The Portfolio Life
Book

The Portfolio Life

How to Future-Proof Your Career, Avoid Burnout, and Build a Life Bigger than Your Business Card

Christina Wallace
Balance, 2023
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Applicable
  • Insider's Take

Recommendation

Feeling stuck or limited in your career? Author Christina Wallace empowers you to break free from the constraints of a single-track job and embrace the richness of a portfolio approach to your working life. Discover how to navigate the changing landscape of work by leveraging your various passions, skills and experiences to create more opportunities for long-term career happiness and sustainability. Her practical guide will help you embrace a new paradigm of success, where you can craft a meaningful professional life that reflects the unique tapestry of your talents.

Summary

The singular career path is no longer sustainable in today’s working world.

A traditional career path follows a linear trajectory: Individuals focus on climbing the corporate ladder within a specific field or industry. This model is a less reliable path to success in today’s rapidly changing and unpredictable job market, however. New technologies and automation, such as AI, are disrupting industries, leading to the elimination of certain jobs and the creation of new ones. Changes like these increase job insecurity within existing professions and may limit opportunities for career advancement within a single career track. Clearly, it’s time for an alternative approach to work. 

The first step, as Derek Thompson, a writer for The Atlantic, notes, is to stop allowing your work or a single job title to define who you are and your greater purpose in life. Take back control of your identity and understand that you can find purpose in a wider range of personal, professional and relational goals.

Next, take a new view of your future and the host of opportunities and possible paths...

About the Author

Christina Wallace is a senior lecturer of entrepreneurial management at Harvard Business School.

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