Career Warfare: 10 Rules for Building a Successful Personal Brand and Fighting to Keep It (Hardcover)

~ D'Alessandro (Author), David D'Alessandro (Author) "Any book about personal brands should by rights start with the greatest obstacle of all to building a good one, and that is the extreme..." (more)
Key Phrases: balanced players, professional brand, personal brand, John Hancock, Wall Street, New York City (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

D'Alessandro, chairman and CEO of John Hancock Financial Services and author of Brand Warfare, offers winning strategies based on the notion that everyone needs to develop a "personal brand" that distinguishes them from other employees. This lively book has advice that is entertaining and bluntly honest. D'Alessandro outlines 10 rules for career success including "Try to Look Beyond Your Own Navel," "Put Your Boss on the Couch" and "Everybody Coulda Been a Contender; Make Sure You Stay One." All employees need to realize that success won't come only from hard work and dressing appropriately-"by themselves, they will not set you apart from your peers, and they will not propel you into the executive suite. In fact, the biggest mistake you can make is to assume that organizations are rational, and that success will proceed in a rational manner from your good performance reviews, nice manners, and sharp suits." Instead, D'Alessandro shows how people can get themselves noticed within a corporation, find ways to make their bosses excel, develop reputations for honesty and effectiveness and learn how to work with the enemies that will inevitably jeopardize their positions. He also offers very specific advice on the three types of meetings-staff, get-something done, combat. Occasionally, his comments-not having an affair with a colleague or not getting drunk at off-site meetings-are obvious, but, overall, this volume is a solid and inventive guide to success that should inspire many readers to alter at least some of their on-the-job behavior..
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

FROM THE NATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF BRAND WARFARE

A genuine winner shows you how to stand out from the crowd

As CEO of John Hancock Financial Services and the bestselling author of Brand Warfare, David D'Alessandro knows plenty about breaking away from the pack. In Career Warfare, this ultimate insider tells the true story of how he learned the unwritten rules of corporate ladder climbing.

In his signature, outspoken style, D'Alessandro offers concrete advice on building a reputation that commands respect, coping with office politics, and surviving the less-than-sane aspects of any organization. He explains why only 20 percent of the people in a given corporation are truly valuable to the organization, demonstrates the right way to polish the boss's image and prevent the boss from tarnishing the reader's, and provides valuable lessons in the etiquette of reputation building.

Through engaging, often-hilarious stories drawn from his own dramatic climb to the top, David D'Alessandro speaks to success-oriented readers at every level and explains:

• How to make people want to take a chance on them
• How to gain and keep a great reputation
• Why success will not proceed in a rational manner
• Why hard work and accomplishment aren't enough
• What character has to do with it

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (November 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071417583
• ISBN-13: 978-0071417587
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #206,144 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Career Warfare Made Easy...or, at least, clearer, August 16, 2004

By	Douglas E. Welch "Podcaster/Tech Geek" (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I guess I came across mention of this title in an issue of Fast Company, but I can't be sure. It seems like something they would feature in the magazine, though.

I wasn't that interested in this book initially, but it quickly grew on me. D'Alessandro (in partnership with Michele Owens) speaks from with an assured voice and what is, obviously, real-world experience. Even more, the book is filled with clear and illustrative examples of what can go wrong, and right, as you build your career.

I am happy to see a CEO focus on something of use to everyone instead of the usual accounts of how they crushed the competition and turned themselves and their shareholders into ultra-millionaires. Everyone works. Everyone has a boss and nearly everyone can benefit from this book.

D'Alessandro speaks about the need to "analyze" your boss into one of the 7 archetypes he has developed from his experiences. Are they a "Little League Parent" or a "Mentor"? A "Wastrel"? A "Pariah"? How can you identify the and how do you develop your career with, or in spite, of them. While you certainly want to judge people solely on the management skills, understanding the basic types can help to make you life easier.

The author's experiences and insights dovetail nicely with my own career experiences. I have seen almost all of the boss varieties he describes, both bad and good. It is always a reassuring to hear that you aren't the only person to have struggled with career issues.

Career Warfare is one of those books that should be given to every college student sometime around their junior year. I know I certainly would have been spared a lot of "hard knocks" learning had this book been available back in the early 80's. Reading this book could prepare new careerists for the realities that will face and give them a "leg up" into the working world.

Current managers can also benefit, as well. The book is an excellent way to do a "gut check" and see if you are really the manager you want to be. Idealistically, I would also recommend this book even the most experienced managers so they might recognize any bad habits they might have adopted over the years and seek to correct them, even at this late date.

D'Alessandro gives some excellent advice for "getting along" in troublesome work environments, but shares my assessment that there are times when you should never compromise your ethics. It is always better to find a new job than find yourself under investigation. Being out of work damages your personal brand much less than becoming a convicted felon. Ask Martha Stewart.

Overall, this book was an easy and engaging read. One that reinforced my own experience and beliefs, yet also elicited new thoughts and concepts on what it means to have a career.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars required reading for college, MBA, and law students, February 8, 2004

By A Customer

When I entered the business world, I was amazed to learn that the world is not governed by reason, but by energy, ego, sheer force of will, politics, and pure happenstance. 5 pages into the introduction, D'alessandro writes, "...the biggest mistake you can make is to assume that organizations are rational."

All young people about to enter the working world need to understand that. The fact that this simple message is written in a respectable book written by a respectable author (he is the CEO of Hancock Financial) should drive home the point. I certainly wish that I had understood this insight 10 years ago when I graduated from law school. I am an investment banker at one of the big firms and, believe me, every one one of his 10 points is on the mark.

As a smart, academically successful graduate, you might think that it is your intelligence, hard work, and integrity that will get you to the top. As D'alessandro points out, all these are necessary but not sufficient. You have to understand how the real world works - with all the crazy, unpredictable personalities and organizational politics that can lead to sub-optimal and sometimes bizarre results. This applies to your moving up the corporate ladder. This book is priceless because it makes you see what sort of practical things you need to be doing/thinking in order to deal with the politics.

The introduction and the first 5 chapters are a must read for professionals (or soon to be professionals) in their 20s or even early 30s. Now in my late 30s, the book was fun to read because I would find myself nodding or laughing in agreement with so many things D'alessandro was saying. Though the book is written in an easy-to-read humorous conversational style, he definitely knows what he is talking about. The last 5 chapters are not as entertaining or informative, but probably still useful for many. And given that it is a very fast read, you can read the whole book in a couple days.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wish I'd read this before my last contract..., November 5, 2005

By	Firebright (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

You know, this book is right on about 98% of the stuff in it. I just wish I'd read it before my last big contract, as I made some of the "classic mistakes" David talked about in the book.

I've been in high tech for 11 years, and I love it. But, I wince every time I look back at my career, as I've blundered through a lot of stupid mistakes - mistakes this book would have saved me from.

Read this book. It's short, easy to read, and full of ideas that will save your you-know-what out there in corporate America. I can't say enough good things.