Your Career, Your Way [Paperback]

Lisa Quast (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2007

Your Career, Your Way is the book for all woman who do not want to trust their career advancement to luck. It is for women who want to take control of their career and achieve their aspirations. Achieving success requires more than luck, more than hard work - it requires a plan. Your Career, Your Way offers the roadmap to women's dreams by guiding them through the creation and implementation of a personal strategic plan using easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A guide for working women to empower themselves on the job. Numerous sample and reproducible charts lay out an easy-to-follow framework for accomplishing long-term goals." Highly recommended.
--Midwest Book Review © 2007

"Provides more than just advice for breaking out of your rut, it offers a plan.  Moreover, it offers 'homework' to ensure you'll really create and execute your plan. We hope to reap the benefits for a lifetime." --Seattle Picks © 2007

"Offers a guide for a future that women workers create...offering a direct and simple course for getting much closer to the career advancement many of us hunger for."
--Marty Graham, San Diego News Network © 2009

Consultant Quast contends that any woman regardless of age or profession can use the business concept of a strategic plan to advance her career. Ten chapters take the reader through the various stages of creating and implementing such a plan, from reviewing assets and evaluating competitors through determining goals, checking progress, and rewarding achievements. Quast's approach is based upon her own experiences climbing the corporate ladder, as well as her work with clients as a career coach and mentor. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR) -- Book News Inc. Portland, OR ©2007

If you want to get ahead in the business world, just read the step-by-step instructions provided in Lisa Quast's first book. Her book includes worksheets and templates for marketing yourself as a product. She leads you through the steps of assessing your assets and liabilities, getting feedback from colleagues and other business people about your strengths and weaknesses, establishing goals and setting up a plan of action. The reader can use the book like a workbook or download the same worksheets from the author's website. Any woman who aspires to climb the corporate ladder would find much useful information in this slim volume. -- The Odessa Record, by Terrie Schmidt-Crosby

The message is everywhere - in order to be successful you must have goals. Well, that may be true, but most people have very little understanding of how to develop, manage, and maintain these goals. Good news - help has arrived! Your Career, Your Way takes this overwhelming task and breaks it down into a step-by-step process.

For those who have struggled with letting their career manage them, have been overlooked for career advancement, or have a hard time selling themselves in interviews, this book will help you find your way. Taken from the perspective of strategic product planning, the book points out the importance of understanding your product (assessing your assets and liabilities), assessing differentiators (your distinctive assets), obtaining customer feedback (testing your beliefs), evaluating your competitors (determining what you need to do to be the best for the job/position you seek), determining your goals (short and long term stepping stones), and creating your strategic plan (pulling it all together to create your career roadmap). Once you have completed the exercises and are on your way to making your career goals happen, it's important to check your progress, stay the course, and celebrate and reward achievements. The book provides templates for working through the process as well as sample stories to provide guidance throughout the steps.

The book sets such simple and clear guidelines you'll wonder how you ever struggled with goal setting. The satisfaction of taking control of your career and the self confidence that will come with understanding your product (you!) will make you wonder how you ever survived without these vital tools.

Lisa Quast spent years writing strategic plans that created roadmaps for products and businesses to be successful in the market place. Suddenly, while feeling discontent with the direction, or more specifically the lack of direction, her career path was taking, it occurred to her that she could apply her strategic plans to a new product - her career. What has resulted is a brilliant tool to guide woman toward taking control of their career, understanding where they want to go, and what they need to do to get there. This is an absolute must read for anyone - while written for women the tools and techniques apply to everyone - and every goal. -- Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Regan Windsor, 2007

You can manage your career, your way. You can put yourself in the driver's seat, steering yourself toward destinations of your choice. So make the commitment to treat yourself like a product, to continually upgrade yourself, and differentiate yourself from others." So begins author Lisa Quast in a book on thoughtful professional planning, Your Career, Your Way! Having developed strategic plans in her marketing career, Quast asked herself, "What could I achieve if I applied a business concept to myself?" She tried the strategic planning process out on her own career before offering the method to other women in this book.

