Are we asking the wrong questions after a career setback? | Margaret Weniger | TEDxAtlanta

Career setbacks such as layoffs, firings and unplanned turns are often treated as a personal failure, but career disruption is more common than many people assume. Margaret Weniger, director of Startup Launch at Georgia Tech's CREATE-X and author of "Broken: Designing Careers in a Flawed and Outdated System," draws on her own experience of being fired and laid off several times after a 12-year technology sales career. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with professionals, she questions the idea that a successful career follows a predictable path.

• Why career setbacks are more common than often assumed
• Research based on hundreds of professional interviews
• Questioning the idea of a predictable career path
• Personal experience of layoffs and firings after a technology sales career

You worked hard. Followed the advice. Then your career took a turn you never planned. Margaret Weniger went looking for what she’d done wrong. Hundreds of interviews later, she began to question the question itself. Margaret Weniger is challenging one of our most persistent ideas about work: that a successful career follows a predictable path. After 12 years climbing the technology sales ladder, Margaret began studying what happens when carefully made career plans collide with layoffs, changing priorities and unexpected turns. Her research with professionals revealed that career disruption was far less unusual than we’ve been taught to believe. Her own experience gave the question particular urgency: Behind a résumé that looked successful, Margaret had been fired and laid off multiple times. Today, Margaret is director of Startup Launch at Georgia Tech’s CREATE-X, where she helps founders navigate uncertainty and build companies. She is also the author of “Broken: Designing Careers in a Flawed and Outdated System.” This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx