Like Ben, many people start a new career, unintentionally, by developing new areas of expertise on the side while still working full-time in their current jobs. Like he, we experience a deepening commitment to the new area over time and find ourselves devoting more and more time to that realm. Only [...]

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What experiments can a person in transition devise to help guide future steps? How do we extract the right lessons? The practice of crafting experiments involves a two-part method: choosing one or two new activities to get started and making sure we have sound ways of evaluating the results. As we [...]

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Early explorations like Ben’s are smaller, faster, lower-cost investments than full-fledged career changes, cheap ways to gain insight into vaguely defined possibilities. They are projects, parttime ventures, and limited partnerships set up as low-risk ways to diversify a portfolio rather than “big bang” investments. With each experiment, priorities become clearer; [...]

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In the exploratory phase of any investigation, looking into not one but a broad range of options is essential. Variety allows comparison and, therefore, discrimination: “This resonates and that doesn’t”; “I like X better than Y”; “Even in the best of possible worlds, I really don’t want to do Z.” Thanks to [...]

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To craft an experiment is to act in order to see where the action leads. It is to ask the most basic question: “What if?” Experiments come in many forms: Some are unintentional, others are conducted by design, some are exploratory, others, confirmatory. Scientists use the term natural experiment to refer to [...]

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leaders of nonprofits and foundations that revealed an insufficient supply of data-driven, analytical strategy consulting available to this sector at prices it could afford. Working closely together, Ben and Tim began to explore ways of meeting that need. A close mentoring relationship developed. “Working with him exposed me to a whole [...]

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There was no grand plan, just a deepening of involvement over time. About three years ago, when I looked at how I was spending my time, I could see that my priorities were shifting. I was spending less and less time on the projects that were going to get me promoted as a [...]

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By far the biggest mistake people make when trying to change careers is to delay taking the first step until they have settled on a destination. This error is so undermining because, as we have seen, we learn about ourselves by doing, by testing concrete possibilities. And few of us change [...]

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Most of us know what we are trying to escape: the lockstep of a narrowly defined career, inauthentic or unstimulating work, numbing corporate politics, a lack of time for life outside work. But finding an alternative that truly fits, like finding our mission in life, is not a problem that can be [...]

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John Alexander left a senior position at a major investment bank to become a novelist. He later found himself, to his great surprise, doing financial advisory work part-time for a mix of old and new clients. This was not his intention, but when he left his old role, several clients asked him [...]

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