Ideas
The ideas behind the work
The laws, models and writing that explain why capable PhD graduates struggle after academia, and what changes when the sequence is right.
Start here
Careers do not fail randomly. They fail lawfully. The Career Decision Canon is a formally defined body of six laws that explain, predict and constrain career decisions among PhDs and other high-performing professionals operating under uncertainty. The laws are not advice. They are observed regularities, and once they are visible, strategy becomes possible.
- Fear Collapses Strategic Range
- Purpose Is Decision Intelligence, Not Motivation
- Clarity Precedes Confidence
- Survival Decisions Create Future Crises
- Strategy Only Works After Identity Realigns
- Signals Precede Outcomes
Start with your question
I’ve heard the same five worries from PhD audiences since 2018. Each one has a cause, and each cause is explained by a law.
- “I don’t have any skills industry wants.” Law 5 — Strategy Only Works After Identity Realigns
- “Am I overqualified? Is this beneath me?” Law 5 — Strategy Only Works After Identity Realigns
- “Does leaving mean I failed? Was my PhD a mistake?” Law 1 — Fear Collapses Strategic Range
- “My applications vanish.” Law 6 — Signals Precede Outcomes
- “I know where I’d fit, but I have no way in.” Law 6 — Signals Precede Outcomes
The foundations
The laws
The Career Decision Canon
Six laws that explain why PhD career transitions succeed or fail, with the Canon Articles that apply them.
The method
The Framework
The PCS Model, Inner Game / Outer Game and the Nine Foundational Job Search Elements: what must be true, in what order.
The why
Philosophy
What I’ve learned in more than four decades at the boundary between doctoral education and the world of work.
Explore by topic
The articles apply the Canon to the questions PhDs bring me. Each topic starts with a few to read first.
Professional Identity
The shift from “I am a PhD” to “I have a PhD”, and why leaving academia is hard.
From Expertise to Contribution
Moving from creating knowledge to creating value, and seeing your work the way an employer sees it.
The First Non-Academic Career
The methods of a first job search outside academia, once identity and direction are clear.
- Stop Guessing: Start Researching Like a PhD
- How to Spot a Good Role Fit Before You Apply
- Nine Ways to Respond to a Salary Offer (and Why Most PhDs Only See Two)
Universities and PhD Careers
How PhD careers changed, for the people who shape graduate training and the graduates who trained in it.
Latest
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When Your PhD Isn’t Enough, and What Canadian Graduates Can Do About It
Your PhD proves you can do research. Employers want to know whether you can deliver in their world.
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How to Spot a Good Role Fit Before You Apply
Being qualified for a role and fitting it are two different things. You spent years as a leading expert on your dissertation topic. You largely…
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The Engineering Mindset: Precision Meets Pragmatism
The real world doesn’t care how elegant your solution is. It cares whether the solution is useful.
Tools
The Career Claimers Index™ shows where you stand today. The guide and workbooks on the Resources page help you build what your search is missing.