Designing a Portfolio Life: Building Work on Your Own Terms

tl;dr

• Portfolio over ladder: Careers no longer need to be a single upward climb; build a mix of roles and projects that reflect your values, skills, and passions.

• Design your Third Act: Use your time, talent, and treasure intentionally through board work, teaching, civic engagement, or fractional roles to shape impact and flexibility.

• Network and experiment: Test part-time or project-based opportunities, connect with peers in communities like Athena Alliance, and continuously adapt your portfolio as your life evolves.

What if your career didn’t have to be a ladder, but a landscape?

For decades, the dominant career narrative has been simple: move upward. Climb the ladder, step into increasingly larger titles, and retire after reaching the peak.

But that narrative no longer fits the reality of our lives. We are living longer, learning longer, working longer, and evolving through multiple chapters that don’t necessarily stack vertically.

As Coco Brown puts it, many of us come into mid- or late career still operating with a “vertical” mental map of growth, even as our lives, interests, and ambitions have become far more expansive. And the most exciting work happening today is no longer tied to a single title or single institution; it’s tied to portfolio building.

What Is a Portfolio Life?
A portfolio life is an approach to work and identity that embraces multiplicity. Instead of defining yourself through one job or one role, you build an ecosystem of contributions, each with its own meaning, cadence, and reward.

Instead of asking: “What is my job?”
You begin asking: “What is the portfolio of things that expresses who I am, and what I want to give to the world?”

This shift removes the pressure to compress an entire identity into a single title. It replaces it with a landscape, one you can continuously shape and reshape as you evolve.

Why the Linear Ladder Isn’t Enough Anymore
In career paths, many believe in the same story: climb up, peak, then retire. But, as Coco Brown reflected during her Athena Alliance Salon talk, times have changed. People are living longer, learning longer, and staying active deep into later decades. The old upward trajectory feels too narrow now.
“What am I going to do in my 50s, 60s, 70s, maybe even 80s?”  - Coco Brown

It’s not just about being an executive or serving on a board. For Coco, it’s about a rich portfolio of impact: part board work, part teaching, part investing, part passion projects. She reframed success not as a title, but as a series of interwoven contributions.

Liz Tinkham, who retired after a long corporate career at Accenture, defines her own portfolio this way:
“I didn’t go back to a full‑time job. I’m teaching. I’m doing board work. I’m doing a fellowship.And,  I’m working to switch my focus to giving back through leadership in national service.”

She also notes that she started the Third Act podcast to figure out what she wants to do next with her time, talent, and treasure.

The Value of the Portfolio Approach

For the individual:

• Greater flexibility over time and energy

• Ability to pursue multiple passions without burning out

• More control over the shape of your work and legacy

For organizations:

• Access to fractional executives (senior leaders working part-time or project-based) is rising. These leaders bring experience and depth without full-time cost, helping companies scale leadership efficiently.

• Fractional work can also reduce executive burnout by letting seasoned leaders build a more balanced portfolio.

In the broader labor market:

• The Portfolio Collective reports that ~52% of professionals now have ambitions not tied to a single employer.

• This aligns with older workforce trends: more time, more capacity, and more choice to shape careers beyond traditional retirement.

How to Design Your Own Portfolio Life (Action Steps)
Based on Liz and Coco’s conversation and research, here’s a playbook to get started:

1. Clarify Your Priorities
Ask yourself: What matters most now, freedom, impact, income, or community?
Liz said she prioritized family, travel, and meaningful board work after her full-time career.

2. Map Your Portfolio
Choose 2–3 pillars (e.g., board + teaching + civic service) to build over 5 years.
Use fractional or part-time roles to “test” what fits.

3. Use the 3 Ts: Time, Talent, Treasure
Liz explicitly uses “time, talent, and treasure” to describe what she wants to deploy in her third act.
Think not just about income, but where you can provide value.  Think about the highest and best use of your time for both you and the organizations you support..

4. Build for Flexibility
Engage in fractional executive work or board service so you can scale work up or down.
These roles let you contribute strategically without full-time commitment.

5. Network Strategically
Join communities like The Portfolio Collective to connect with peers building their next act.
Use LinkedIn, board networks, and podcast or speaking platforms to elevate your visibility.

6. Plan for Your Third Act
“Retirement books aren’t written for successful women executive.  They’re written for male executives who want to retire to play golf and not drive their spouse crazy.  The world has not caught up with thousands of impressive and energetic women retiring out of their full-time jobs who are geared up to make a difference!” - Liz Tinkham
Define what vocational freedom means for you, not as an endpoint, but as a season for meaningful contribution.

As Coco said in the salon, the question she often hears from Athena members is: “How do I design a life where I stay relevant, impactful, and true to myself, without demanding a constant upward climb?”

In a world where work is no longer a 9‑to‑5 or a single-employer path, portfolio lives are becoming the new leadership model. They offer flexibility, meaning, and a long-term vision, especially as we enter longer phases of professional and personal life.

Step Into Your Next Chapter with Support
Whether you’re exploring your third act, considering board service, or crafting a more flexible, purpose-driven career, Athena connects you with the tools, expertise, and network to build a portfolio life that evolves with you.

Join Athena: https://learning.athenaalliance.com/sign-up

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