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LEAVE YOUR MARK: Freshly Brewed Career Advice with Aliza Licht

Christina Wallace on How Focusing on One Career Path Doesn't Work Anymore and Why You Need a Portfolio Life

LEAVE YOUR MARK: Freshly Brewed Career Advice with Aliza Licht

Aliza Licht

Business, Careers

5.0585 Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2023

⏱️ 42 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

According to serial entrepreneur, author, and Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer, Christina Wallace, pouring yourself into a single full-time job is the riskiest move you can make. Focusing on one career path doesn't work anymore for reasons ranging from recessions to student loan debt, the gig economy, climate disasters, and a global pandemic (to name a few). We need a dramatically different relationship with work that allows us to define ourselves beyond our paid labor. In her new book, The Portfolio Life: How to Future Proof Your Career, Avoid Burnout and Build a Life Bigger than Your Business Card, self-described "human Venn diagram," Christina Wallace adapts tried-and-true practices from the business sector to help you eschew the cult of ambition and experience the freedom of building the flexible, fulfilling, and sustainable life you want. Drawing on research, case studies, and her own experience, she walks you step-by-step through designing a strategy for the long haul. Because you deserve rest, relationships, and a rewarding career—not someday, but today. After all, you only live once. Wallace talks about building a life like a portfolio rather than a linear career as disruptions become more frequent and diversification and flexibility become more valuable. The Portfolio Life is an anti-hustle, pro-rest approach to work-life balance, built on three tenets: You are more than any one role or opportunity. Diversification will help you navigate change and mitigate uncertainty. When (not if) your needs change, you can and should rebalance. In this episode, we discuss the idea of a portfolio career and how having multiple areas of expertise can be beneficial. Christina emphasizes the importance of recognizing the value of diverse experiences and networks and how a Venn diagram can identify areas of opportunity and help you connect the dots between many areas of expertise. Christina shares her startup failure story and how it's now a case study at Harvard. Though crushed and paralyzed, she got back on her feet by committing to 70 coffees in 30 days. You'll learn the three crucial questions she asked her network that brought her back in touch with her self-worth and clarified her next steps.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, everyone.

0:08.7

It's Elisa Likt here, your host, and I'm so thrilled to share that my new book, On Brand,

0:14.3

Shape Your Narrative, Share Your Vision, Shift Their Perception, is out now.

0:20.6

I hope you'll pick up a copy because personal branding is for

0:23.9

everyone. It's for the new graduate starting out, the middle manager looking to level up,

0:28.9

the executive who wants to be a thought leader, the entrepreneur starting from scratch.

0:34.2

It's for anyone who wants to pivot or transition into something new. Because having

0:39.4

a strong personal brand means that your name gets dropped in rooms, you're not in, and that

0:44.7

you're thought of for opportunities that other people haven't even heard of yet. So pick up a

0:49.8

copy, and I can't wait to hear what you think.

0:57.1

Hi, this is Alie the Lict and this is Leave Your Mark the podcast where I brew fresh

1:01.8

career advice with some of my most inspiring and successful friends.

1:05.9

It's professional advice that you can action immediately, whether you're just starting out

1:10.2

in your career or well

1:11.6

on your way. With a massive to-do list and a large cup of coffee, I promise that you can get it

1:17.4

all done and still have time to post about it.

1:22.5

Christina Wallace calls herself a human Venn diagram. She has crafted a career at the intersection of business

1:29.9

technology and the arts. Currently, she's a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School where

1:35.3

she teaches entrepreneurship and marketing. And her latest book, The Portfolio Life, How to Future

1:41.4

Proof Your Career, Avoid Burnout, and Build a Life Bigger Than Your Business

1:45.6

Card.

1:46.7

Comes out April 18th, which is my book, birthday, too.

...

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