The Power of the Pivot: Dr. Farnaz Abdollahi on Building a Career That Evolves
One of the most grounding workshops from the 2026 AdaMarie Career Navigation Summit is now available inside the AdaMarie Professional Network. Here’s the idea at its center and how to watch the full session.
Most of us were sold the straight line: choose a path, follow it efficiently, retire at the end of it. Dr. Farnaz Abdollahi’s own career is proof of how rarely it actually works that way and why that’s a good thing. Her path runs from a PhD in biomedical engineering in Chicago, through a postdoc and a short stint at a startup, to more than a decade as a data scientist at Intel, with a growing leadership role in IEEE layered on top.
Twenty years ago, as a PhD student, she thought success meant having all the answers. Today, facing the same self-doubt in the form of an AI-driven “existential crisis,” she’s learned to treat ambiguity as an experiment rather than an obstacle, a reframe that turns a scary moment into a training ground for resilience.
In her workshop, she lays out a practical checklist for navigating any transition, reframing your story so your existing experience maps onto what’s next, building a network with intention rather than volume, developing real business fluency, and saying yes to stretch opportunities even when you only know 40% of how to do them. And she’s candid about how she built her own AI credibility when her workplace was still hesitant.
If you’re in the middle of a pivot and some days feel lost and others confident, this is a conversation that meets you with practical honesty.
Watch the full workshop inside the APN
Dr. Farnaz Abdollahi’s complete session, including her full transition checklist and her approach to building AI skills from scratch, is available now in the AdaMarie Professional Network, alongside every other session from this year’s summit.
Inside, you’ll find:
The full summit replay library, including the sessions you couldn’t catch live
Live workshops and expert conversations year-round
Our spring Career Accelerator
A growing library of career resources
A Slack community full of people navigating their next steps right alongside you
