{"id":131492,"date":"2025-07-08T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T13:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/?post_type=magazine&p=131492"},"modified":"2025-07-08T15:43:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T19:43:04","slug":"from-ownership-to-agency-rethinking-career-development-in-todays-unpredictable-world","status":"publish","type":"magazine","link":"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/magazine\/summer-2025\/from-ownership-to-agency-rethinking-career-development-in-todays-unpredictable-world\/","title":{"rendered":"From Ownership to Agency: Rethinking Career Development in Today\u2019s Unpredictable World"},"author":52,"featured_media":90196,"template":"","tags":[35615,2697,4412,35616],"class_list":["post-131492","magazine","type-magazine","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-career-agency","tag-career-development","tag-employee-growth","tag-workforce-adaptability","global_topic_tax-performance-management","magazine_issue_tax-summer-2025","magazine_article_type_tax-career-development","magazine_article_type_tax-thought-leader"],"acf":{"sponsored":false,"gated":false,"gated_content_type":"","file_attachment":null,"gated_content":"","form_instruction_header":"To access the full article, please fill out the form below:","pardot_html_embed":"","author_override":true,"author_name":"Julie Winkle Giulioni ","author_image":"","author_bio":"Julie Winkle Giulioni<\/a> is the author of the bestselling books, \u201cPromotions Are SO Yesterday\u201d and \u201cHelp Them Grow or Watch Them Go.\u201d","excerpt":"Career agency lets employees shape their growth through flexible, real-time choices in today\u2019s changing work environment.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","main_content":"For years, the prevailing message in career development has been clear: Employees own their careers. Leaders support them. It\u2019s a sentiment that gained traction in an era when roles were relatively stable, development followed a logical trajectory, and success could be tracked in movement around the org chart.\r\n\r\nBack then, \u201cowning your career\u201d made sense. Employees could reasonably plan five years out. They studied career paths, knew what came next and how to get there. The workplace offered a sense of predictability that enabled ownership \u2014 in some cases.\r\n\r\nFor many, though, \u201cowning your career\u201d felt like a cop-out. The \u201cjust figure it out\u201d school of career management shifted responsibility for development to employees, often without the support, empowerment or resources required for success.\r\n\r\nWelcome to 2025 and a very different reality. Today, roles evolve constantly. Skills expire quickly. Career paths zigzag, vanish or branch in unexpected directions. What worked yesterday is often irrelevant today and antiquated tomorrow.\r\n\r\nThat\u2019s why it\u2019s time to shift from a model built on predictability to one designed for adaptability \u2014 one rooted in career agency.\r\n

From Ownership to Agency: What\u2019s the Difference?<\/h2>\r\nAgency goes beyond ownership by empowering individuals to not just be responsible for career outcomes but to actively shape them through intentional, information-rich choices and actions. Career agency redefines development as emergent, co-created, responsive and aligned with real-time realities.\r\n\r\nLet\u2019s take a look at the differences:\r\n

Career Ownership (Then)<\/h3>\r\n