20231122

The Rise of the Solopreneur: Reinvention Is the Key to Career Longevity

We often get stuck in a mindset that what we trained for, or ended up in, defines us.

But first, let’s talk about career identity. Are you “in finance” or “in HR” or “in marketing?” We often get stuck in a mindset that what we trained for, or ended up in, defines us. Our work becomes our working identity. This would be all well and good if there was job security in it. However, this is far from the case these days.

Enter the “solopreneur,” which literally means solo entrepreneur. I view them more broadly, though, as “freelance or part time,” and really anyone for whom dropping in and out of a fixed place on a fixed schedule matters less.

In another book Act Like A Leader, Think Like A Leader, she writes of activating your “dormant ties” — an echo of the research by sociologist Mark Granovetter in the 1970s — to what she calls experimenting with “possible selves” in which you challenge the assumptions of your old, fixed job boxes, and experiment.

EK: Gig economy, in a different word?

X Scrambles to Minimize Damage From Antisemitic Posts

It’s been about a week since X-owner Elon Musk ignited a firestorm by endorsing antisemitic and racist posts on his social media platform. (Listen to our emergency podcast on the topic here.) Since then, X Chief Executive Officer Linda Yaccarino has been scrambling to contain the fallout as major advertisers like IBM, Sony, Discovery, Apple and CBS stopped or paused spending on the site.

EK: No comment.