Your Job Survival Guide
A Manual for Thriving in Change
Published on 11. September 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
280 pages
978-0-13-712702-3 (ISBN)
Description
Selected by IBM Competitive Edge Book Club Selection.
"The beauty of this book on top of its life-saving timeliness is its capacity to give the reader concrete steps to live the good life and enjoy it. The book made me understand that work can be more fun than fun."
-Warren Bennis, Ph.D., University Professor, University of Southern California, coauthor, Judgment: How Great Leaders Make Winning Calls and Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor
Change. It's your job. It just won't stop. It's relentless. It keeps coming at you like never-ending rapids in a permanent whitewater river. Change will burn you out if you don't learn how to handle it. This book is not, however, about mere survival. It is about thriving amidst the challenges of your permanent whitewater world at work.
*Protect your career, improve your resilience, and seize the opportunities in turbulent times
*Take charge, learn to pace yourself, set your own course, and lead others in ad-hoc teams
*Ride the rapids and rediscover play and adventure in today's demanding work environment
*Learn from research and the experiences of hundreds of professionals in industries from energy to telecommunications to financial services to health care
There's nothing abstract or cute about the way this book talks about change: This is practical, grounded knowledge for managing your life in a business world that's churning with change. Gregory Shea, Ph.D. and Robert Gunther show how to keep your working life on course instead of being pushed beyond your limits...find fun and fulfillment...regroup and rebound from failure...protect yourself from events you can't predict...take charge of your life, an your future!
"The beauty of this book on top of its life-saving timeliness is its capacity to give the reader concrete steps to live the good life and enjoy it. The book made me understand that work can be more fun than fun."
-Warren Bennis, Ph.D., University Professor, University of Southern California, coauthor, Judgment: How Great Leaders Make Winning Calls and Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor
Change. It's your job. It just won't stop. It's relentless. It keeps coming at you like never-ending rapids in a permanent whitewater river. Change will burn you out if you don't learn how to handle it. This book is not, however, about mere survival. It is about thriving amidst the challenges of your permanent whitewater world at work.
*Protect your career, improve your resilience, and seize the opportunities in turbulent times
*Take charge, learn to pace yourself, set your own course, and lead others in ad-hoc teams
*Ride the rapids and rediscover play and adventure in today's demanding work environment
*Learn from research and the experiences of hundreds of professionals in industries from energy to telecommunications to financial services to health care
There's nothing abstract or cute about the way this book talks about change: This is practical, grounded knowledge for managing your life in a business world that's churning with change. Gregory Shea, Ph.D. and Robert Gunther show how to keep your working life on course instead of being pushed beyond your limits...find fun and fulfillment...regroup and rebound from failure...protect yourself from events you can't predict...take charge of your life, an your future!
Reviews / Votes
Two kinds of readers will profit from this extremely timely... guide for working in the increased uncertainty... of our times: those who need to understand our challenging world better and know it, and those who need to ... but don't yet know it.-Fritz Steele, Ph.D., author of The Open Organization; co-author Workplace by Design and The Feel of the Workplace
This book... about embracing and thriving in a world of high-octane change...gives...some great practical tips that you can apply back in your workplace.
-"Richard's Book Review", The Proteus Leadership Centres
More details
Persons
Gregory Shea, Ph.D., consults, researches, writes, and teaches in the areas of organizational and individual change, leadership, group effectiveness, and conflict resolution. He is president of the consulting firm Shea & Associates, a principal in The Coxe Group international consultancy; Senior Consultant at the Center for Applied Research, Adjunct Professor of Management at The Wharton School, where he has taught for more than 25 years, an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, and a Faculty Associate of the Wharton School's Center for Leadership and Change. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard, Shea holds an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and an M.A., M. Phil., and Ph.D. in Administrative Science from Yale. He is a member of the Academy of Management and the American Psychological Association.
Robert Gunther is coauthor or collaborator on more than 20 books, including The Wealthy 100 and The Truth About Making Smart Decisions. He has appeared on CNBC's "Power Lunch," NPR's "Morning Edition," and numerous local and national radio and television programs, and his projects have been featured in The New York Times, Time, USA Today, and Fortune. His columns or articles also have been published in Harvard Business Review, American Heritage, Investor's Business Daily, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. As founder of Gunther Communications, he has consulted with Fortune 500 companies, universities, and major nonprofits. He is a graduate of Princeton University.
