Book Review: The Opt-Out Revolt
March 29th, 2007 (6:00am) Anne Zelenka 8 Comments
The Opt-Out Revolt by Lisa A. Mainiero and Sherry E. Sullivan is not just about women leaving the workforce to care for children, though the title might lead you to believe that. Packed densely with the results of research into the shape of people’s careers, this book offers insight and perspective to independent web workers and corporate employees alike.
The subtitle of the book Why People Are Leaving Companies to Create Kaleidoscope Careers reflects the broader scope of the work. Mainiero and Sullivan, professors of management at Fairfield University and Bowling Green State University respectively, suggest that women in particular are much less likely to follow the conventionally accepted linear and progressive model of a career:
Consider the working of a kaleidoscope; as one part moves, the other parts change. Women understand that any decision they make in their careers creates change in others’ lives. Like a kaleidoscope that produces changing patterns when the tube is rotated and its glass chips fall into new arrangements, women shift the patterns of their careers by rotating different aspects of their lives to arrange their roles and relationships in new ways.
The researchers used four major online surveys and in-depth interviews totaling over 3,000 women and men to develop their understanding of people’s career decisions. Initially focusing on women, they soon realized that changes in the working world affect men also, though men are subject to different expectations and opportunities than women.
Men face what they call the Male Straitjacket, where men’s identities are inextricably linked with their work and where a steady march upwards is the only acceptable path. Fortunately, as we know here at Web Worker Daily, many men especially those from Gen X and Gen Y don’t accept that model, and instead choose alternate paths like freelancing, stay-at-home fatherhood, and regular sabbaticals from the workforce.
Mainiero and Sullivan propose that throughout the lifetime, each person tries to pursue challenge, authenticity, and balance, prioritizing them differently at different times. They suggest that there are two main models over the life cycle: the Alpha sequential model, where the person pursues challenge then authenticity then balance and the Beta simultaneous model where challenge then balance then authenticity are prioritized.
This book covers not only Mainiero and Sullivan’s research but also puts it into context of other work on careers. For example, they describe Tim Hall’s concept of protean careerists, “able to repackage and market their skills, moving from firm to firm or project to project and gaining increased independence from employers.” That sounds to me like how many web workers pursue their careers.
If you’re looking for light career self-help, this is probably not the right book for you, filled as it is with discussions of research studies and populated liberally with footnotes. It ends with a chapter on how corporations and government should change to meet the needs of kaleidoscope careerists, coverage that’s not so relevant to people looking to use the web to support loosely-coupled professional relationships and a balanced lifestyle.
However, if you want an understanding of new models of work, set into the context of current research, this is an inspiring and enlightening look at them. Mainiero and Sullivan’s ideas may be of even more value to men than women, since women already have, for the most part, dispensed with the idea of a never-ending grueling climb up the career ladder.
Are you building a kaleidoscope career or climbing a career ladder? What do you prioritize: challenge, authenticity, balance, or a mixture?
8 Comments Post your own comment
Serge Lescouarnec says: March 29th, 2007 11:56am
I was just writing about that earlier today in the context of ‘Less is More’ on ‘Serge the Concierge’
Giving yourself space, wiggle room, increases your options when you have to make work-life decisions.
It is all about making choices after all.
Serge
‘The French Guy from New Jersey’
Blog:
http://www.sergetheconcierge.com
Dave Good says: March 29th, 2007 1:38pm
It is not so much the wiggle room, as the need to find the flexibility to live your life. My dad was an airline pilot, and for the whole of my childhood, he drifted in and out. Sometimes more permanent, other times he was just there long enough to change his laundry, and was back out again. I went down that road too, and for awhile, it worked.
Then my wife wanted kids, the whole 9/11 thing happened, and the airline industry went down the rabbit hole like greased lightning. I decided that if I really wanted to make a change, I had to jump off the career thing altogether. Several years, two kids, zero savings later, my IT career is just now begining to take hold, but I’m glad I did it.
I’m still in free fall, mind you, and there are days when I’m raiding the change drawer so that I can get some machine cuisene for lunch, but I’m glad that I did it. When I was a pilot, all that I was allowed to be was a pilot. Since then, I have been a teacher, a mutual fund broker, and several other things. Even though nothing really took, the point was that I aquired knowledge along the way.
I am becoming an engineer, and a network administrator. I am developing a more pragmatic view of the world. It isn’t really about work, it’s about life. Work to live, don’t let the PHB’s convince you that you must live to work.
Doug K says: March 29th, 2007 2:48pm
“Why People Are Leaving Companies to Create Kaleidoscope Careers”
because they are being forced to.. any examination of this phenomenon that neglects to account for the lack of other choices is bogus. Leaving the corporation isn’t a choice in many cases, it’s a layoff or firing. I know a number of professional women who are now underemployed not by choice, but because their workplaces would not accommodate them.
http://www.cjr.org/issues/2007/2/Graff.asp
is enlightening.
Sherry Sullivan says: March 30th, 2007 5:11am
Hello,
Thank you for your interest in our book, The Opt-Out Revolt. If you would like more information, please visit our website at http://www.theoptoutrevolt.com.
Also, if you are self-employed, left your last job because of firing rather than by choice, or are thinking of changing careers, I think you will find the stories of individuals–told in their own voice– who have struggled with these choices and transitions useful in your own career decision making.
Each of the 8 chapters is self-contained so if you are just interested in men’s careers or women’s careers or how to get more challenge or balance or meaning in your life you can just focus on the section you are most interested in (but of course we hope you find the entire book useful!)
Best Wishes
Sherry Sullivan
coauthor, The Opt-Out Revolt
Erik says: March 30th, 2007 5:39am
Sounds like a fascinating read, heading over to Amazon momentarily.
The concept of kaleidoscope careers is interesting — it reminds me tangentially of a book I read a number of years ago by Richard Nelson Bolles (best known as the author of “What Color is Your Parachute”) called “The Three Boxes of Life”. “Three Boxes” is about how people divide up their lives into 3 sections: education, work, and play.
The traditional approach has been to do it in 3 sections, consecutively — or as The Godfathers put it, “Birth,School, Work, Death”. :) Bolles’ book is about taking a more flexible approach to moving in and out of these boxes through life — as a lot of web workers surely do.
It’s out of print now, but you can still pick it up used for next nothing.
Erik Mazzone
Bruce Meyer says: April 1st, 2007 10:45am
I’m in my late career years, having flip flopped a bunch. I’m a Christian contemplative/activist, an artist & a philosopher, having clung to the authenticity branch mainly. Sometime in my twenties I tried to bring some balance in. And as I approached 40 years of age, I sought some major challenges. The challenges are now taking priority, but there’s still a lot of ambiguity, because I’m still working day-to-day decision making by the same order of priorities.
Chris Yeh says: April 3rd, 2007 2:07pm
Another good book on this topic is Marci Alboher’s “One Person/Multiple Careers”:
http://chrisyeh.blogspot.com/2007/03/foxes-hedgehogs-slashes-and-expected.html
The irony of course is that people wouldn’t have to opt out of traditional corporate work if those corporations would simply come to the realization that the world *has* changed, and that employers need to provide more flexibility than in the past.
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