Any references to ‘writing in this book’ refer to the original printed version. Readers should write on a separate piece of paper in these instances.
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Portfolio Penguin is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published in the United States of America by Portfolio/Penguin, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC 2016
First published in Great Britain by Portfolio 2016
Copyright © Jenny Blake, 2016
Illustrations by ABC Design Lab, copyright © Jenny Blake, 2016
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Cover images: ABC Design Lab
ISBN: 978-0-241-97548-0
INTRODUCTION: PIVOT IS THE NEW NORMAL
Pivot or Get Pivoted
Changing Careers in the Age of the App
Connect the Dots Looking Backward
Pivot Method at a Glance
HIGH NET GROWTH
Career Operating Modes
Trust Your Risk Tolerance
Two (Many) Steps Ahead, One Step Back
STAGE ONE: PLANT
PLANT OVERVIEW
CHAPTER 1: CALIBRATE YOUR COMPASS
What Are Your Guiding Principles? What Is Your Happiness Formula?
Create Your Compass
Identify Your Happiness Formula
Your Body Is Your Business
Reduce Decision Fatigue
Meditate to Activate Your Best Instincts
CHAPTER 2: PUT A PIN IN IT
What Excites You Most?
What Does Success Look Like One Year from Now?
Avoid the Tyranny of the Hows
Vision Cloudy? Start Somewhere.
Clarify Your Vision Statement
Summarize Knowns and Unknowns
CHAPTER 3: FUEL YOUR ENGINE
What Is Working? Where Do You Excel?
Identify Your Strengths
Work-History Highlights
CHAPTER 4: FUND YOUR RUNWAY
What Is Your Timeline? How Can You Earn Extra Income?
Build a Solid Financial Foundation
Pivot Finance 101
Income-Anxiety Seesaw Awareness
STAGE TWO: SCAN
SCAN OVERVIEW
CHAPTER 5: BOLSTER YOUR BENCH
Who Do You Already Know? Who Can Provide Advice?
What Can You Give in Return?
Expand Your Sphere of Influence
Build a Network of Collective Brainpower
Career Karma: Seek Reciprocal Success
CHAPTER 6: BRIDGE THE GAPS
What Skills and Expertise Will Take You to the Next Level?
Mind the Gap
Learn How to Learn
Limit Linear Thinking
Investigative Listening
Be Discerning About Your Learning
CHAPTER 7: MAKE YOURSELF DISCOVERABLE
How Can You Add Unique Value and Build Visibility?
Define Your Project-Based Purpose
Platform and Leverage
Revel in the Work Others Reject
Leapfrog: Work Backward from Two Moves Ahead
Let Others Know You Are Looking
STAGE THREE: PILOT
PILOT OVERVIEW
CHAPTER 8: GET SCRAPPY
What Small Experiments Can You Run?
What Real-World Data Can You Collect?
Aim First for Quantity, Not Quality
What Makes a Strong Pilot?
Incremental Pilots Within Organizations
Reduce Risk with Redundancy
Travel Pilots to Shake Up Stagnant Thinking
CHAPTER 9: PAUSE, REVIEW, REPEAT
What Worked? What Didn’t? What Could You Do Differently?
Pause and Review
Take Incrementally Bigger Risks
STAGE FOUR: LAUNCH
LAUNCH OVERVIEW
CHAPTER 10: BUILD FIRST, COURAGE SECOND
When Will You Make the Big Move?
What Are Your Linchpin Decision Criteria?
Identify your Launch Timing Criteria
Pivot Hexagon
Know When to Hold Versus Fold
Your Gut Has a Brain
Pivot Scales: Comfort Versus Risk
CHAPTER 11: FLIP FAILURE
What Will Move You into Action?
Rejection as a Stepping-Stone to Success
Mine Failure for Strengths
You Can’t Make Everybody Happy—So Stop Trying and Start Living
Separate Decisions from Difficult Conversations
Don’t Wait for Perfect Conditions
How Do You Know Your Launch Worked?
The Continuous Pivot
STAGE FIVE: LEAD
LEAD OVERVIEW
CHAPTER 12: ARE YOU LISTENING?
How Can You Facilitate Engaging Career Conversations?
