INTHEBLACK December - January 2022 - Magazine - Page 15
According to Bright, who co-authored
The Chaos Theory of Careers with Robert
Pryor, careers routinely go “off track”.
“In the work we did in the early 2000s,
we consistently found that 60 per cent
to 80 per cent of people had experienced
an unplanned event that significantly
influenced their career,” he says.
Bright points out that many employees
are shocked to discover that events can
disrupt their careers – despite their “best
endeavours and despite producing great
products and being wonderful employees
with great performance appraisals”.
Employees, for example, may be injured,
which precludes them from working
in their field, or they could be made
redundant. Then there are pandemics
and natural disasters.
“These events can profoundly change
the way people work,” he says. “And that
could happen very suddenly.”
The unexpected event can also be
positive, Bright notes. “It could be a
chance meeting leading to a new career
path and a new opportunity,” he says.
Instead of advancing up a career ladder
rung by rung, Bright sees the modern world
of work as akin to a cocktail party. “If you
are open to it, you can have these completely
chance encounters with people, and
opportunities can come from it,” he says.
15
DEC 2022
JAN 2023
intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au