What different strategies are there to navigate your career?
W hat different strategies are there to navigate your career? What Different Strategies Are There for Navigating Your Career? From GPS-level planning to “follow-the-compass” moves, you have far more options than climbing a ladder. Big Picture Framing There isn’t one correct way to navigate a career—there are several strategies, each with different tradeoffs. Some feel like using GPS with turn-by-turn directions; others are more like sailing with a compass and adjusting as the wind, economy, and your personal life shift. The key is choosing a strategy instead of drifting from job to job. Below are four core approaches—Planner, Explorer, Portfolio, and Relationship—plus a quick self-assessment, reality checks, and a hybrid model for combining them. You’ll end with a simple QuestionString to apply immediately. 1. The Planner Strategy: Map It, Then Move This is the classic GPS model: pick a destination and reverse-engineer the route. It’s common in fields with clear ladders (law, medicine,...