This paper aims to provide an inductive exercise on work identity and transitions for management educators to use with adult learners. The exercise leverages Ibarra’s work identity theory and Schlossberg’s transitions theory and has proven effective in helping graduate students and working professionals consider the relationship between transitions and identity. Additionally, this exercise is particularly useful for facilitating a mindfulness practice in the context of identity workspaces (i.e., the management classroom) where participants are invited into identity development. As a result, students will learn to navigate their own transitions more mindfully and develop a praxis to better support themselves and others in the process of change.
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