Transition Expertise and Identity: A Study of Individuals Who Succeeded Repeatedly in Life and Career Transitions

Through a systematic review of relevant literature and an analysis of in-depth interviews with key expert performers, this book examines the nature of expertise that enables individuals to make repeated successful transitions over the course of their career. Focusing on business, sports, and music, it examines the roles of motivation, cognitive flexibility, personal intelligence, generative thinking, and contextual intelligence in this process. It further shows how identity changes and adapts during a career transition and how self concept evolves over the course of a career. This book has wide appeal for academics in psychology, sports, music, and business, as well as coaches, mentors, talent management, and training organisations across these domains.

Christopher Connolly is Director of SyCon and Transition Expertise. He pioneered applied sport psychology by working with Olympic gold medal winners, professional sports people, and international athletes on both sides of the Atlantic. He has also worked with musicians and conservatories throughout Europe. He is the author of five books on human performance and is widely recognized in business and sport for the application of his expertise in team development and elite performance.

Fernand Gobet is Professorial Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science. A world leader in the field of expertise and talent, he has also carried out influential research on the acquisition of language and computational modelling. He has authored over 400 publications, including Understanding Expertise (2016) and The Psychology of Chess (2018).