I was crying on my kitchen floor when I got the career advice that changed my life. From a four-year-old. 

“Mommy, you have too many feelings,” she told me seriously. This was the moment that showed me it was time to ditch the old rules for career success.

Like many high-achievers, I’d been sold the myth of the predictable climb. At this moment, all my previous success as a journalist, my past offered no clues for what to do next. So I gritted my teeth through each endless day until finally sinking to the floor. I was overwhelmed by a system built for convenience, not complexity.  

When I asked my daughter what I should do with all these feelings, I was stunned by her simple response: put them in the future. A flash of inspiration struck me. I’d been thinking about my career all wrong. I wasn’t on some predetermined ladder to climb; this was a voyage of discovery. I decided right then to leave the corporate ladder behind and approach my professional journey as an emergent series of possibilities. I had found my Career River.  

I have spent the years since developing and field-testing this solution. Instead of being trapped by the pursuit of a predictable career path in an increasingly unpredictable world, within eight months, I landed a new job that was a better fit using the Career River framework.

My own professional journey, from reporting and editing at a daily community newspaper to roles in marketing, nonprofit program management, consulting, executive leadership, and entrepreneurship, is proof that the Career River works. I’ve trained a thousand-plus people around the world on this approach, and I would be honored to help you navigate toward the future you crave.