those who like to read stories. It cricles around a few advises all the time that are summarized at the very end.
Very methodical approach to reinventing careers. Definitely recommend to people thinking in the transition phase between careers or jobs.
Very good information if you are considering changing careers.
it could have been summarised in half a page
No particular insight gained
No particular insight gained
Love her approach to flip conventional career exploration on its head. Instead of constantly reflecting first, we're advised to start acting. Only after periods of experimenting and doing can you look back. It makes total sense-how can you know what you do/don't want if you've never taken actions to test ideas out.
Not a how-to guide, but very helpful in understanding the long and often confusing period that precedes a career change.
An interesting and useful book for anyone interested in the dilemmas of changing their career. I value it for two reasons: one, for myself as I undergo yet another personal and professional re-invention; and two, for my work in helping others who wish to create a more meaningful career. This book is not about changing jobs it is about creating a career that encapsulates you, your experience, your values and your lifestyle. The difference between the change of job and the career creation is 'the
...more
When I first started this book, I didn't think it was for me because it is about changing careers, but then I read "What Color Is Your Parachute?" and realized that I didn't want a book that gave general career advice (like that one).
This book is superior for the person who is looking for ways to figure out what to do with their life. It shows how messy figuring out your career can be and that sitting around and thinking about it is not the way to come to any conclusions. I recommend this book ...more
This book is superior for the person who is looking for ways to figure out what to do with their life. It shows how messy figuring out your career can be and that sitting around and thinking about it is not the way to come to any conclusions. I recommend this book ...more
I found this to be a really helpful book as I begin to commit to the career change process. There were so many insights that before returning the book to the library, I took a page of notes to keep with me. The author argues that most professional development/career change frameworks revolve around the idea that we have a single "core identity," and if we spend enough time in self-reflection, we can get in touch with that identity and then quickly select and implement a new path around it. In
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Working Identity uses 39 stories - case studies involving professionals who have made a radical mid-career switch - to advocate an iterative, constructivist approach of feeling your way into a new career by means of new connections, exploratory involvement and experimental projects.
Herminia Ibarra contrasts this approach to the "conventional" approach of introspection and self-classification followed by detailed planning and finally execution - I am happy to take her word on the conventional ...more
Herminia Ibarra contrasts this approach to the "conventional" approach of introspection and self-classification followed by detailed planning and finally execution - I am happy to take her word on the conventional ...more
Research-based insight into the actual paths that people take in reinventing their careers. The book is not long on advice, so I'm not sure to what extent people looking for a roadmap to change careers would find it to be useful. But I imagine that the descriptions of the career changers in the book, along with the author's analysis of their journeys, would provide some reassurance to people who are in the process of changing careers and finding, more likely than not, that it is not a linear
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Subtitled “Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career.” Ibarra was with Harvard Business School and now teaches organizational behavior at Insead in France. She interviewed 39 professionals extensively as they were transitioning or had transitioned into new fields (some very radical changes, like therapist to Buddhist monk!) and came up with an outline of active processes that she feels make for success. The plan-implement model does not work for career change – it’s too restrictive
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What I like in this is the way the author, clearly an academic with a rigorous training behind her, has thrown off the self-consciousness of academe. She doesn't sound as though she is justifying herself to an institution any more. Instead she seems to have actually listened to her subjects.
I like the chronicling approach that is taken to the interviews: the stories are instructive precisely because of the twists and turns, not because these have been analysed out. You can't help but feel that ...more
I like the chronicling approach that is taken to the interviews: the stories are instructive precisely because of the twists and turns, not because these have been analysed out. You can't help but feel that ...more
A celebration of the people who, given that they couldn't keep up with the stress anymore, choose to give up high paying jobs for lower paying jobs, less prestige and responsibilities. The figures are portrayed as the heroes that dared to stop. Personally I found the title ambitious and the description unidirectional, e.g. going from high-paying job to lower paying job, high-work hours to less work hours, high responsibility to low responsibility. I do not think that is such a difficult step to
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The book is about changing your career from one industry to another. One of the key takeaways is that you should act your way into a new way of thinking and being. You cannot discover yourself by introspection. I really liked this idea because usually it's advised that you sit and think about your future, then create a plan and follow it - which often leads to the situation when you are stuck at this thinking process. Action is character. You need to test your possible selves and it's the only
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“The end of all our exploring,” as T. S. Eliot reminds us, “will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
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