April Rinne shares how you can unlock your superpowers to navigate change, and it's about to get cooperative

"Just as no one can be a better you than you, no one can craft your portfolio narrative for you." In You've Got This this week, author and change navigator April Rinne discusses how her personal journey and passions have shaped her portfolio career approach, explanations for the eight Flux Superpowers she's identified, and how you can thrive and grow your own portfolio career. Don't miss her answers below, along with announcing our next guest, Chief Revenue Officer at Organic Valley Staci Kring .

Victoria: "How have you been able to combine so many of your skills and interests to build such a varied "portfolio career?"

April: "The short answer is: time, vision, trust in myself, frustration with the traditional 'career path' narrative, and a lot of joyful, challenging work. The somewhat longer answer begins with:

"Creating my 'career portfolio' did not happen overnight. I can remember being about five years old and asked, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' Even if well-intended, it was such an awkward question: I didn’t want to pick one profession, and an unconscious part of me knew that I didn’t even know what professions existed! My parents were teachers, so that was the easy answer. For a while, it was an astronaut, then an architect, then a doctor. But each time I’d learn about a new profession, I’d feel both excited and deflated: Excited because I found it interesting, and deflated because it meant I couldn’t pursue the other options easily."

As I grew up, I got more frustrated with how society views career paths, ladders, and singular professional 'pursuits.' I felt boxed in, yet I didn’t see many alternatives.

Then, when I was 20 years old and a junior in college, both of my parents died in a car accident. That was a really important pivot point for me. Along with completely flipping my life upside-down -- I had to grow up fast, I had to rebuild my family, I had to be self-sufficient -- I began asking very different questions than most college students. It was no longer, 'Which courses will look best on my resume?' but rather 'If I were to die tomorrow -- because hey, it could totally happen -- what would the world need me to do today?'

Today, many years later, I describe this time as having the equivalent of a midlife crisis at the age of 20, because I was asking the same kinds of questions as people twice or even three times my age: What is the purpose of my life? Will it matter that I was here? And, in the here and now: Whose life am I actually living?

That was my wakeup call. Yes, I had to work -- and I was excited to work hard! -- and I had to take care of myself. But I was not going to spend my short time on this blue marble living by someone else’s ideas of what I should do.

"Over the next 20+ years, I kept following my inner voice. I kept asking myself: Does this -- whether “this” was a job, a class, an unexpected query, or an unknown adventure -- speak to my soul? Does it help others? What will it teach me? The more I kept doing this, the more I lost interest in things like titles and promotions. I realized that, by and large, these things are labels: They may define some of what I do, but they do not define who I am."?

(Similarly, I thought hard about my relationship to money, and I got clear that it would not define me. Yes, money matters insofar as it helps you make your way through life. But your value as a person is not your bank account. Your real value is your humanity!)

Today, my career portfolio includes being a hiking and biking guide, a lawyer, a policy analyst, a strategic advisor, an investor, a yoga teacher, a global development executive (even including a couple fancy titles!), a board member, a volunteer, an intern, a coddiwompler (which means to travel purposefully towards an as-yet-unknown destination) and several other livelihoods alongside and in-between. Most recently, I added book author to it! And each time I add a new skill, role, or goal to it, I ask myself the 'midlife crisis' questions above.

Along the way, something else rather interesting happened -- and continues to this day: I can see things and connect dots that many others do not. I see not just A or B, but what’s in between A and B. I leverage skills from one piece of my portfolio into a completely (in traditional career terms) unrelated area, and I have a more diverse network of contacts to tap into. For example, my guiding skills give me an edge with business development and networking. My legal background gives me a unique perspective and standing among entrepreneurs. My time spent working throughout the developing world shapes how I see inclusive business everywhere. And so on.

These “layers” have been essential to understanding how my portfolio came to be and how it guides what I do next. The more layers I add, the easier it becomes to see what I might add, learn, or do next. Over time, it became the fabric of my life -- and it continues to evolve every day!"

Victoria: "You recently authored?FLUX: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change ?which includes several ideas that may seem a contrast with adapting to a fast-paced, constantly changing environment, such as "run slower" and "get lost." Can you share how you identified these principles, and what you hope readers take away from the book?"

April: "In a similar spirit to how I created a career portfolio, identifying the eight Flux Superpowers took time, a deep desire to write a more empowering narrative for how humans relate to change, and a lot of joyful, challenging work. In this case, this also meant a lot of post-its covering the walls of my workspace for months!

I often say that while it took the better part of three years to write Flux, it’s been the better part of three decades in the making. I’ve been fascinated by how people, organizations, and cultures navigate change and uncertainty ever since my parents died (although back then, I would not have expected to write a book about it). In the decades since, I have expanded my perspective on change in many different ways: through my work as a futurist, travels to more than 100 countries, and cross-disciplinary research.

