Working Identity, Updated Edition, With a New Preface

5 Crafting Experiments

By far the biggest mistake people make when trying to change careers is to delay taking the first step until they have settled on a destination. This error is so undermining because, as we have seen, we learn about ourselves by doing, by testing concrete possibilities. And few of us change careers from one day to the next. We don’t, as a rule, leap into the unknown. Instead, most of us build a new working identity by developing the girders and spans as “side projects”—extracurricular ventures that allow us to test possible selves without compromising our current jobs.

Crafting experiments refers to the practice of implementing the small probes and projects that allow us to try out new professional roles on a limited ...