Quotes from Herminia Ibarra

One of the central identity problems that has to be worked out during a career transition is deciding on the story that links the old and new self. Until that is solved, the external audience to whom we are selling our reinvention remains dubious, and we too feel unsettled and uncertain of our own identity.

No one pigeonholes us better than we ourselves do.

It's always ugly in the middle. At the root of transition is "transit," a voyage from one place to another. As in any voyage, there is a departure, a disorienting time of travel and, finally, a destination. Transitions guru William Bridges calls the time between endings and new beginnings the "neutral zone," a "neither here nor there" psychological space where identities are in flux and people feel they have lost the ground beneath their feet.

Change always takes much longer than we expect because to make room for the new, we have to get rid of some of the old selves we are still dragging around and, unconsciously, still invested in becoming.

when we follow our passions, we also risk escalating our emotional commitment to a new course of action before we have evidence that it will be doable.

Working identity is not just who we are. It is also who we are not. Being able to discard possibilities means we are making progress.

Most people who have made big career changes have heard loved ones tell them, "You're out of your mind." Sabotage is not their intention, but a shared history has entrenched certain expectations, and reinventing oneself can amount to breaking the implicit "contract." People who have quit smoking, lost weight, or gotten divorced are familiar with the mixed reactions of friends, who see the change as loss.

Only by testing do we learn what is really appealing and feasible—and, in the process, create our own opportunities.

Consider how many times we have heard people reproach their organizations by saying, "There is no one there I want to be like." The reinventing process corrects this deficiency, heightening our desire for role models and people we can relate to. These people and groups provide a "safe base" that enables us to take risks with our new selves and a professional community in which we can develop a new sense of belonging.

Dropping our long-held assumptions, however, is not a simple matter of letting go once and for all. We are usually dealing with a mixed bag of preferences, priorities, and habits, some that we should hold on to and others we should jettison.

Aristotle observed that people become virtuous by acting virtuous: if you do good, you'll be good.

If we interrupt the reinventing process prematurely, as Susan nearly did, we jeopardize our ability to fully internalize this new self-definition. Often it isn't until we are fairly far along in the reinventing process that we realize we must also reassess the foundations of our working identity.

Aristotle observed that people become virtuous by acting virtuous: if you do good, you'll be good.3

Levels of Career Decision Criteria

Sometimes the best way to find oneself is to flirt with many possibilities.

The paradox of change is that the only way to alter the way we think is by doing the very things our habitual thinking keeps us from doing." p. 5

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.

The paradox of change is that the only way to alter the way we think is by doing the very things our habitual thinking keeps us from doing.

It's all too easy to fall hostage to the urgent over the important.

Develop your situation sensors. –   Get involved in projects outside your area. –   Participate in extracurricular activities. –   Communicate your personal "why.

If you don't create new opportunities within the confines of your "day job," they may never come your way.

knowing what we should be doing and actually doing it are two very different things.

Gary's seemingly random, circuitous method actually has an underlying logic. But this test-and-learn approach flies in the face of the more traditional method, the

they derive much of their sense of identity from their title and employer and that such overidentification with any institution can lead to stunted growth in other arenas. Far into our careers, we can remain the victims of other people's values and expectations.