Redirecting.work
Explore the Pivot Types
Career and life redirection rarely follows a straight line.
Over the course of my research, patterns emerged in how people redirect their careers or their lives as they approach and enter retirement. Those patterns became the Pivot Types. They offer different starting points into the stories. You may see yourself in one, several, or discover a path you hadn’t considered.
Pivot Types describe how people approach redirection. The types reflect what is driving the change, how people navigate it, and what they aspire to as they move forward. Redirection is dynamic. People may see themselves in more than one type, often with a dominant Pivot Type and a secondary Pivot Type. Their Pivot Type may also change over time. The types are intended as a lens for self-reflection.
Choose a Pivot Type
Resetters – take time and create space to reflect, reset, and get clear about who they are and what they want next before moving forward.
Experimenters – actively explore what comes next through trying, testing, learning, and adjusting rather than following a predetermined path.
Pivoters – take their expertise and core skills into a new context, such as moving from practitioner to consultant, vendor to analyst, or one industry to another.
Passion Pivoters – redirect toward a calling, personal interest, or sense of purpose, bringing their work and activities into alignment with what matters to them.
Entrepreneurs – create and build a business or venture, typically as founders or co-founders. They build and own the structure through which they contribute.
Transformers – reshape or reinvent existing systems, models, markets, organizations, or ways of working to create something new and meaningfully different.
Continuous Contributors – leave paid work or employment but continue contributing their expertise, experience, and time.
Retirees – leave paid work, choosing completion and a non-career-centered identity as a deliberate redirection.
Resetters
Take time and create space to reflect, reset, and get clear about who they are and what they want next before moving forward.
Their redirection is less about taking action and more about creating room for clarity. They may step away, unwind, travel, reflect, or simply give themselves time to reconsider who they are and what they want from the next chapter.
Experimenters
Actively explore what comes next through trying, testing, learning, and adjusting rather than following a predetermined path.
Their redirection is about taking action to create clarity. They may try new roles, projects, ways of working, or directions, learning from each experience and adjusting their way forward as they go.
Pivoters
Take their expertise and core skills into a new context, such as moving from practitioner to consultant, vendor to analyst, or one industry to another.
They redirect by applying what they already know in a different setting, leveraging existing skills and strengths in their new roles.
Passion Pivoters
Redirect toward a calling, personal interest, or sense of purpose, bringing their work and activities into alignment with what matters to them.
Their redirection is driven less by a particular role or career path and more by the desire to spend their time and energy doing something they find personally meaningful.
Learn more about Passion Pivoters
Explore Passion Pivoter stories
Entrepreneurs
Create and build a business or venture, typically as founders or co-founders. They build and own the structure through which they contribute.
Their redirection involves creating something of their own, using their expertise, ideas, and experience to build a new business, venture, or way of working.
Transformers
Reshape or reinvent existing systems, models, markets, organizations, or ways of working to create something new and meaningfully different.
Their redirection is about changing what already exists. They use their experience and perspective to rethink how something works and create a new, improved approach, model, or way forward.
Continuous Contributors
Leave paid work or employment but continue contributing their expertise, experience, and time.
Their redirection is less about stopping and more about choosing how and where their experience is applied. They may consult, mentor, write, volunteer, teach, or pursue creative work.
Learn more about Continuous Contributors
Explore Continuous Contributor stories
Retirees
Leave paid work, choosing completion and a non-career-centered identity as a deliberate redirection.
Their redirection is about moving beyond work as the center of life. They may focus their time on family, friends, travel, hobbies, community, health, or simply enjoying greater freedom over how they spend their days.
More about Retirees coming soon
Explore Retiree stories