Ebook: Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career

This is a fascinating book discussing the process by which mid-career professionals change their career paths. The process is never linear, it generally involves a bit of trial and error, a lot of time (3-5 years for a transition to be complete), along with a determined resolve to avoid heading right back onto the path one is trying to escape. It involves coming to grips with giving up certain labels and status and gradually crafting a new identity, and testing the fit of the new identity.

The book is not directed at a general audience, but rather at professionals looking to change course. Ibarra draws her information from broad sources, but her cases studies are primarily highly-educated professionals -- physicians, university professors, lawyers, MBAs, and consultants. All have undergraduate degrees, most have postgraduate degrees. All have invested at least ten years in their fields and have achieved some level of success. Ibarra noted that these individuals have much at stake in making a career change. Although the topic is similar, this is nothing like What Color Is Your Parachute? and other books suitable for a general audience. It's also not a find-a-job book; it assumes that career reinventers have time and financial resources to engage in some leisurely exploration of options.

I found the specific case studies to be very illunimating. Ibarra shares the paths of a psychiatrist who becomes a Buddhist monk, a global management consultant who becomes a strategist for nonprofits, a Spanish literature professor who becomes a small-town financial advisor. If nothing else, it clearly shows that there are vastly different drivers for different people. One person's dream job is another person's nightmare. Knowing one's self and being true to that self is a key part of the process.

Some folks will also find the writing a bit academic. Ibarra spent thirteen years as a Harvard professor, and started the book while on sabbatical. At the time of publication, she was a professor at an MBA program in France. The academic rigor comes through in her writing -- I very much enjoyed it; others may not.

Overall, a very good book, well-researched and well-written, though not for everyone.