Written in a crisp, no-nonsense style, the premise of Your Career, Your Way! is that women should view their talents and skills as competitive products to be offered carefully to potential employers. The exercises include a number of self-surveys to help readers develop a proactive set of skills through self-examination and goal-setting. Each chapter is packed with thought-provoking exercises that help readers to manage their careers rather than to stumble from one serendipitous employment to another.

Strategic planning was developed to help businesses position themselves competitively. Using Your Career, Your Way!, the reader can do the same for themselves, following ten crucial steps, from assessing assets and liabilities to goal setting and finally to success. This is a working book, meant to be written in, digested, and taken seriously as a basis for developing a professional lifestyle. The author uses two fictional women with different skill sets and different goals to illustrate how to construct a strategic career plan. One is a married mother of two who aspires to be a clothing buyer, the other a single woman whose goal is to become a vice president of marketing. Together, these characters help the author demonstrate the strategic career planning process.

The book is sprinkled liberally with inspirational quotes from famous women, quotes that set the stage for the reader's identification of professional strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Examples are given for each exercise, followed by templates for the reader to complete and supplemental information on finding a mentor, selecting a coach, goal-setting, evaluating accomplishments, and celebrating success. The book seems geared for individuals pursuing a career in the business world and is, in that way, restrictive. In truth, the material it contains could be applied in many professional fields as self-study, seminar material, or supplemental text. Your Career, Your Way! would be an excellent gift for any woman developing a professional career. -- Reviewed by Rebecca Sisk, PhD, ForeWord CLARION Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"A must read for women looking to advance their careers." - Rob "Waldo" Waldman, Former Fighter Pilot, Keynote Speaker, and Author

"A great tool for women to navigate through the business world. This book is invaluable coming from a woman who has successfully climbed the corporate ladder." - Hellen Davis, Author

"This book gives women the business formula for a successful career. Anyone who wants their career - their way, can utilize these strategies to make their dream a reality." - Carolyn Gross, Author

"Your Career, Your Way! is an invaluable guidebook for any woman wanting to advance their career and achieve their aspirations." - Charles Hasse, President, Washington Education Association

"Your Career, Your Way! should be the reference guide for all women who want to advance in their careers. It's an amazingly helpful book and should be on the desks of women around the world." - Al Patey, President, Paradigm Training

"An essential career roadmap that provides a realistic, practical approach to help you navigate to your next position. The book is a wonderful antidote to the old saying, 'If you don't know where you're going, you'll probably end up someplace else!'" - Louise A. Kapustka, Director, Executive MBA Program, University of Washington Business School

"This book really enables people to think about their personal and professional development in practical business terms. With her structured step by step approach and speaking from her rich experience in business and as a coach, Lisa provides self-confidence to anyone wanting to take a next step in their careers, but not being sure yet on how best to do that." - Carla Mahieu, SVP Executive Staffing & Talent Management, Philips International

"Look out men in the world because women have a new champion, mentor and leader. With the reading of her book, 'Your Career, Your Way!' women will haqve a leg up on their competition." - Robert Boyd, President, Orca Creative Group

"Provides highly personalized tools required to assess ones individual strengths, weaknesses and ambitions. The book's process is a powerful approach toward achieving the ultimate goal in life, namely happiness and contentment. I highly recommend this masterpiece since it contains an amazing compilation of facts and processes that will guide the serious reader to 'being the best one is capable of becoming.'" - F. David Rollo, M.D. PhD., FACC, FACNP, President, Cell>Point

"I wish this book had been written sooner! Every woman who wants to advance in her career should read this book!" - Rebecca Baker, Chief Marketing Officer of Alvarez & Marsal Holdings, LLC

"Your Career, Your Way! is designed to help women make informed decisions on how to jump start their careers and what steps they can take to achieve personal fulfillment. Through Lisa's successful business experience, she has provided women with business tools and know how to execute and succeed in their chosen career goals." - Ellen Moos, Owner and Creative Director, Silver Fox Productions

