I firmly believe that you will find your greatest joy when you use your natural talents and interests that are inherent to who you are.

By Betsey Vereckey

In 2019, Professor Aram Donigian T’08 was happily surprised to receive an unexpected message from Tuck: Was he interested in returning to campus to teach?

Back then, the longtime military veteran was living in Colorado with his wife and six children. He wanted to take the job but wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to uproot his entire family and move back east.

“I thought, ‘Am I going to fail? Will my family be happy? Am I going to need to be an Uber driver to make ends meet?’”

In the end, he went for it, which in hindsight turned out to be a good decision.

“In the military, we often talk about how you can’t wait to act until you have all the information,” Donigian says. “At the time I made my decision, the whole picture wasn’t formed yet, but in the end, teaching at Tuck couldn’t have been a more perfect fit.”

Donigian is no stranger to pivoting. He spent half of his life in the U.S. Army as an infantry and public affairs officer, pivoting to the classroom mid-career to teach negotiations at West Point. In addition, he is a co-founder of the NEGOTIATEX podcast and a senior trainer for Vantage Partners. He says his Tuck education and military background are instrumental in the work that he does with corporate clients at Vantage and as the faculty director for the Tuck Business Bridge Program, whether it’s problem solving or decision making.

Donigian emphasizes that pivoting should be viewed as normal these days. He says he often has conversations with Tuck students who know that they want their own start-up someday, but start out working for a company to get established in the industry and build financial security.

“The whole idea of spending 40 years with the same company and getting a gold watch and retiring—that’s not necessarily the case anymore.” 

Donigian says his career pivots have been guided by his passion for helping others become the best version of themselves. Even if you jump to a different industry, you can’t go wrong when you’re guided by your values and what you love doing, he says. 

“I’m a strong believer that we should follow our passions,” Donigian says. “I firmly believe that you will find your greatest joy when you use your natural talents and interests that are inherent to who you are.”

Donigian also says that tapping into your connections can be helpful when you’re thinking about a career pivot.

In Donigian’s case, he never lost touch with the Tuck network. When he taught at West Point, he invited Tuck faculty down as guest lecturers. And to this day, he still invites Tuck alumni to come into his negotiations course to negotiate with students as part of their final exam.

“The Tuck experience does not end when you graduate,” he says. “It may end when you graduate from other places, but our community really kicks in when you graduate.” 

PIVOT TIP: Fear is a normal part of pivoting. “Courage is about being aware of fear and stepping into it with faith and confidence.”

This story originally appeared in print in the Summer 2025 issue of Tuck Today magazine.