Multiple stories to career building

Today's careers are regarded as winding paths shaped according to various stages and cycles of a person's lifetime.

By Mireia Las Heras

Steve Jobs’ extraordinary story of professional achievement was already legendary long before his death on October 5, 2011, at the age of 56. A college dropout,
Jobs founded Apple computer with partner Steve Wozniak at the age of 21. By 27, he was one of the world’s youngest millionaires. In 1985, he was forced out by Apple’s board, only to return 11 years later. In the intervening years, he had acquired Pixar animation studios, which Disney bought from him in 2006 for $7 billion. Following his return to Apple, Jobs led the company to phenomenal success, despite ongoing health problems that ultimately claimed his life.

Jobs’ unconventional curriculum vitae illustrates how professional life is changing. The former conception of a career trajectory as a continuous upward progression on a preset track barely exists anymore. Today it is more accurate to talk of paths that are flexible and adaptable to personal needs, which in earlier times had to be satisfied in other ways.

This paradigm shift is directly linked to radical trends in markets, products and society. Given these new realities, there are various things that people can and should be doing to make themselves more employable over the course of their lifetimes. And there are things that companies, too, can and should be doing to foster greater employability and harmonious career transitions.

This article is published in IESE Insight Issue 11 (Q4 2011).

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