"I'm a Slasher"

A topic that came up in quite a few holiday cocktail conversations-- the lack of desire for a stair-stepped "career path" in almost everyone my age. Used to be sensible young people learned to aspire for the high GPA, private (preferably Ivy League) college, then advanced degrees to become doctors, lawyers, bankers, etc. Now... you've "made it."

Not so anymore. Lifestyle, strategy, and innovation matter more than ever. Gen X (of which my friends and I are a part) and Gen Y have the tools to monetize their unique skills and passions to take advantage of a new long tail of jobs. Entrepreneurs, the Internet, and mobile computing empower the intellectual worker in new ways.

Our culture idolizes risk, reward, and the story of the common-man-making-it-big. Today, we have broader definitions of sucess, and especially among younger workers, professional status is now linked to ideas of flexibility, creativity, and uniqueness... work self and home self are now ONE self.

Hence, my new answer to the standard cocktail question, "So, what do you do?"
Me: "I'm a Slasher... entrepreneur slash consultant slash mentor slash CEO's GPS."
Slashing my way through a multi-faceted professional life with numerous industries of experience under my belt, this answer seems the most appropriate. And, increasingly, it's the right answer for many.

One Person/Multiple Careers by Marci Alboher http://www.amazon.com/One-Person-Multiple-Careers-Success/dp/0446696978/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199809645&sr=1-1