Finding your career passion is a trial and error process. People say “follow your passion” but this can be vague. The actual process of discovering these passions is daunting. During my MBA, I spent a lot of time reflecting on what I wanted to do in my career. Since we spend a huge portion of our lives working, it’s important to find a job that’s fulfilling. Over time, I've found that what matters most to me is solving complex problems in logistics. I value building something physical from scratch and seeing the immediate results of my work. [...]

HBS Leadership Fellow Henry Tsai (MBA 2017) was working as a technology and innovation advisor in the San José mayor’s office in the fall of 2017 when he began thinking about the plight of families forced from their homes during natural disasters. Floods the previous February had displaced 14,000 city residents and caused $100 million in damages. Because his own family’s home in Texas had been damaged during Hurricane Harvey, Tsai understood firsthand the importance of quickly relocating displaced families. [...]

Noa Torok, MBA 2019, came to HBS with a blank slate. “I arrived with zero expectations,” she says. “I had no idea what I wanted to do.” Her prior experience had shown her the opposite – what she did not want to do. After studying both law and business management in her home country, Israel, Noa became a successful lawyer working for the Israeli Supreme Court. She had hoped she could combine law and business together, but, “I realized that being a lawyer meant working from the sidelines. And I want to call the shots myself.” [...]

HBS Career & Professional Development is excited to share with you some of our favorite books from the Harvard community that will help you propel your career forward. Covering topics including authentic leadership, thinking differently, career visioning, and being the boss, these books offer an opportunity for alumni to reflect on their careers and take the steps needed to continue down a path of success or make a change. [...]

As a career coach at HBS, Matt Spielman (MBA 1999) has heard the groans of frustrated professionals who are unhappy in their current jobs and faced with an urgent question: should they leave immediately or wait until they've secured their next position? [...]