"I'll give it two weeks. If I don't sign my first retailer by then, I'll shut the company down and do something else." I had asked Sam to lay out his strategy for the new venture he had launched six months earlier. The plan made sense, except that he was...

Most of us -- almost 90 percent at last count -- say we are dissatisfied with our jobs and intend to seek new opportunities. Some individuals surveyed were just having a bad day. Others were in the middle of a temporary period of dissatisfaction with work. But a...

"I can't leave now. I don't want to waste the 50 grand I paid for my master's degree."

Susan mulled over her second-year experience at a large consulting firm. She was hardly experiencing flow, but didn't despise her job either. When I pressed further, she maintained a steely...

Why can't a marketing manager remember where she took a client for dinner last night? Why, over the course of 30 minutes, does a senior executive trade 22 emails to organize a simple lunch meeting, only to be canceled on last-minute? Why does a banker waste the entire day on...

What do you regret most about your career?

I had just finished a guest lecture on business and innovation at Parson's School for Design, and a particularly attentive front-row audience member kicked off question time with the curliest one of the day. I answered quickly with the hope...

While I was at the gym last week, I was shocked to see a fellow member lifting a fully stacked bar while simultaneously arguing with someone on the other end of his hands-free headset. Not only was he was ruining the quality of his own workout, he left everyone else...

As you wait for the elevator to arrive after another mediocre day at the office, you give yourself an all-too-familiar pep talk. "I'm better than this, and I've completely had it with this job," you tell yourself. "I'm outta here for good."

As you ride the elevator to the lobby,...

An expanding class of smart, ambitious professionals have created so many options for themselves that they find it virtually impossible to do a darned thing.

Tom, a reluctant 29-year-old management consultant, has the largest career option set of anyone I know. By virtue of his experience, skills, and financial situation,...

Ever been shut down by someone who supposedly knows more than you? It happens to me daily. I get denied by people that are more senior, more polished, and more knowledgeable than me. I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed professional rejection, but I try my best to dust...

The professional world is powered by favors -- busy individuals helping those in their extended networks land highly-contested roles, get feedback on ideas or connect with influencers, typically without the expectation of either compensation or reciprocation. I've been on the receiving end of many professional favors, the givers of which...

Updated CV and cover letter? Check. Newly pressed white shirt? Check. Portfolio of recent work samples? Check. Think you're well-prepared for your next job interview? Think again. A recent employer study reveals that 91% of employers use social networking sites to screen employees, and 69% have rejected an...

The unthinkable happened at a friend's wedding last month. As the groom was asked to confirm his desire to accept the bride as his lawfully wedded wife, he held up his hand, as if to say "wait a minute." The audible gasps amongst attendees turned to relieved chuckles as he...

Stuart stood up confidently and addressed the group: "I studied Art History at Yale, worked at Bain for two years, then Morgan Stanley. After finishing my Stanford MBA, I took a banking job at Goldman Sachs."

I'd asked him and a small group of smart individuals to describe their professional...

Have you noticed that everyone around you now seems to be an expert at something? How your boss gives you unsolicited career advice, based on his own (self-proclaimed) stellar career? Or how your annoying colleague emails you stock tips after reading the morning news headlines?

Welcome to the age of...

As the Internet has grown from 70 million users in 1997 to 2.2 billion, entrepreneurial companies with technology at their core have disrupted entire industries and threatened or eliminated incumbents. For example, Square, the new electronic payment service, has already upended a long-established financial ecosystem, with some arguing...

Are you the seven-foot superhero, the conniving villain, the strong-willed woman or the family-man cop? You'd better be one of them, or risk being cut from the cast. After studying Hollywood actors for three years, MIT Professor Ezra Zuckerman found that actors who typecast themselves (PDF) early in...

Young people have regrets, too.

Last month, I asked 100 people aged between 25 and 35 about what they regretted most. All aspects of their early lives were fair game. Many reflected on their burgeoning careers, others lamented the relationships they had built with family and...

If you ever want to lie awake at night, go ahead and think about your "one thing" -- the one thing you were born to do, the one career you were built to succeed at and the one person you were destined to spend the rest of your life with....

When Facebook announced its recent $5 billion IPO, many applauded the company's mission to connect friends and make the world a more open place. Experts described Zuckerberg as "noble," "grandiose," and "downright inspirational." Twitter CEO Dick Costolo recently presented his vision in...

When I began writing Passion & Purpose in 2009, I met Susan, a young woman on the brink of quitting her investment banking job to pursue her lifelong passion of starting a non-profit. A year later, when I asked how her new venture was going, I was surprised...