Your Interest Matters More Than You Think
How to Use the Pivot Method Within Organizations
Pilot Creative Internal-Mobility Programs
CONCLUSION: CELEBRATE COMPLEXITY
Checking In at the Last Resort
The Courageous Life
POST PIVOT: ONLINE RESOURCES
PIVOT METHOD QUICK REFERENCE
LAUNCH CRITERIA CHECKLIST
RESOURCES FOR COMPANIES
PIVOT 201: RECOMMENDED READING
NOTES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOLLOW PENGUIN
‘If you don’t manage your career, who will? Jenny Blake is here to remind us that we live in a different time, and the possibilities are endless – as long as we’re willing to pivot’
SETH GODIN, AUTHOR OF WHAT TO DO WHEN IT’S YOUR TURN
‘A sharply reasoned and immensely practical guide to crafting a meaningful working life in an unpredictable world’
CAL NEWPORT, AUTHOR OF DEEP WORK
‘If you should trust anyone in the career space about the way to thrive in the new world of work, it is Jenny Blake. Pivot is packed with practical, actionable and repeatable ways to remain relevant and highly employable. Jenny shares her signature killer tools and processes for the benefit of us all’
PAMELA SLIM, AUTHOR OF BODY OF WORK AND ESCAPE FROM CUBICLE NATION
‘To pivot well is the difference between millions and failure. Former Googler and entrepreneur, Jenny Blake (one of my favourite human beings) dissects the pivot, how to do it and how to do it right’
JAMES ALTUCHER, AUTHOR OF CHOOSE YOURSELF
‘It’s not a matter of if you’ll need to pivot your career, it’s a matter of when. Let Jenny Blake show you how with this wildly practical guide to career changes headed your way’
JOHN ACUFF, AUTHOR OF DO OVER
‘Changing jobs or careers can be daunting. Pivot is an invaluable guide for planning and succeeding in your next professional reinvention’
DORIE CLARK, AUTHOR OF REINVENTING YOU AND STAND OUT, AND ADJUNCT PROFESSOR AT DUKE UNIVERSITY’S FUQUA SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
‘Pivot is a book you will turn to again and again, whether you’re seeking a new career direction, a second career after retirement or just on the lookout for new ways to use your talents. Jenny Blake takes a strength-based approach to managing the risk that comes with making a change, and provides tons of helpful examples and exercises’
DANIEL H. PINK, AUTHOR OF TO SELL IS HUMAN AND DRIVE
‘Non-traditional career journeys are not only the new normal, they’re how innovators throughout history changed their world and ours. With actionable insights and lucid prose, Jenny Blake illuminates the path to building your own destiny’
SHANE SNOW, AUTHOR OF SMARTCUTS AND CO-FOUNDER OF CONTENTLY
‘Wondering what your next move is? Read this book! Jenny Blake is one of the wisest and freshest voices on the subject of career development, and this is her best work yet. In Pivot you will hear the good news: that you can get paid to do what you love. It may not look like what you thought, and it may require some personal growth, but you can find the work you were meant to do. You just have to pivot’
JEFF GOINS, AUTHOR OF THE ART OF WORK
‘Are the tectonic plates below your sturdy career suddenly splitting into a deep abyss of unknown? Let this book be your rope ladder out’
NEIL PASRICHA, AUTHOR OF THE HAPPINESS EQUATION AND THE 1,000 AWESOME THINGS BLOG
‘If you think life is a highway, then you’ve got it wrong. It’s more like a winding path through an unpredictable forest. Not only do you have to wade the swamp and battle the beasts, but time after time you come to a crossroads. Left? Right? Straight ahead? Jenny Blake’s new book will help you find the wisdom and resources to make the best choices, move into the sunlight and end up where you want to be’
MICHAEL BUNGAY STANIER, AUTHOR OF THE COACHING HABIT AND DO MORE GREAT WORK
‘We live in a time of rapid evolution, and we develop skills quickly now by absorbing many shorter-term work experiences, so we can become what Jenny Blake calls impacters in our careers. This book gives you a solid road map to making the right call about career changes that will help you discover what you’re truly built for. Courage, consciousness and competence – that’s what Pivot offers you. It’s excellent!’
PENNEY PEIRCE, AUTHOR OF THE INTUITIVE WAY, FREQUENCY AND LEAP OF PERCEPTION
‘The book is fantastic. No matter where you are in your career, Pivot is provokingly relevant’
DR TOM GUARRIELLO, FOUNDER OF ROBOPSYCH AND FOUNDING FACULTY AT NEW YORK’S SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS, MASTERS IN BRANDING
‘Today, the average person has eleven jobs and three to six careers, which is why Pivot is essential reading for every professional. Let Jenny be your coach, giving you the confidence and tools required to make your next career transition. Whether you’re an employee, freelancer or entrepreneur, this book will help you identify the skills you have or need that will lead to your next opportunity. Jenny has been through career transitions and has successfully navigated them on her own, which makes her the perfect spokesperson for helping you do the same. Pivot is the book that you’ll need to read multiple times through your life because change is constant and often times unexpected!’
DAN SCHAWBEL, AUTHOR OF PROMOTE YOURSELF AND ME 2.0
‘Whether you’re considering a career change or job change, or figuring out what to do next, Jenny Blake’s Pivot is the book you need. It’s a comprehensive, practical, must-have guide to your pivot’
SUSAN ROANE, KEYNOTE SPEAKER AND AUTHOR OF HOW TO WORK A ROOM
To my grandma Janice Deino, who pivoted her entire life at eighty years old with strength and grace.
You are an unwavering source of support and inspiration, and the most agile, resilient person I know. Thank you for everything.
How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave ….
So you must not be frightened … if a sadness rises up before you larger than any you have ever seen; if a restiveness, like light and cloud-shadows, passes over your hands and over all you do. You must think that something is happening with you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall.
—Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet