Are you contemplating a career change? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Monica Higgins, a professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education. They talk through what to do when you’re having trouble breaking into a new field, you want to leave a secure career path for something riskier, or you’re eyeing a new industry but don’t know where to start.

From Alison and Dan’s reading list:

HBR: Reinventing Your Career in the Time of Coronavirus by Herminia Ibarra — “Possible selves are the ideas we all have about who we might want to become. Some are concrete and well-informed by experience; others are vague and fuzzy, nascent and untested. Some are realistic; others are pure fantasy. And, naturally, some appeal more to us than others.”

Wall Street Journal: A New Approach to Mentoring by Kathy E. Kram and Monica C. Higgins — “As your career and life unfold, you’ll need to keep reassessing your developmental network; the setup that served you well a few years ago may not work as your situation changes. You must ask yourself which developers can still help you meet your goals, and which need to be eased aside for new ones.”

HBR: Which of These People Is Your Future CEO?: The Different Ways Military Experience Prepares Managers for Leadership by Boris Groysberg, Andrew Hill, and Toby Johnson— “Military service no doubt engenders skills and experiences that are relevant and valuable to corporate leadership. But there’s something else businesses can learn from the armed services: Fit matters. The military is, for many, a leadership crucible that leaves a profound imprint. Yet different military experiences generate different leadership perspectives and styles.”

MIT Sloan Management Review: The Power of Reconnection — How Dormant Ties Can Surprise You by Daniel Z. Levin, Jorge Walter, and J. Keith Murnighan — “The next time you have a problem or issue at work, dust off your Rolodex and get on the phone, Facebook or LinkedIn. In a word: Reconnect. Besides finding the experience personally enriching, odds are good that you will also gain efficient access to novel knowledge from a trusted source.”