Move up or move out. When those two options appear to be the only ones, dissatisfaction grows and engagement suffers.
In decades of studying careers around the globe, Beverly Kaye, Lindy Williams, and Lynn Cowart have found that, in fact, there are more options. And rethinking career mobility can lead you to them!
Career mobility isn’t just about moving to a new city or country. It’s about stretching, learning, and transforming. Whether you’re working on your own career or you’re a manager, a mentor, or a coach helping others, Up Is Not the Only Way offers you six ways to build successful mobile careers.
Keep the same job but discover multiple ways to learn and grow while staying in the same place. If a new job in the same company is in the cards, experiment and test possibilities. Make a lateral move as a powerful way to develop new skills. If stepping back is the right answer, discover how it can be done without derailing a career. Pursue a promotion when it’s the right time and role. And if it’s time to step out the door, the authors suggest how to make an elegant exit that maybe leaves open the possibility of a return one day.
The book includes important questions to consider-about interests, skills, values, and timing-when choosing to enrich or make a change. For each option, Up Is Not the Only Way explores how managers, coaches, and employees can have rich career conversations and partner to determine the best courses of action.
Rather than narrowing aspirations to one dream job or role, Kaye, Williams, and Cowart encourage readers to take a “kaleidoscope” view-to be open to ever-shifting patterns of options, opportunities, and possibilities-to build a rewarding career.
What People Are Saying
“Up Is Not the Only Way is so timely in today’s ever-changing business world. This book provides a great mind map for how all people should be thinking about their careers, their ambitions, and what success really can look like for today and thirty years from now. I just wish I had it when I was just starting out!”
—Senior Vice President and Chief Learning Officer, McDonald’s Corporation
“A practical, insightful guide written for employees, leaders, and HR professionals who are committed to career development for individual and organizational success.”
— Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Communications and Corporate Affairs, Ingersoll Rand, plc
“A bright gem of a book that’s perfect for this new era of work, where mobility is critical to meaning and mastery at work. Whether you’re just starting out or making a midcareer transition, it’s a great way to reassess the path you are on.”
—Coauthor of the bestselling The Leadership Challenge and Dean’s Executive Fellow of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University
“Filled with one ‘aha!’ moment after another, Up Is Not the Only Way inspires and educates. It teaches us that career success is not one-size-fits-all—and that’s a good thing. You’ll never think of your career in the same way again.”
—International bestselling author or editor of thirty-five books, including What Got You Here Won’t Get You There and Triggers