Working Identity

There comes a moment in many people’s working lives when they stare into the middle distance, glance at their LinkedIn profile, and quietly wonder how exactly they ended up here. Perhaps they once dreamed of being a wildlife photographer, an astronaut or a bestselling novelist, only to discover that they now spend large portions of their week discussing quarterly objectives on video calls. It is into this existential gap between ambition and reality that Herminia Ibarra steps with Working Identity.

This is not one of those career books that promises to transform your life before Tuesday. Nor does it insist that success can be achieved by waking up at 4 a.m., taking ice baths and maintaining a spreadsheet of your personal goals colour-coded by emotional intensity. Instead, Ibarra presents a far more intriguing idea: that people often discover who they want to become not through endless introspection, but by actually trying things.

A radical concept, admittedly.

Drawing on research, real-world examples and years of observation, Ibarra explores how individuals navigate career transitions, reinventions and those awkward periods when they are no longer quite who they were but have not yet become who they wish to be. It turns out that careers are less like carefully engineered railway lines and more like wandering footpaths that occasionally disappear into a hedge.

The book challenges the popular notion that there is a perfectly formed "true self" hidden somewhere inside, waiting to emerge if only one spends enough time journalling. Instead, Ibarra argues that identity evolves through action, experimentation and experience. In other words, if you wish to become something different, it may help to actually do something different rather than merely thinking about it while reorganising your desk.

One of the delights of Working Identity is its refreshing honesty. Career change is often presented as a glorious montage sequence in which a dissatisfied office worker suddenly discovers their passion, launches a successful business and spends the remainder of their days smiling meaningfully at sunsets. Real life, as Ibarra demonstrates, tends to involve uncertainty, false starts, occasional embarrassment and a fair amount of improvisation.

Published in this 2023 edition by Harvard Business Review Press, the book feels particularly relevant in an era where careers increasingly resemble temporary alliances rather than lifelong commitments. Entire industries appear, transform and vanish within a decade. Job titles multiply like rabbits. Skills become obsolete with alarming efficiency. Against this backdrop, understanding how people reinvent themselves becomes less a luxury and more a survival skill.

The irony, of course, is that many readers will purchase a book about career reinvention while avoiding the very risks the book recommends taking. It may spend several months beside the bed, serving as a silent reminder that change is possible while its owner continues attending the same meetings and replying to the same emails. Fortunately, Working Identity remains remarkably patient about such things.

This Good-condition copy offers an accessible and thoughtful guide for anyone contemplating a career change, seeking greater professional fulfilment or simply curious about how successful transitions actually happen. It is intelligent without being intimidating, practical without becoming preachy and insightful without resorting to motivational clichés involving eagles.

Perfect for managers, professionals, students, entrepreneurs, mid-life career changers and anyone who has ever updated their CV while wondering what they really wanted to be when they grew up.

Sold by Crappy Old Books, where books about finding your future occasionally arrive after having completed several unexpected career changes of their own.

Keep browsing: See more Business books Other books by Hermina Ibarra