"Lisa Quast has offered many working women (and, as far as I'm concerned, men!) an extremely useful guide to planning their careers and lives. Her way of providing a thinking framework for people to get to grips with who they are and where they want to go is both refreshing and practical." - Tjerk Hooghiemstra, Corporate HRM, Philips International

"Many times we think of a career woman only as a woman in the business world climbing the corporate ladder. After reading this book I realized the importance of organizing my ideas and goals for the future as an educator. This organization is needed as a teacher, nurse, or any college student getting ready to enter the 'real world' of work." - Cindy Remme, Clinical Assistant Professor, Teacher and Teach Education, University of Arizona

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 148 pages
• Publisher: WingSpan Press (January 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595940421
• ISBN-13: 978-1595940421
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #537,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lisa Quast, founder of Career Woman, Inc. and an international career development expert for women, has succeeded in business areas that have been traditionally male dominated. Tired of waiting for promotions, Lisa took her career into her own hands and created a career strategic plan to get her where she wanted to go.

From the lowest rung of the career ladder to executive positions at multi-billion dollar companies, she realized that achieving success requires more than just luck and hard work - it requires a plan. Her award-winning book, "Your Career, Your Way!" teaches women how to take the process of strategic planning - the same process businesses use to position themselves competitively - and apply it to their own career development.

Lisa has been quoted in articles for The Wall Street Journal, American Way Magazine, eHow and others, enjoys guest appearances on radio shows, and is a frequent contributor of career articles to a variety of publications and online resources, including Working Woman, Training Magazine, Work It Mom, HR Now, and MoneyWi$e Women. Her incredibly successful female-focused "Career Memos" blog (http://www.careerwomaninc.com/blog/) offers tips and insight on everything from how to ask for a raise to how to create a true work/life balance - and, her blog won a 2010 Stevie Award for Women in Business in the "Blog of the Year" cagegory!

Lisa's passion in life is making a difference in the lives of women by helping them achieve their dreams - and she's committed to helping as many women as possible achieve career success!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart, Motivational and Thought-Provoking For All, January 23, 2007

By 

J. Ritchie (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Your Career, Your Way (Paperback)

This book is not only for someone who's lost in identifying his or her career trajectory. It's for everyone interested the pursuit of betterment. While designed to help professionals, I found the book and exercises to be applicable to my personal life too. Quast does a great job of thoughtfully, yet quickly (3 hours or so) helping readers self-assess their own strengths and weaknesses - there's nothing like finding a roadmap that will help you take a closer look at what you are doing and how you might do it better. I finished the book with a newfound motivation to strive for a little more, while having the tools to do so at my fingertips. I'd highly recommend.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get this book!, June 8, 2007

By 

Imogen Doll "ID" (seattle wa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your Career, Your Way (Paperback)

Get this book! It helps you analyze your career and plan for your future the same way a business analyzes and plans product development. There are 10 key steps and good worksheets that accompany each step. I liked how the book includes two characters who walk through the process with you--so you get examples of completed worksheets, potential answers, and points of view that you might not think of on your own. The idea of treating myself and my career like a product sounded funny at first, but it's actually a very practical way to look my future and the process is working well for me.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Career Tool for Women and Men Alike, May 18, 2007

By 

Paul Szilassy (Edmonds, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your Career, Your Way (Paperback)

The format, writing style, and length of this book make it an easy read - you can probably finish it in one sitting (maybe two if the kids distract you). This simplicity does not in any way diminish the value I have extracted. As other reviewiers have written, the real benefits come from taking time for introspection and thoughtful completion of the exercises. The author's intelligent career management advice will help you build a strategic plan to help you meet your goals. Treating your career like a strategic exercise will highlight personal strengths and weaknesses; identify necessary experience, education, and training; and give you an objective basis to manage your career growth with drive and conviction.

This book was clearly tailored to help women define and achieve their career aspirations. But men - myself included - can also benefit greatly from Lisa Quast's cogent advice!