Robert Gunther is coauthor or collaborator on more than 20 books, including The Wealthy 100 and The Truth About Making Smart Decisions. He has appeared on CNBC's "Power Lunch," NPR's "Morning Edition," and numerous local and national radio and television programs, and his projects have been featured in The New York Times, Time, USA Today, and Fortune. His columns or articles also have been published in Harvard Business Review, American Heritage, Investor's Business Daily, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. As founder of Gunther Communications, he has consulted with Fortune 500 companies, universities, and major nonprofits. He is a graduate of Princeton University.
Content
Preface: We Surely All Will Die xix
CHAPTER 1: AN ESKIMO ON THE TITANIC 1
Dangerous Waters 3
Sailors and Paddlers:Your Real Job Is Change 6
The Limits of Flat-Water Thinking 9
CHAPTER 2: WORKING THE EDDIES: Pace Yourself to Preserve Your Sanity 13
All Hands on Deck 17
We Are Drowning in Change 19
The Impact of Exhaustion 22
Strategies for Pacing 25
Create a "Not To Do" List 27
Build Breaks in the Action 30
Get Good Sleep 32
Take a Nap 33
Enforce Vacations 35
Avoid the Perils of the Crazy Brave and Phony Tough 38
Keep a Roll in Reserve 41
CHAPTER 3: MASTERING THE ROLL: Prepare to Fail Gracefully and Recover Quickly 45
Failure Is the Only Option 48
Strategies for Failing Quickly and Recovering Gracefully 52
Treat Your Career as a Series of Experiments 52
Minimize the Risk of Failure 54
Master the Emotions of Failure 56
Practice Failing 57
Prepare to Learn from Failure 59
Make Your Mistakes on the Move 60
Failing and Play 62
CHAPTER 4: THE POWER OF PLAY: Optimism and Resilience 65
The Play's the Thing 66
The Power of Optimism 70
Strategies for Unsinkable Optimism 71
Create Optimism and Avoid Learned Helplessness 72
When All Else Fails, Paddle Like Hell 74
Choose Your Equipment for the Right Level of Fun 75
Patience: Keep Your Feet Up and Go With the Flow 77
Recharge by Paddling 79
Create Time and Space for Play 80
Cultivate Exuberance 81
CHAPTER 5: PERSONAL FLOTATION: You Are Responsible for Your Own Se
CHAPTER 1: AN ESKIMO ON THE TITANIC 1
Dangerous Waters 3
Sailors and Paddlers:Your Real Job Is Change 6
The Limits of Flat-Water Thinking 9
CHAPTER 2: WORKING THE EDDIES: Pace Yourself to Preserve Your Sanity 13
All Hands on Deck 17
We Are Drowning in Change 19
The Impact of Exhaustion 22
Strategies for Pacing 25
Create a "Not To Do" List 27
Build Breaks in the Action 30
Get Good Sleep 32
Take a Nap 33
Enforce Vacations 35
Avoid the Perils of the Crazy Brave and Phony Tough 38
Keep a Roll in Reserve 41
CHAPTER 3: MASTERING THE ROLL: Prepare to Fail Gracefully and Recover Quickly 45
Failure Is the Only Option 48
Strategies for Failing Quickly and Recovering Gracefully 52
Treat Your Career as a Series of Experiments 52
Minimize the Risk of Failure 54
Master the Emotions of Failure 56
Practice Failing 57
Prepare to Learn from Failure 59
Make Your Mistakes on the Move 60
Failing and Play 62
CHAPTER 4: THE POWER OF PLAY: Optimism and Resilience 65
The Play's the Thing 66
The Power of Optimism 70
Strategies for Unsinkable Optimism 71
Create Optimism and Avoid Learned Helplessness 72
When All Else Fails, Paddle Like Hell 74
Choose Your Equipment for the Right Level of Fun 75
Patience: Keep Your Feet Up and Go With the Flow 77
Recharge by Paddling 79
Create Time and Space for Play 80
Cultivate Exuberance 81
CHAPTER 5: PERSONAL FLOTATION: You Are Responsible for Your Own Se