Everyone has a different view of what a career should look like. For some of us, we start working and may be happy to be employed and earning—without really thinking about work as a career. Others leave high school with a specific trajectory in mind and stay with that trajectory
Mine has been considerably less linear. Over the past 40 years, I have held 24 different paid roles across 17 industries.
Now, keep in mind that many of these positions ran concurrently, but suffice it to say that is either a broad career—or a remarkably thorough commitment to professional variety.
I prefer to think of it as extensive field research into change.
Over four decades, I have stepped into unfamiliar environments, learned new industries, worked alongside very different kinds of people and repeatedly discovered what it feels like when the old map no longer works – from multiple sides of the table.
And through all of those transitions, I have learned something encouraging:
Change did not erase what came before. It allowed me to carry it forward in a new way.
The industries, titles, tools, expectations and business cards changed, but certain threads remained – like the ability to understand complicated situations.
I’ve wanted to help people see what matters for as long as I can remember, along with an instinct to strengthen what is working and rebuild what isn’t. This has increased my capacity to bring clarity to uncertainty and help people move forward.
These types of patterns are often difficult to recognize while we are living them. We may look at a career change, retirement, restructuring, relocation or unexpected transition and see only disruption, but sometimes change offers the opportunity to discover the thread that has been running through our story all along.
Why would anyone embrace change?
Let’s be honest: change could improve its public relations.
It frequently arrives without much notice, interrupts a perfectly reasonable plan and uses phrases like “new opportunity” before we have had time to process the old one.
Some changes are chosen—others are not. Some bring excitement—others bring disappointment, uncertainty, or genuine loss.
Embracing change does not mean pretending that every disruption is positive. Embracing it simply means staying open to the possibility that the next chapter may contain something we cannot yet see.
Change can reveal abilities that familiar circumstances never required us to use. It can widen our perspective. It can introduce us to people and possibilities our original plans would never have included. It can help us distinguish between the role we hold and the contribution we can make.
And it can remind us that very little of what we have learned is ever truly wasted.
After 24 roles, I can confidently report that transferable skills are real, and that certainty (and security?) is often overrated. I find myself pondering how much of our fear of change relates more to a threat to our comforts than to our survival.
What do you carry forward?
When something changes, it is natural to focus on what is ending, but (especially if the change was not your choice) there is little to be gained in mourning the loss. A much more useful practice would be to ask: “What have I gained that remains mine to carry forward?”
Your experience remains. Your judgment remains, along with the difficulties you have navigated and the wisdom you have gained.
A position can end without your value ending. A familiar path can disappear without your life becoming directionless. A chapter can close without the larger story being lost.
Perhaps embracing change is not about becoming an entirely different person. Perhaps it is about discovering how the person you have already become can contribute in a new place.
A small PIVOT for the road ahead
When the map stops working:
P — Pause.
What is happening within me?
I — Identify.
What do I know, not know or assume?
V — Verify.
What remains true? What can I trust? Where can I turn?
O — Own.
What remains within my influence and responsibility?
T — Take the next step.
What is my next responsible action?
You do not need to understand the entire journey before taking the next step.
You do not need complete certainty.
Change doesn’t have to take us away from who we are. Framed appropriately, it can actually reveal who we are becoming, and more of what we carry forward.
With grace,
David E. White
Speaker • Author • Pathfinder
Helping people flourish through life’s PIVOTs
A question for reflection
Think of an unexpected role, responsibility or season in your life.
What did it teach you that you still carry today?
