Making Career Pivots

In 1993 I graduated from Stanford University with two masters’ degrees: one in Aeronautics & Astronautics, and the other in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in smart product design, robotics and controls. I was a total nerd, and wanted to pursue a career in engineering. Four years after, having worked successfully as an engineer, I made my first career pivot, into management & strategy consulting, where I stayed for 25 years. About 20 months ago, I made my second pivot, shifting full-time into academia and allowing me to pursue my passion for learning and education.

About two-thirds of the graduate students who come to IE Business School to pursue a MBA degree do so because they wish to pivot their careers, typically about 4-6 years into their professional life. Not only is it not uncommon to pivot, but, I would argue, it’s becoming increasingly the norm. Long gone are the days when you would dedicate your 30-40 years of professional life to a single company. Now more than ever, both due to personal factors, shifts in employee preferences and their value systems, as well as radical disruption in business models afforded by new technologies, pivots are becoming far more common than ever before.

I see this shift not only in my students, but also in my executive coaching clients. A rough estimate suggests that about 50% of them seek coaching assistance in making career moves.

Career pivots can be quite challenging: first, because the decision itself is not at all an easy one - often it might involve changes not only for oneself, but for the entire family, who might need to move to a different city or country altogether. Back in 2012 I received an offer to join PwC Middle East, based in Dubai. I was based in Madrid at the time, having been managing partner at Booz & Company, a strategy consultancy, in Spain. The move to the Middle East was major: I was married, with four kids, the eldest 15 and the youngest 6. Every change can be considered a threat: to the status quo, to what you know and are comfortable with… But we embraced the opportunity as the adventure of a lifetime, for the six of us. Twelve years on, I see our years in the Middle East as the most enriching of our time as a family and as individuals.

Some Critical Questions

If you are considering a career pivot, I wanted to suggest a few questions for you to ask yourself and think about to help you get clarity of mind around the decision:

1. What is driving my thinking to consider a career move at this point in time?
2. Am I clear on where I want to be in the future? How does where I see myself in the future after this pivot align with my long-term goals?
3. What are the skills needed to succeed in that new field I want to pivot to? (technical, behavioral / leadership) Do I have them? If not, what would I need to do to acquire them?
4. Are there good examples of people who have gone through this transition before? What did they do? What do you have in my own experience that could help me in that transition?
5. What are the risks I see in this transition? What could be potential mitigation actions or full contingency plans?

Using Career Pivots as a Way to Find your Purpose

It might also be that we have been too busy to even hear ourselves think. So close to the day-to-day hubbub, or the “hamster in the wheel” syndrome. We may know we want to change, but we really have no idea where to, or find there are too many possibilities to choose from. If that’s your case, you may need to take a step even further back. I would suggest for you to look at the four “circles” or dimensions of the Ikigai model. Ikigai (Japanese for “meaning of life” or “reason for being”) is about bringing in four critical elements to help you find your purpose:

1. What is it that you love?
2. What are you really good at?
3. What is it that the world needs? (or a bit of it, at least)
4. What can you get paid for?

These four circles can overlap. Partial intersection of these circles bring out different things. For instance, the intersection of what you are good at and what you can get paid for is your profession, what you love and what the world needs is your mission, what you are good at and what you love is your passion. But if you find something that makes all four circles overlap, then you will have found your ikigai. So my question to you would be: Is there something, in the absence of any barrier or prejudice, constraint or otherwise, that would be your ikigai. What is it? Can that activity become your next career move?

Now ask yourself, given the reality you live in today, what are the constraints that you are facing to make that move? Which ones are under your direct control, indirect control (e.g. spouse and/or kids), and outside your control? What can you do about removing those things that are either under your direct or indirect control?

Executing your Career Pivot

Career pivots can also be quite difficult, even after a decision has been made. Executing a career transition successfully is no walk in the park.

Some reasons why it’s tough:

• Shedding your former identity: It might be difficult to let go of a corporate identity that we have held for years prior to this change.
• We are fearful, and fear paralyzes: More often than not, people are fearful of what might lie ahead, of the unknown. It’s easier for people to remain in a job they don’t ike, or even hate, rather than taking a shot at something new.
• We lack the skills to succeed: Here is where going back to school might come in handy. In a world where reskilling the workforce is a top priority for companies to remain competitive, enhancing your CV with additional higher-level education might be a good thing to do.
• Not everything is under our control: A lot of factors, from adapting to the new reality, geography, function, sector, team, boss, or otherwise, are things that are not under our control.
• Financial risks: Depending on the move, and especially if it’s a move towards entrepreneuring or a corporate job with a lot of “skin in the game” in the form of variable pay, we may be facing significant financial risk which isn’t easy to mitigate.

Based on the above, here is a checklist of things you can do to make sure your pivot is successful:

1. Map out your options: Follow ikigai model or similar to spell out options
2. Spell out your decision criteria: these could include financial security, ikigai fit, fit for spouse / children / loved ones, career advancement, execution risk, etc.
3. Rank and think about the options based on the criteria
4. Set clear goals: where do you want to be in 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months’ time?
5. Harness your network: It’s implied that you will have a professional network that you can rely on for references, mentoring, guidance, etc. so you will not make this decision alone.
6. Find hedging strategies: Is this an “all or nothing” bet, or is there a way to develop alternative career paths / options in parallel with your ongoing job?
7. Do some financial planning: This will help you address whether you can afford “jumping ship” for a while till the time you find another activity, and for how long. It can vary greatly depending on the individual and their career stage, but it should always be done.
8. Develop detailed skills bridging plan: Depending on your case, you may find you need to spend some time going back to school or attending online certification programs to help you bridge the skills you need. This is something you could start in parallel BEFORE pivoting.
9. Monitor progress and check in with your network / mentors: You are not alone here, and it’s important that you get some outside inputs into how you are getting on while executing your pivoting plan.

A Final Thought

Life is about adaptability. Thriving in one’s job is more about become increasingly more adaptable to environments that will feel more foreign to us, especially at the onset of our current era of “Homo Technologicus”, where the future belongs to those humans who can harness the power of technology to the full. From this perspective, developing an ability to pivot, adapt and transform many times through our professional life will be increasingly more a further guarantee of success, both at work and in life. So, be not afraid, and use this pivot as a way to rediscover your potential, which is likely to be a lot greater than you might think.