Career Satisfaction - Publications - Faculty & Research

November–December 2024
Article

Retire Without Regrets

By: Teresa M. Amabile, Lotte Bailyn, Marcy Crary, Douglas T. "Tim" Hall and Kathy E. Kram

This article explores the significant transition of retirement and offers insights into creating a satisfying postcareer life. It highlights the contrasting experiences of Irene and Lawrence, two retirees who navigated this change differently. Irene embraced retirement... View Details

Keywords: Retirement; Satisfaction; Transition; Identity

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Spending his entire private sector career with P&G, Pepper prides himself on heightening P&G’s commitment to customer satisfaction and to creating the “Organization 2005” initiative, which is... View Details

Keywords: Personal Care & Home Products

July–August 2025
Article

How the Busiest People Find Joy

By: Leslie A. Perlow, Sari Mentser and Salvatore J. Affinito

Joy, along with achievement and meaningfulness, is one of the three keys to a satisfying life. Yet it’s the missing piece for many ambitious individuals, the authors found after examining data on how nearly 2,000 professionals spend their days. Jam-packed schedules are... View Details

Keywords: Well-being; Satisfaction; Work-Life Balance; Happiness

21 Jan 2020
Blog Post

Meet the AFAA Club

Additionally, the club hosts an annual career fair at which employers can meet AFAA members in a more personal setting to explore internship and full-time career opportunities. Both potential employers and... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

12 Oct 2017
Blog Post

Why I Spent this Summer Coding

there’s deep satisfaction not just in making something that didn’t exist before but also in seeing others benefit from your work. Finally, coding offers incessant growth as technologies, languages, and frameworks - just like the... View Details

01 Oct 1997
News

Class of '97 Placement Statistics Similar for September and January Cohorts

Preliminary placement figures (as of August 1997)* Total September Cohort January Cohort Average satisfaction with job offer (on a scale of 1-low to 7-high) 6.1 6.1 6.1 Average number of companies contacted 20 19 21 Average number of... View Details

08 Jul 2016
News

So Why Don't You Have Your Dream Job Yet?

There are three forces, says author James Citrin (MBA 1986), that are “at fundamental war with one another” when people are trying to find a job: compensation, lifestyle, and job satisfaction. “So if you think about those three points and what I call the View Details

06 Jun 2012
What Do You Think?

Is Something Wrong with the Way We Work?

change, team members succeeded in freeing up one night per week from their devices and their work. By the time the process had been implemented in more than 900 BCG teams globally Perlow could present evidence that it had enhanced such things as excitement about their... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Consulting

21 Aug 2016
News

From Money to Ministry

suited to counsel those facing difficulties in the private sector. He gives much of the credit to his time at Harvard. “Business is an ethical profession. It’s also about relationships. How do you teach people, and do you listen?” says Quainton, whose banking View Details

17 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

Resisting the Seductions of Success

In his novel I Come as a Thief, Louis Auchincloss introduces us to Tony Lowder, a lawyer in his early forties. Tony and his wife have two children. He works for the New York office of the Securities and Exchange Commission, but his job is just a resting spot. Tony has... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.; Entertainment & Recreation; Information; Publishing

01 Dec 2006
News

2006 MBAs Go to Work

“We encourage them to give function a high priority because it’s been shown to result in the highest career satisfaction from a long-term perspective. The numbers show that our message is being taken to... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

26 Feb 2025
Blog Post

Exploring value-based care: My summer internship with Main Street Health

Health Care During the internship, I had the opportunity to interview 30+ employees from their on-the-ground workforce to better understand their drivers of satisfaction and opportunities to improve efficiency. Through this, I gained... View Details

Keywords: Health Care

08 Mar 2004
Research & Ideas

Secret to Success: Go for “Just Enough”

satisfaction of "just enough." It's a classic dilemma. The ancient Greeks pondered the same question at the height of Athens' artistic and political strength in the Periclean Age of the fifth century B.C.E. The tragedian... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Nash & Howard Stevenson

15 May 2012
News

Finally Finding the Right Fit

pursued a variety of career aspirations. Heffernan trained as a doctor (graduating first in his class), practiced briefly, and decided that medicine was not the right fit. He tried investment banking with Goldman Sachs for a few years,... View Details

Keywords: fashion; apparel; Apparel Manufacturing; Manufacturing

Student-Profile

Omar Olivarez

wanted my career to go.” Omar appreciates the incredible diversity of perspectives within the Technology and Operations Management unit at HBS. “We can get feedback and critiques from colleagues who approach problems from so many... View Details

Profile

Shantanu Rege

Inclined toward math and physics and eager to learn among "the smartest people," Shantanu Rege went to the Indian Institute of Technology, "keen on engineering and looking forward to a PhD and a career in academia." In... View Details

Web

Special Assistant to the CEO | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

he wants to “gain more satisfaction regarding connections made and knowledge gained in the development landscape of Detroit and cities like it. I was born and raised in Detroit. I see this a great jump-off point for a View Details

Web

Losing Passion for Your Job? Why Quitting Might Be the Right Move | Working Knowledge

Career and Workplace Losing Passion for Your Job? Why Quitting Might Be the Right Move Featuring Jon M. Jachimowicz . By Kara Baskin on July 7, 2025 . Many people are afraid to give up a career that has lost... View Details

14 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Breaking the Smartphone Addiction

PTO experiments. These team members were much more likely than their colleagues on teams not participating in PTO to rate their overall satisfaction with work and work-life positively. For example: 51 percent (versus 27 percent) were... View Details

Keywords: by Leslie A. Perlow

04 Jun 2025
News

Slice of Life

Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Spotify More Skydeck episodes Dan Morrell: Hi, this is Dan Morrell, host of Skydeck. In 2018, Bill Crawford (MBA 2006) founded Righteous Slice, a pizza restaurant in Rexburg, Idaho that has been steadily earning critical acclaim. It has... View Details

Publications