Career Choices and the Power of Hyphens
Careers are deeply personal and a direct reflection of the choices you make and the reasons you make them.
Yet research shows most people spend more time planning a vacation each year than they spend planning their careers. If that's true, it's no wonder so many of us feel like our careers "just happened" rather than being intentionally designed.
Career experts often describe a few broad types of paths:
Linear careers: climbing the traditional ladder in one function or industry.
Expert careers: diving deep into a single domain and becoming the go-to specialist.
Spiral or multihyphenate careers: moving across roles, functions, or industries—collecting new skills and experiences along the way.
My career falls into that last category. It wasn't necessarily intentional, and it was never about chasing titles. Each hyphen was a tool I picked up to solve a problem, deepen expertise, or keep the work interesting to myself.
My career in HR cycled through every seat—recruiting, benefits, comp, employee relations, HRIS. Then I took over health and wellness, leadership development, customer and volunteer experience, all tied to ambitious goals (half of our CEO's bonus was connected to employee and customer experience). That's when I realized I needed to understand the magic of culture—the thread holding everything together—and the invisible driver of business strategy.
Teaching became another hyphen. As a graduate professor, I taught HR Strategy and Metrics, Interpersonal Dynamics, Diversity and Conflict, and even IO Psychology to undergrads. Early in my career, I became certified as a coach to support leaders better and deepen my understanding of myself.
Then my life changed, and I stepped away from the job (and team) I loved to care for my father with Alzheimer's… and whom I loved even more. I spent a year traveling the world, becoming an unpaid travel blogger. During the pandemic, I became a podcaster, a collector of great (true) stories, and an edu-tainer. And currently, I'm the CEO and founder of Culture + Strategy Lab, where I weave it all together to help leaders design workplaces where people strategy is connected to business results.
Every role, every hyphen, every detour has shaped not only my expertise but also my heart, informing the work I do today.
So here's my invitation to you:
How much time will you invest in planning your career this year?
What is something you want to try?
What is a skill you need to learn?
What is a hyphen you dream of… and what's one small step you can take toward it today?
👉 Where are your hyphens… or is it time to add some?
Some places to get started hyphenating :)
