Career reinvention
Adeline Tiah on reinventing a career one upgrade at a time
The coach and author explains why reinvention works like a run of version upgrades, and which habits help professionals stay relevant through disruption.
Read: Reinvent 4.0 by Adeline T H Tiah | #YourMoney
Video from MONEY FM 89.3.
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How can professionals reinvent their careers without one big leap?
Treat reinvention as a series of small upgrades rather than one dramatic pivot. Adeline Tiah suggests getting comfortable with discomfort, building a network before it is needed, learning skills outside your main field and planning a few steps ahead. Each version of a career then builds on the last, so change becomes a habit instead of a crisis.
Most people picture career change as one big leap: a resignation letter, a new industry, a fresh start. Adeline Tiah sees it differently. Speaking with Michelle Martin on the MONEY FM 89.3 show Your Money for International Women's Day, the coach and author described reinvention as a journey of several upgrades, much like the version updates on a mobile phone.
The idea comes from lived experience. Tiah spent about nine years in telecoms, moved into global and local banking, and later worked in a bank's travel agency subsidiary while online booking portals were eroding that business. Rather than wait for the disruption to arrive, Tiah stepped off the corporate treadmill, took a professional break and qualified as a coach.
That break led to coaching almost 250 people back into work, and those conversations became the raw material for a debut book. The pattern Tiah saw was simple. The people who got hired again were not the ones with the best degrees, but the ones with agility, curiosity and an open mind about trying something different.
Key takeaways
- Reinvention works best as a series of small upgrades to how you work, not one dramatic career pivot.
- Among the job seekers Tiah coached, curiosity and openness to learning mattered more than where they had studied.
- Being noticeable means telling a consistent story about how your work has benefited a community, not listing achievements.
- Introverts can network well by preparing questions, choosing a few people to meet and protecting their own energy.
1. Treat your career as a run of version upgrades
Tiah numbers each stage of a working life. Version 1.0 was the unconventional marketer climbing the corporate ladder. Version 2.0 was the professional career break, when Tiah earned a coaching certification and coached job seekers. Version 3.0 meant returning to marketing inside a startup incubated by a bank, learning new ways of working while also coaching women leaders pro bono.
The point of the numbering is that no version is final. Tiah advises starting with an open mindset and a willingness to be uncomfortable, or at least to play with the idea of doing something different. The first step is not a resignation. It is giving yourself permission to explore what a next version might look like before circumstances force the question.
A coaching conversation prompted the next upgrade. Tiah was asked what an 80 year old Adeline would thank the present one for doing. The answer was a childhood dream of writing a book, set aside during 20 years of growing revenue and building brands for others. The question, Tiah says, is about casting your vision further ahead and working backwards to what you need to do now.
2. Build the REINVENT habits that keep you relevant
The book that came out of that question is Reinvent 4.0: Your Keys to Unlock Success and Thrive in Uncertainty. Its framework spells out REINVENT: a risk taking mindset, entrepreneurial thinking, inclusiveness, being noticeable, vulnerability, empathy, networking and transdisciplinary learning, which means building skills that complement your main field and widen your perspective.
Inclusiveness, in Tiah's view, starts with the multi generational workplace. Baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Z now work side by side, and many people in their 40s and 50s are being disrupted. Employers can value the experience those workers bring rather than defaulting to age bias, while employees can stay open to working with a younger colleague or reporting to a younger boss.
Being noticeable is about personal branding, and Tiah ties it to identity. Many people see themselves through the organisation they work for, so when disruption hits they lose that identity overnight. Knowing why you do what you do, and repeating that message through speaking, thought leadership and a digital presence, gives you a brand that travels with you between roles.
3. Coach, connect and lead without simply telling
For women who feel uncomfortable promoting themselves, Tiah offers a reframe. Instead of announcing what you have done, describe how your work has benefited the community you serve, and only then connect it back to yourself. Martin, who runs executive presence workshops, noted that many women already do their work for a wider community, so the reframe tends to land quickly.
Networking gets a similar structure. Tiah is an introvert by nature, so before an event there is some research on who will be in the room, three questions to ask and two people to meet. Being genuinely interested in the other person takes the pressure off. Energy matters too, which means stepping back to recharge rather than forcing constant contact.
The coaching habits carry into leadership. Training with the ICF and in NLP taught Tiah that powerful questions and active listening, including listening for what is not said, achieve more than instructions. Asking rather than telling drives better accountability, because the answers come from team members themselves. For further reading, Tiah recommends The 100 Year Life and The Long Game by Dorie Clark.
