About this Event
What happens when the career you have built no longer fits?
On Tuesday 27 October, we welcome Juliana N. Pereira and Luis R. Baptista for a conversation about their book Pivot-Quest: Find Your Way Forward When the Career You Built No Longer Fits.
Drawing on their own multiple career pivots, three years of research, and conversations with more than 100 people across 25 countries, Juliana and Luis explore what it means to rethink a professional path, whether by choice or necessity. Rather than simply encouraging readers to “follow their passion”, Pivot-Quest looks at the uncertainty, identity shifts and practical questions involved in changing direction, and offers a four-stage framework for navigating that process.
The book also has a connection with Parenthesis. Eitan and Giedre, the founders of the bookshop, were interviewed as part of the research about their own career changes and the path that led them to open Parenthesis.
JULIANA NARANJO PEREIRA is a Future of Work Humanist, community builder, and eight-time career pivoter who has spent her life navigating change across cultures, countries, and industries.
Born and raised in New York to a Colombian mother and Portuguese father, she learned early that identity is rarely fixed and belonging is something we create. Her journey has taken her from advertising at BBDO and product design to luxury fashion PR for brands including Gucci, Burberry, and Tiffany & Co.; from developing world-class retail experiences to founding and successfully exiting a wellness venture; from building traditions and community for more than 10,000 students from over 160 nationalities at IE University to serving as Global CMO of an international technology consultancy.
A TEDx speaker, contributor to Harvard Business Review Deusto, and member of the Board of Trustees of UNICEF Spain, Juliana believes that life's most meaningful transformations begin not when we become someone new, but when we uncover who we have been all along. She believes that a pivot is not reinvention—it is revelation.
LUIS R. BAPTISTA has been a CEO running a $300M operation and a trainee rolling dough at a Cinnabon, a consultant for Fortune 500 clients, and someone who walked away from a career that looked, from the outside, like pure success. Seven pivots across three continents. His Coursera courses have reached 145,000+ enrolled learners (rated 4.7/5). Kellogg MBA; professor at IE Business School.
In a world that rewards specialists, he was told being a generalist was a weakness. Turns out, it was his superpower. Every pivot taught him something the last one couldn't: how to learn fast, adapt faster, and connect dots nobody else could see. Pivot-Quest is the book he needed at every crossroads, and couldn't find.
Event venue & nearby stays
Librería Parenthesis, 30 Calle de Valencia, Madrid, Spain
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