Management: Unanticipated Career Change: Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It . . .

Authors

  • Aleteia Greenwood

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.55n2.87

Abstract

Few among us can’t relate to the well-worn saying, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”1 For many of us, this applies as much to our professional lives as to our personal ones. Career paths are not always linear; in fact, they are often serendipitous or circuitous routes that bring exciting challenges our way, help us develop new interests, and take us to places we never dreamed we’d be. In this reflective column, Aleteia Greenwood shares the story of the transcontinental journey she made, traversing the disciplinary spectrum in tandem. Her insights underscore the rewards of taking chances and being open to possibilities, and the meaningful opportunities that come from doing so.—Editor

Author Biography

Aleteia Greenwood

Aleteia Greenwood is Head, Woodward Library, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Correspondence concerning this column should be addressed to Marianne Ryan, Associate University Librarian for Public Services, Northwestern University, 1970 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208; email: marianne-ryan@northwestern.edu.

References

For a description of the program, see www.arl.org/leadership-recruitment/leadership-development/arl-leadership-fellows-program#.VcYysfknKDk.

C. K. Gunsalus, The College Administrator’s Survival Guide (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006).

Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen, Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most (New York: Penguin, 1999).

Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander, The Art of Possibility (New York: Penguin, 2002).

DeEtta Jones of DeEtta Jones and Associates: www.deettajones.com.

RUSQ 55n2 (Winter 2015) cover

Downloads

Published

2015-12-16

Issue

Vol. 55 No. 2 (2015): Winter

Section

Columns

License

A copyright agreement form will be sent to each author when the manuscript is accepted for publication. Authors may sign and return either a limited license or full agreement form. RUSQ subscribes to a generous educational use policy. You may deposit your article in an institutional or disciplinary repository subsequent to publication in RUSQ. When posting, the work may not be modified and you must cite the original publication.