Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success is by Penelope Trunk, who’s Brazen Careerist blog, I love. I’ve always enjoyed her blunt, in your face, take on the workplace as well as her ability to upend the traditional mindsets in the office. And the book delivers all of that and more. While the focus of the book is on younger people, I enjoyed reading Trunk’s advice and then comparing it to how different it was from what I was given. (And I think she’s helping shepherd along a whole generation of entrepreneurs.) Here are only a few of the hundreds of gems:
“Create Uncertainty.” The only way to get unstuck from your career is to create instability … uncertainty is really another word for opportunity. (Diane’s comment — the words “uncertainty” and “instability” used to freak me out. But, looking back the best opportunities all came when I was forced into uncertainty and instability. And, isn’t that the life of an entrepreneur?)
Take an adventure. The bottom line about adventure is that there’s little difference between a good entry-level job and an adventure. Both are about learning, trying new things, and making sure you don’t starve. (Diane’s comment — yep, I probably would’ve learned a lot more working in a bar in Tahiti than I did as a legal secretary. And all that extra money I made to pay for lawschool? I probably could’ve handled another $10,000 in loans, and had a lot more exciting stories to tell. Or figured out that law school was not my best career move.)
Find the right manager, not the right position. (Diane’s comment – all you have to do is watch one episode of The Office to know this one is true.)
Her message for people who say they can’t stomach office politics: ”you will die a slow, painful career death.” This is because it exists in every office and you need to build allies. Because if you don’t network, no one will be helping you. (Diane’s comment – As a huge proponent of networking, I couldn’t have said it better myself. )
Towards the end Trunk tosses in a lot of very intriguing chapters – i.e. You only need $40,000 to be happy; The new American Dream is about time, not money; and Marrying for money is out, marrying for flexibility is in. Interesting concepts to consider if you’re creating a workplace of the future.
The Bottom Line: While this is a career book, it provides great insights for entrepreneurs looking to hire gen y employees (and keep them!)
This entry was posted on Sunday, July 8th, 2007 at 3:13 pm and is filed under Nonfiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.Leave a Reply
