From Aspiration to Market Reality: Why Career Transitions Succeed — or Stall
By Rhoda Yap, Executive Director, INSEAD Career Development Centre | 2 February 2026Career transitions are often framed as personal journeys—stories of ambition, reinvention, and courage. These narratives are compelling, but they are also incomplete. In practice, many stalled or disappointing career transitions do not fail because individuals lack talent, motivation, or clarity of purpose. They fail because the transition has been misdiagnosed.
