Empowering An Unhappy Client To Change Careers

Helping people reconnect with what truly matters so they can design more meaningful work.

Throughout my work with leaders, executives, and families over the years, one theme consistently shows up: people can achieve extraordinary external success and still feel an inner pull toward something more meaningful. This tension between what we built and what we truly want — is often the spark that leads individuals to explore deeper questions about purpose, fulfillment, and career direction.

The Wall Street Journal recently highlighted this very dynamic in an article I was featured in, titled “Empowering an Unhappy Client to Change Careers.” The story captures something I have witnessed many times: people don’t just need financial guidance or strategic planning, sometimes they simply need permission to imagine a different future.

Many high achievers reach a point where they quietly wonder, “Is this truly how I want to spend the rest of my working life?” or “Is there a part of me I’ve forgotten along the way?” These questions aren’t a crisis. They’re an invitation to awaken.

What I’ve learned is that career dissatisfaction rarely stems from lack of talent. More often, it comes from misalignment — a disconnect between someone’s daily work and their deeper values or gifts. And when that misalignment becomes loud enough, individuals start exploring what a more meaningful professional path could look like.

As advisors, leaders, or even friends, our role is not to push people toward a predetermined direction. It’s to help them pause, reflect, and reconnect to the parts of themselves that may have gone quiet under the weight of responsibility or expectation.

Sometimes what people need most is confidence — a reminder that it’s not too late to redesign their lives with more purpose, passion, and authenticity.

Helping someone explore a career transition is less about changing résumés and more about changing mindsets. It means:

• Encouraging them to listen to their inner voice

• Helping them reconnect with long-buried interests

• Reflecting back their unique strengths

• Supporting them as they step into uncertainty

• Reminding them that meaningful success is both possible and earned

Career pivots done well are rarely impulsive; they’re intentional, values-based, and grounded in clarity. And when the right path emerges, the shift can transform not only a person’s work — but their energy, confidence, relationships, and overall wellbeing.

If you’d like to read the original Wall Street Journal article that inspired these reflections, you can find it here:

👉 Empowering an Unhappy Client to Change Careers