A Radical Careering Preview

Updated to refresh the Preview PDF link

Click here for a preview PDF of Sally Hogshead’s to-be-published book -- RADICAL CAREERING: 100 Truths to Jumpstart your Job, your Career, and your Life.

Sally’s book is an expansion of her well-regarded article “14 Radical Truths” which appeared in Ad Age’s CREATIVITY magazine (Sept. 2002). An abridged version of this article about proactively taking control of one's career was later published in Ad Age (Oct. 21, 2002).

I remember reading the abridged version while I was contemplating leaving Starbucks in the fall of 2002. Much of the article resonated with me then and I was compelled to distribute photocopies to a few 'on the edge of wanting to leave' co-workers. I dug up the article from my archive (yes, I keep a paper archive of worthy articles) so I could digitally distribute it to you on the Brand Autopsy blog [download article PDF (1.4MB)]. I ended up leaving Starbucks for Whole Foods Market in January 2003. Can’t say for certain Sally’s article pushed me to act, but it did encourage me to make a career change.

RADICAL CAREERING, the book, is a lot like UNSTUCK … only more focused on inspiring you to transform your 'current self' into your 'ultimate self.' (I expect Tom Peters to gush all over this book.) While the book is overly-designed and overly-hyperbolic, there are some chewy radical truths within the list of 100 to ponder. Some of which include:

## | Radical Truth
09 | Forget What Your Business Card Says, You Are an Entrepreneur
15 | Aspire to Be the Dumbest Person in the Room
18 | Invent Option C
26 | Circumstances Can’t Cripple Your Career as Much as Doubt Or Passivity
32 | It’s Impossible to be Happy Without Momentum
40 | Go for Nervous
57 | You are Not Done Paying Your Dues
71 | The Antidote to Fear is Action
87 | Your Job Description Is Not Your Self Description
97 | Do What You Are

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[Blogger's admission ... I received an early copy of RADICAL CAREERING for being a member of the Penguin BzzChannel (on the BzzAgent BzzNetwork.)]

Comments

[Laura]

Thanks for the heads-up, this has actually inspired me to buy the book and I'd never heard of it before today. The launch date is officially on my calendar so I can run over to Chapters after work.

Always nice to buy books with the endorsement of someone who knows what they are talking about! That's one thing that frustrates me about books - you never know whether the money will be wasted or well-spent until after you spend it.

[Chris Moritz]

FYI - the preview PDF link isn't working.

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Thanks Chris ... seems as though Sally changed her RADICAL CAREERING website today. (Rich website by the way, worthy of a visit). The Preview PDF link has been refreshed.

[Marketing Headhunter.com]

Great post. I really like #97: "Do what you are."

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

The "Do What You Are" radical truth reminds of something Steven Pressfield wrote in THE WAR OF ART:

"If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), 'Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?' chances are you are."