Working Identity by Herminia Ibarra

It's not often that I read a career book and find myself compelled to highlight it from cover to cover, but that's exactly what I did with Herminia Ibarra's excellent book Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career. I highly recommend it.

The basic idea behind the book is that the standard model of self-exploration, deciding where you want to go, and establishing a plan to make it happen simply isn't in line with how we really work as human beings.

The reality, according to Ibarra, is that our awareness and understanding of where we need to go is an iterative process. She says:

"We learn who we are - in practice, not in theory - by testing reality, not by looking inside. We discover the true possibilities by doing - trying out new activities, reaching out to new groups, finding new role models, and reworking our story as we tell it to those around us. What we want clarifies with experience and validation from others along the way.

...To launch ourselves anew, we need to get out of our heads. We need to act.

While I don't agree with her minimization of the role of self-exploration - I think it's a crucial step - I completely agree with her notion that often that the full picture can only come from ongoing action and exploration.

I'll be posting more thoughts from Ibarra's book in days to come.

Curt Rosengren
Passion Catalyst ^SM

Comments

[David Jacobson]

I'm going through the process of "re-inventing" myself now. Although I have my own vision of what I want to do, it's only when I try to explain it to others and answer their questions that I get a better idea of how I can do that. In fact I've realised that the first phase of my new career is going to be spent learning (I've already completed a short course, at which I met some interesting people) and researching (I'm making as many appointments as I can just to talk to people, not sell my services). Even the process of designing a business card forced me to explain people what I was doing. I'm refining my message every day.

[Cole Davis]

You could try using a careers test. www.careersteer.org is a free career choice created by a careers expert and psychologist. Research has demonstrated that people whose careers closely match their occupational personality profiles are more likely to have job satisfaction and stay longer in their jobs.