Strategies for mid-career transition

Changing career can be scary. Regardless of the motivation for doing so – a lack of fulfilment, perhaps, or being spurred into action by the loss of a job – transitioning away from an old, established career to something completely new is never very easy.

Often times, people get scared by the unknown destination, by the betwixt and between stage and the loss of identity associated with stepping away from an established career. It they don’t sit long enough with the process to experiment and discover, then they can get tempted to take the wrong job.

Career change is often very challenging as it causes people to question themselves, their purpose and what they want to do with their lives. That was certainly the case for London Business School (LBS) alumni Kurt Budge and Russell Jones. Kurt is a former chief executive and mining executive who is now a registered forest yoga teacher and is training to be an executive coach. Russell is an ex-British Army captain turned conceptual artist and painter.

Kurt and Russell shared their insights with Sarah Gordon, Visiting Professor in Practice at LSE, former business editor of the Financial Times and former CEO of Impact Investing Institute, who moderated LBS’ most recent Think Ahead thought-leadership event ‘Traditional to Trailblazing: Strategies for Mid-Career Transition’. They were joined by career transitions expert Herminia Ibarra, Charles Handy Professor of Organisational Behaviour at LBS and author of Working Identity: Unconventional strategies for reinventing your career.

While there were very diverse career experiences across the panel, the common thread that emerged is that learning to sit with the discomfort is very helpful when taking big decisions. Learning how to live with uncertainty is key.

Russell highlighted the excitement that comes with finding a new career, a new way of living or a new world that you didn’t know existed. Kurt also advised treating career change as an adventure, suggesting that the things that excite and drive you can be your meaning and purpose. 

Professor Ibarra, who is currently working on a new book looking at later career transitions, recommends trying on different selves, creating possibilities and getting out of the insular circle that keeps people where they are.

“When people are in a role, they know what they don’t want, but they don’t know what they want to do instead so they don’t know how to get started. People don’t realise that by doing things and experimenting, they learn new things and get more in touch with what they’re interested in.”

While the non-linear career path is perhaps more familiar to younger people, transitions are something people need to think about at any age and any stage of a career. This is why LBS recently launched a new course taught by Professor Ibarra ‘Career Change: Mid-Career & Beyond’, the next iteration of which will be running in September 2024.

Professor Ibarra, who has spent years studying what holds people back with their careers and what moves them forward, offers her views about career reinvention in the latest Think Ahead podcast. You can also discover her tips for career change in recent articles she has written for Forbes and Think.