Our StoryNew Directions was founded in 1986 in the belief that senior executives and professionals needed specialized and customized help in navigating career transitions. We took up quarters in an historic red-brick building on Boston's waterfront. It remains our home today. The occasional fog horn reminds us and our clients that someone else out there is charting a course, too. We developed a process to help clients identify their individual assets, needs, motivations and goals, and then use the results to craft action plans and explore new opportunities. Our approach has helped more than 2500 men and women direct their talents and experience toward fulfilling life goals. Our clients are leaders in business, the professions, academia, philanthropy and fields from professional sports to public service who are facing a significant life or work transition. Over the years, New Directions has revised its services or added new ones and brought in new staff consultants. We've sponsored regular talks, informational seminars and gatherings. We've compiled a rich network of career contacts. And we've urged clients to include their loved ones in the search process. Altogether, these have helped produce a vibrant New Directions community. Full-time employment has been the goal for most clients and remains our focus today. Clients land full-time jobs in a similar field or move in a career direction they had not imagined. We find increasingly, however, that clients have broader and more personal goals beyond careers. They want to start a company or organization, work for themselves, fulfill a dream or simply enjoy life more. They want a path that stakes a middle way between full-time work and full-time leisure. In response, New Directions developed its Life Portfolio Program® in 1994, becoming a national pioneer in the process. A Life Portfolio weaves income-producing work, time for leisure, relationships and personal growth, giving back and other meaningful activities into a seamless whole. It begins with a sense of what a person wants out of life – even if just in the back of one's mind. In that sense, careers end, but Life Portfolios do not. They are ageless. We originally conceived the program as the basis for creating a flexible, dynamic alternative to retirement. We soon realized, however, that a Life Portfolio, if begun early, can include a satisfying, full-time professional career. Our Life Portfolio Program® incorporates much of our original process for assessing client strengths, needs and goals. We have always focused on two things – what's next for our clients, and how it will help meet long-term goals. In that sense, we saw that we've been encouraging clients to build portfolio careers since we started in 1986. In 2008, New Directions officially adopted the model as our unifying vision. That's how we became The Life Portfolio Company. |
||
About |
||
Success Stories
"With invaluable coaching at New Directions plus my own sense of mission, I was fortunate to be appointed head of a statewide agency devoted to improving the quality of life in Maine."
"After years of executive leadership posts, I can finally indulge my creative side, designing one-of-a-kind dresses. It feels risky but incredibly rewarding."
"After decades working for large companies, I love the independence of private ownership.
Through New Directions, I realized my life needed more balance and was inspired to embark down this wonderful path."
|
||