Up Is Not the Only Way

More Than One Direction

Everyone hopes for and expects “career mobility.” Employees want to take ownership of their careers. Assess your professional development to define what matters most to you. Take stock of your skills, interests, values and goals. Ask for feedback from those you trust. Enlist help from managers, coaches and mentors.

The Career “Kaleidoscope”

A kaleidoscope offers many different views and shifting patterns. A typical kaleidoscope contains three mirrors and a handful of beads. Just as one twist of a kaleidoscope changes the dynamic, one shift in your career can open up a new world of possibilities. Like a kaleidoscope, a satisfying career has three main “mirrors” or components: “skills, interests and values.” All three matter.

Shifting to a kaleidoscopic view means leaving a one-way, linear path in order to move in different directions. As you twist the kaleidoscope, new patterns may emerge that weren’t previously visible. The same thing happens when others twist the viewer for you, as when, for example, your company splits an existing department into two new departments. You could stay with your old department and...