CAREER INTELLIGENCE --- THE 12 NEW RULES FOR WORK & LIFE SUCCESS
by Barbara Moses. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 1997, 1998 www.bkpub.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (pix-xii)
INTRODUCTION (pxiii-xvi)
PART 1 --- Meltdown (p3-105)
1) The new landscape (p3-20)
2) Facing the fallout --- the unprotected self (p21-36)
3) Talking about your generation --- pre-boomers and early boomers (p37-55)
4) Late for the feast --- late boomers and post-boomers (p57-74)
5) Squished, squashed, sliced and diced (p75-90)
6) Singing the new career blues (p91-105)
PART 2 --- Renewal (p107-265)
7) Welcome to TempWorld (p109-136)
8) Become a "career activist" (p137-168)
[8.1] Be a "career activist" --- becoming an "activist" is the key to your future success since you are responsible for your own career and you are in control of your own future! You must create a plan and manage your own career! This means:
9) Twelve New Rules for Career Success (p169-200)
(1) Writing your own "script", rather than waiting for someone to write it for you!
[8.2] "Know yourself" by developing a "personal work ID" that "liberates" opportunities:
(2) Being vigilant on your own behalf, identifying and preparing for opportunities, rather than expecting anyone else to guide you along or do reconnaissance.
(3) Becoming an "independent agent", defining yourself in terms and concepts that are independent of your job title, your organization, or what other people think you should be.
(4) Being "entrepreneurial" --- looking for opportunity, undertaking enterprises that provide opportunities as well as risks!
The only "real security" you can depend upon is knowing that YOUR OWN SKILLS are strong, current, and marketable. You must know that YOU have the "inner" resources to manage through the ups and downs of life. (p143-145)
(1) Separate your work identity from your job and job titles and exchange it for a "personal work ID" based on your skills, attributes, interests, values and personal preferences.
[8.3] Know what you love --- go for the "flow" (p155-158)
(2) The more you know about yourself, the more options open up to you --- see yourself as the "OWNER" of a UNIQUE SET of talents, skills, competencies, and experiences!
(3) The "FIVE Ws" ---
WHO?
These questions uniquely define WHO you are, WHAT you do, WHAT you are good at, and WHAT you care about. As you read them, you can "brainstorm" or write down words that capture your own interests and skills in terms of these dimensions.
WHAT?
WHY?
WHERE?
WHEN?
[4] Reconfigure yourself (p145-155)
[8.4] Be who you are!
[1] Play to your strengths
[2] Believe in yourself
[3] Develop your own concep of success (p159-163)
[1] Ensure your marketability (p170-177)
10) Career intelligence for managers and organizations (p201-233)
(1) Have a fallback position
[2] Think globally --- Cultural and linguistic versatility count (p177-179)
(2) Build broad networks
(3) Network etiquette
(4) Market, market, market
[3] Be able to communicate in powerful, persuasive, and unconventional ways (p179-180)
[4] Keep on learning --- on your own time (p180-182)
[5] Understand business trends --- take educated risks (p182-183)
[6] Prepare for areas of competence, not jobs (p183-187)
(1) Think roles not jobs (p185-186)
[7] Look to the future --- medicine, education, edutainment, recreation, the environment, personal "anything" (p187-190)
(2) New skills for the new workplace (p186-187)
[8] Build financial independence (p190-193)
(1) Think income streams, not salary (p190-191)
[9] Think "lattice," not ladders (p193-194)
(2) Rethink your relationship to money (p191-193)
--- Do you find yourself surrounded by lots of stuff, yet unable to afford to do things that are important to you?
You could take a lesson from the "voluntary simplicity" movement, in which people have active decided to pursue a life outside the continual invectives of "Buy, Spend, Consume!" Evaluate your purchases and "skinny down."
--- Would you be willing to give up income in order to work less? Would you be able to?
--- Are you making significant personal sacrifices to maintain a particular standard of living?
--- Does all the stuff you buy contribute to your family's happiness, and if not, could you give up buying it?
Ask yourself --- What do you really need? Will getting a different job really make your life better? Do you really need newer applainces or computer stuff?
When re-evaluating your living, recognize that there are no quick and easy answers regarding your career choices! However, there are some "steps" you can take to bring your life back into greater harmony with your most important values.
--- Carefully review your personal values. Know what is really important to you. Ask yourself --- What do I really care about? Are my values being met?
--- For everything you do, ask yourself --- Why am I doing this? Is this meeting my need for "personhood?" Will it keep me in my chosen role?
--- Be ruthless in evaluating how your current lifestyle is contributing to satisfying your deeply held values. When making a purchase, ask yourself --- How much of my life energy is this really worth? How much have you been trained by your culture to solve your problems with products? Do you identify money with your emotional needs that money can never fulfill?
[10] Decide --- Are you more of a "specialist" or "generalist?" (p194-196)
[11] Be a ruthless "time manager" (p196-200)
[12] Be kind to yourself (p200)
(1) Do you remind yourself of your successes or do you beat yourself up for things that did not work out?
Be flexible and be able to "multitask" five things simultaneously! Stay current! Be a great parent, staff member, manager! Be able to live with constant ambiguity!
(2) Can you live comfortably with "less than perfect" in some parts of you life, or are you constantly struggling for everything to be 100% ?
(3) Do you have a "community" or "village" of people you go to such as friends, colleagues, or family members, who appreciate you? (4) Do you take time for yourself?
(5) Do you recognize, much less celebrate, your own successes?
But remember to make time for yourself. Otherwise, you cannot carry out all the important roles in your life effectively!
And remember to set realistic expectations of what is doable. Learn to live the best you can do at the moment, to live with less-than-perfect. Congratulate yourself on your successes! (p200)
11) Preparing the next generation --- career-proofing your kids (p235-265)
REFERENCES (p267-272)
INDEX (p273-279)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR --- Dr. Barbara Moses [www.BBMcareerdev.com] (280-283)