Career Optionality

Maximize career options rather than optimizing for specific titles or linear progression

Elena Verna
10 growth tactics that never work

Career Optionality

"My goal professional is actually to have options so I can choose what I want to do. So I can choose what fits my life right now that I can choose what fits my skills and that fits my personality and that makes me happy." - Elena Verna

What It Is

Career Optionality is the principle that the ultimate career north star should be maximizing options, not achieving specific titles or climbing a predetermined ladder. By focusing on optionality, you gain the freedom to choose work that fits your life, skills, personality, and what makes you happy.

This challenges the default assumption that full-time employment and title progression are the only paths to career success.

How It Works

The Problem with Title-Based Goals

Many people set career goals like:

  • "I want to be a VP"
  • "I want to become a CEO"
  • "I want to be a manager"

But when they achieve these goals, they often find:

  • The job is terrible if you don't enjoy it
  • You didn't know if you'd like it until you did it
  • People management, in particular, "I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy"

Title is a destination, optionality is freedom.

Thinking Differently About Progression

Instead of: "What will get me to the next title?"

Ask: "What will increase my option pool in the next year?"

This changes how you evaluate:

  • Whether to stay at a company
  • What opportunities to pursue
  • What skills to develop
  • When to take risks

The Menu of Work Options

Full-time employment is just one "package" on a menu:

  • Full-time roles: Stability, learning, deepening expertise
  • Freelancing/Contracting: Project-based work, variety
  • Advising/Consulting: Horizontal pattern-matching across companies
  • Interim engagements: Predetermined end dates
  • Fractional work: Part-time executive roles
  • Courses/Education: Teaching what you know
  • Newsletters/Content: Building audience and monetizing expertise

Two-Way Doors

Elena emphasizes that these aren't one-way decisions:

"You should have to do it all. It's all a menu of options and you pick a menu item that fits your best in any given point of your life. It's never say never and never shut the door on anything."

You can have a full-time job, then advise, then go back to operating, then create content. The options remain open.

How to Apply It

  1. Evaluate opportunities through the optionality lens

    • Does this increase or decrease my future options?
    • Does it teach me transferable skills?
    • Does it expand my network?
    • Does it build reputation capital?

  2. Earn the right to optionality first

    • You need to build depth and expertise before branching out
    • Full-time roles are often necessary for building this foundation
    • Don't jump to advising or content before you've done real work

  3. Explore non-traditional arrangements

    • Test the market for your skills
    • Try advising or fractional work on the side
    • Build optionality before you need it

  4. Overcome fear of instability

    • Diversification can actually reduce career risk
    • Multiple income streams vs. dependency on one employer
    • Build financial runway to enable optionality

  5. Ask yourself annually:

    • If I stay here another year, do my options increase, stay the same, or decrease?
    • What would I need to do to increase options?

When to Use It

  • When feeling stuck in a career path
  • When evaluating job opportunities
  • When considering leaving a stable position
  • When wondering "what's next" after achieving a goal
  • When a title-based goal starts feeling hollow

Important Caveats

Build depth first:

"You have to earn your right to unlock optionality and earning that right does usually lie within full-time jobs."

Don't jump to advising or content creation before you have:

  • Deep expertise in something
  • Real experiences to draw from
  • Credibility in your field

It's not anti-full-time: Full-time roles serve important purposes:

  • Learning deeply
  • Building expertise
  • Getting stability when needed
  • Accessing resources only available in organizations

The point is not to default to full-time as the only option.

Source

  • Guest: Elena Verna
  • Episode: "10 growth tactics that never work"
  • Key Discussion: (01:19:08) - Contrarian corner on career optionality
  • YouTube: Watch on YouTube

Related Frameworks

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