Greatest Thoughts: Now is the time to take control of your career destiny ...

Managing our careers the same way we will manage our financial portfolios across multiple career acts. 











These changes in the employment reality have created the need for you to own your career destiny: 

1. You own your career but not your job. Your employer owns the work and will configure competencies to remain competitive. 
2. Your professional stability and financial security will likely come from your overall career, not any given job. 
3. Your professional fulfillment and satisfaction will come from the career you build, not the job promotions you receive. 

“Working for a big name company” and “paying your dues” are lousy pieces of advice without understanding the strategic relevance of the role you occupy and the criticality of the skills you possess.

Career stability, financial security, satisfaction and fulfillment are well within the reach of most people who are willing to manage their careers as they would their financial portfolios across multiple career acts. 

Career acts are simultaneous and stimulating, profitable activities comprising of what people (who enjoy what they do) engage in for a living. 

Multiple career acts are liberating because they enable you to allocate your time across those career acts you enjoy and shed those career acts you don’t enjoy. 

Multiple career acts are also financially rewarding, given that your total income is derived from multiple sources.

 Having multiple sources of income and not solely relying on any one company or employment situation is mentally liberating, especially when organizations are going through downsizing and layoffs.

Under the old rules of employment, those with multiple career acts would be chastised by a parent, spouse, or nosy mother-in-law for “not having a professional focus,” “not being serious about your job,” “not sticking with it” and “being too distracted.” 

They confidently ignore these criticisms because they are changing career acts purposefully, and not spinning their wheels hoping for an employer to provide a situation they will find satisfying. 

They are happy and confident because they are doing what they love and owning their career destiny. They have lives, not jobs.

Greatest Thoughts from : Paula Caligiuri, Ph.D., the author of Get a Life, Not a Job: Do What You Love and Let Your Talents Work for You. ChangeThis - Manifesto No.69.40 - April 7, 2010