By Herminia Ibarra
Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts
199 pages
Reviewed by Dahlia Verjee
Review
“This book is a study of how people from all walks of professional life change careers” – this sums up very neatly the premise of Ibarra’s book – how do people do this?
Her main thesis revolves around the fact that change, when it comes to a person’s working identity/professional life, is not something that one can do by thinking about it, but that it is effected through action.
I think her book expands on a very simple and often missed point, that in order to move forwards and gain self awareness and therefore make better decisions for oneself, one actually has to DO something. That something is not just thinking about it. The information one gleans from doing is far more valuable than what one can learn from pure thinking and introspection. I thought this was eloquently argued in a number of ways.
First of all, her use of real life examples of people who have changed careers provide illustrative hooks for her readers that might or might not have gone down similar paths in their own thinking. They make the idea of change more real and most importantly for me, they show that it is a PROCESS, a journey with false starts, dead end avenues and cross roads. That is more reflective of real life and therefore engaging. Some might find her examples unrealistic or relevant only to people within a predominantly A/B socio economic group – a doctor to a Buddhist monk or a Spanish Professor to an investment professional – but I think their criticisms are not wholly warranted. The reality is, people who are in a position to really think about these types of changes are already on some sort of path of self awareness, a path that is a luxury and one has to assume the argument starts from there. That is not to say the argument is exclusive, but rather it does suggest that there is a base starting point from which one can engage with these considerations.
Secondly, she uses the more ‘philosophical angle’ to deal with self-awareness and development through her discussions of the ‘possible selves’. I felt this could be a little esoteric at times and was perhaps giving the book the ‘psychological/academic’ gravitas that might have been required for turning this from a thesis to a book, but nonetheless it addresses the point of a ‘journey’ well. That is, through doing, one discovers things about one’s self that can then be assessed and the future pathways developed or not, depending on preferences.
Thirdly, she uses the powerful idea of networks and social circles. From the perspective of the book, she uses these conventional support networks as anchors in her framework for change. If you want to stop drinking, you don’t go to the bar. If you want to lose weight, you don’t spend time in McDonalds. What she reinforces here, is what you do do. Finding the support, the people who might have similar goals or do the actual job you might want, is another way of informing your own journey, learning about the processes and working out whether that is a fit without vast levels of commitment at the outset. It is about experimentation and she contextualises her theory of action by noting that the external world is a large influence on people’s ability to effect that change in themselves and providing tangible ways to harness that.
Finally, I think her point is that change and change in work is an incremental experience. Trying out new things, initially in a small way and then gradually in more committed ways starts to build a picture that is more reflective of the person wanting to transition and therefore more likely to result in a sustained, balanced and considered outcome than pure introspection. I have to agree with this, most importantly because of the feed back loop that is generated by physically doing something. The world will feed back in some way or another, whether it is to highlight skills or development areas, or open new doors that were invisible from the step below or by challenging preconceived ideas. This feedback I believe is essential and can only be sought after by action, not introspection.
The main issue I have with the book is the idea that her strategies are “unconventional”. I am not sure if this was a publishing gimmick or a weak angle on which to make this book appear more attractive to the readers but I am not convinced it is unconventional in real life terms. It might be unconventional when it comes to purported ‘academic’ thinking – which even then I would question. What it does do is take real life examples and translate them back into a more universal theory and useful structure by which the issue of career transitions can be framed. Is that process unconventional?
Summary
Ibarra turns the proverbial idea of ‘to leave one island to get to another, one has to swim’ into a book. That is not a criticism, but an observation. In reality people tend to focus too much on the destination and/or the risks associated with the jump.
What Ibarra does so successfully is:
- Focus on the action – the metaphorical jumping or swimming required
- Provide a framework that allows the thought patterns about the risks to be managed and worked through (‘it is ok to oscillate between holding on and letting go’)
- Argue that the destination is not decided at the outset but something that evolves with time, experience and growing self-awareness. The argument is that the result is informed by the journey, not the other way around (and this point, I agree, might be seen as ‘unconventional’)
