Books I recommend if you are exploring new work and life chapters

In the last few weeks, several of my coaching clients have reached out to me to discuss their desire to explore new work/life opportunities. My clients are representative of a trend the Wall St. Journal recently reported saying "As the pandemic clouds lift, the percentage of Americans leaving employers for new opportunities is at its highest level in more than two decades." And like for the millions of women who were forced to leave the workplace last year and the upheavals we all experienced, this may be a time for you consider what's next.

Before you update your Linkedin profile and resume, reach out to your network and begin looking at openings, step back and reflect on what you want and what would be most fulfilling to you. While there are countless books, articles and advice on this topic. here are four books that I rely on for myself as well as to guide clients.

The Second Mountain, by David Brooks. I come back to this book time and time again. It's about how to lead a more meaningful life and explores how making four commitments - to a partner and family, to a vocation versus occupation, to a philosophy or faith, and to community - can help create a life of meaning and purpose.

Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans - Based on one of the most popular courses at Stanford, this book shows how to apply design thinking to design a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling,

Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up by Jerry Colona - This book was recommended to me by 30 year old VP at an early stage venture capital firm. Written by one of the start-up world’s sought after executive coaches, it shows how radical self-inquiry is critical to professional success and healthy relationships in all realms of life. It is thought provoking around our early childhood experiences and how learned behaviors repeatedly manifest at work and in our lives.

How to Have a Good Day by Caroline Webb, former McKinsey. This is the most practical book on this short list Written by economist and former McKinsey partner Caroline Webb, it shows us how we can use deeply researched behavioral economics, psychology, and neuroscience to transform our approach to everyday working life. It's a regular guide and reference book for me and one that I frequently refer to as I help clients navigate their goals and daily interactions at work.

Depending on what stage of life you are in, what you do and what you are grappling with, one or all of these books will broaden your perspective and help you find the answers you didn't even know you were looking for.