Forget empowerment. Forget paradigm shifts. Forget gurus. Veteran columnist Hal Lancaster is tired of feel-good career guides written by football coaches and soap opera actors -- guides that boil the complex workplace down to a handful of buzzwords and conclude with a few rosy platitudes. Refreshing and sometimes controversial, "Promoting Yourself" is based on the premise that readers can best learn to build their careers not by listening to the ramblings of so-called gurus, but by studying the experiences of others like them who have been through the business wars and not only survived but flourished.
Through stories of real-life managers and professionals, "Promoting Yourself" reveals a workplace that requires you to pit your skills and competitive fire against a horde of ambitious bosses, peers, and subordinates, all seeking the brass ring of career success. Some will play fair, others won't, and justice won't always prevail. In his tough, savvy style, Lancaster answers the fundamental questions on the road to a rewarding career: How can you find the right job? How can you make your job better? When should you dump your current job? How do you survive your boss's many quirks and foibles? How do you make sense of all the mergers, technological advances, and cultural changes that have muddied the career waters? And what alternate paths to glory exist and what do you need to know to follow them?
Finding the right balance between work and family is acritical part of career development. While acknowledging that some people are willing to sacrifice their careers for their families, this book offers some clear-eyed reality therapy, suggesting that we must sometimes be willing to ignore the incessant calls of "family first" and occasionally say to our kids "No, I can't play with you. I have to work now." But it also shows that someone who has married and parented well, and frequently demonstrated enduring love of his or her family, will find that the kids will be okay and the spouse understanding. There are no pat answers to career success. But with "Promoting Yourself," readers gain the street smarts and insight they need to maneuver through the highly political and often unjust reality of corporate life.
