Who He Was
Richard Nelson Bolles was born in Wisconsin in 1927. He studied physics at Harvard University and became an Episcopal priest, serving at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco until a 1968 budget cut cost him his job. In 1970, he self-published a photocopied guide for campus ministers who had lost their jobs, titled What Color Is Your Parachute? Two years later, a publisher released it to the public, and Bolles kept updating it nearly every year until he died in 2017 at age 90.
Why He Matters
What Color Is Your Parachute? became a career-advice bestseller, selling more than 10 million copies and spending years on the New York Times bestseller list. The Library of Congress named it one of 25 books that have shaped readers' lives. The title came from a joke: when co-workers talked about "bailing out" of their jobs, Bolles would ask, "What color is your parachute?" Like Frank Parsons decades earlier, Bolles taught readers to start by understanding their own skills and interests, and a teen edition of his book helps young people do the same.
