Do you have a burning ambition to try something different?

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Do you have a burning ambition to try something different?

It's not unusual, these days, to have more than one career. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average American has at least 11 jobs between the ages of 18 and 46.

Famously, Jerry Springer, Martha Stewart and Arnold Schwarzenegger all took a chance, and gave up successful careers to do something dramatically different ? and struck gold! But, for every success story, there are many more who didn't quite make it.

So, before you take the plunge, it's a good idea to take a moment to investigate your options and their associated risks. This article explores a career-related use of the Ansoff Matrix Add to My Personal Learning Plan, which helps you to assess those risks and take some of the guesswork out of planning your career.

About the Tool

The Ansoff Matrix was first published in the Harvard Business Review as early as 1957. It is a strategic planning tool developed by mathematician H. Igor Ansoff to help organizations assess the risks of adopting a particular strategy. It highlights four ways a business can grow, and helps you to think about the risks inherent in each of them.

With a little adjustment, you can also use the matrix to think about your career. The amended model shown in Figure 1 below outlines four possible career choices: Expert Development, Functional Skills Development, Industry Transfer, and Retraining.

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/personal-ansoff-matrix.htm