"I didn’t set out to have eight superpowers. I wasn’t sure if it would be five, seven, ten, or something else. I just knew I had to keep honing, pressure-testing, mixing-and-matching, thinking and rethinking, and see how these ideas evolved. In the end, they came together really well. The journey was worth it -- and I’m delighted to say that, while I continue to hone and refine my ideas, I haven’t found a ninth superpower yet!"

Turning to the Flux Superpowers themselves, each is counter-intuitive in some way. A few are even downright contrarian to what society often tells us today. But that tension is at the heart of Flux’s message: That in a world -- and a future -- in flux, we need to radically reshape our relationship to change and uncertainty in order to have a healthy and productive outlook. Because it turns out that a lot of society’s narrative today is for a world that’s neat, tidy, orderly, and predictable. It does not work well for a world that’s uncertain, unpredictable, or unknown: In other words, today’s world. The Flux Superpowers begin to craft a new way of seeing oneself, one’s relationship to change, and the world at large in ways that are fit for flux. Together, they are the “how to” guide to thrive in constant change.

Here is an overview of all eight Flux Superpowers:

1. Run Slower: To thrive in a fast-paced world, slow your own pace.?
2. See What’s Invisible: When life feels blurry or the future is uncertain, shift your focus from what’s visible to what’s invisible.
3. Get Lost: In the landscape of change, getting lost is how you find your way.
4. Start with Trust: When trust seems broken, assume good intent.
5. Know Your “Enough”: In a world relentlessly striving for more, know your “enough.”
6. Create Your Portfolio Career: To achieve success and satisfaction for a world in flux, treat your career as a portfolio to curate rather than a path to pursue.
7. Be All The More Human (and Serve Other Humans): In a world with more robots, your key to thrive is to be all the more human — and to use your humanity to help others.
8. Let Go of the Future: Letting go of the future enables a better future to emerge.

The Flux Superpowers tackle a range of issues affecting individuals and society today, from anxiety and burnout (cue Run Slower) to leadership styles (cue Be All The More Human), sustainability (Know Your 'Enough,' which includes knowing that you are enough, just as you are), and the future of work (cue Create Your Portfolio Career).

My hope is that each reader is able to better understand and improve their relationship to change, and as a result can show up more fully in the world and help others do the same."

Victoria: "What advice would you have for those who are thinking about their own personal approach towards building a portfolio career, and what are some trends you're anticipating continuing to influence this environment?"

April: "My number one piece of advice for creating a career portfolio is to realize that you already have one! Most people just haven't thought about their professional journey that way. But the fact is, if you’ve ever worked, or helped others, or contributed value to society -- which everyone has -- then you have the beginning of a portfolio. Your portfolio includes not only traditional jobs, but also freelance roles, volunteering, internships, parenting skills, you name it: Every skill and capability that can help others is in it!?

I also encourage people to try to draw their portfolio. What’s in it, and how do the different parts relate to one another? This also nudges you to start thinking about what I call your portfolio narrative: How the combination of what’s in your portfolio makes you more capable, more qualified (and candidly, more interesting) than if you’d pursued a singular career path.

"Just as no one can be a better you than you, no one can craft your portfolio narrative for you. If this is your one shot at life, what do you want to be in it? What’s your greatest wish for what you can contribute to the world?"

Looking towards the future, there are a few key trends that I expect will continue to fuel -- and validate -- career portfolios across the board. Here are a few:

• Of the American workers who are part of the Great Resignation, half want their next job to be self-employed. That’s huge! While career portfolios include a lot more beyond “being your own boss,” both share a common emphasis on personal agency and taking responsibility for your own professional future.?
• The career portfolio concept is catching fire, and it’s no longer stigmatized. It’s especially popular among young talent and anyone who’s in transition or reassessing their next steps. But honestly, it’s helpful for everyone.

I spend a lot of time throwing darts at the future of work and trying to figure out what could make it go off the rails. I am constantly creating different “scenarios” and playing out what might happen. Other than the scenario in which robot overlords rule the world (in which case we have far bigger problems than career development), there is no scenario I can forecast in which career portfolios aren’t poised to thrive. That feels like pretty good validation to me."

Follow April on LinkedIn .

__________________________________________________________________________

Next week's guest: Staci Kring

Hailing from Wisconsin, our next guest Staci Kring is senior food/manufacturing executive with a record of leadership and extensive expertise in private brands, contract manufacturing, and dairy consumer packaged goods. As Chief Revenue Officer at Organic Valley , Staci leverages these skills helping support the cooperative of family farmers. With that in mind, here's what I'll be asking Staci:

• Can you tell us a bit about your career journey?
• What’s something about your work you wish people knew more about?
• What are some of your favorite aspects about what you do?

Have a question of your own? Ask in the comments below, and thank you for reading and for being a part of You've Got This.