Growth-opportunity

One of the highroads to dissappointment and failure is job dissatisfaction.

I find it interesting that many people are unwilling to change jobs or careers while all the time complaining how bad their company is. Or people who get downsized and go right back in the same type of job.

Carole Kanchier, Ph.d offers a long overdue perspective. She says, "The choice is yours. You can complain or you can change."

Kanchier offers self evaluation. She suggests:

* Redine success. Maintain harmony between who you are and what
you do. Consider that job satisfaction may be more important
than money or position.

* Know yourself and what you want; Identify your mission in life.
Modify goals as you learn more about yourself.
Are you growing or standing still.

* Take career control. Think of building a career rather
than applying for a job. Develop a habit of lifelong
learning and self improvement.

* Enhance creativity. Trust and value intuition. Learn to
relax and have fun.

* Think positively. Learn to say "I can" rather than "I
can't" View setbacks as a learning experience. Listen
to motivational tapes. Reas inspiritional books.
Associate with positive people. Begin and end each
day with positive thoughts.

* Develop resilience: Balance fear of change with committment
Put on the blinders. Get tough. Break goals into small
success steps.

Dare to change your life and your job is a great book that
will help you take back your life and step up to success.

Carole Kanchier, Ph.d offers powerful and specific advice for those unhappy. She says, "The choice is yours. You can complain or you can change."

Here is what she suggests:

* Redfine Success

* Know yourself

* Take career control

* Enhance creativity

* Think positively

* Develop resilience

Overall a good read and I highly recomend it.

Well, it was about time, finding a book that answered all my questions about what I really wanted out of life and, but of course, my fears and doubts. I was so trapped in my job, believing every manipulation corporate America put into my head. Now, I know what I want to do, and I am not afraid to risk and lose. Job satisfaction is more important than the money I'll lose, or that I'll make in the future. I just want to be happy. Security? There's no security anywhere, so the only risk I can avoid is the risk of not trying it. You should, too. Just read the book, and see what I mean.

Mr. Taylor has done an excellent job in illustrating how the right approach to a problem can actually transform an obstacle to an opportunity for growth and success. Don't let the simplicity and straighforwardness of this book fool you! The concepts outlined here are vital to anyone who wants to develop and hone their skills to the next level in their business life or their personal life.

Mr. Taylor has hit the nail on the head! His book is a quick read and right to the point, which puts it miles ahead of other books in its class. Through metaphorical teaching, Scott plainly shows the recipe for success to all who will read it.

Great book!

I found this book to be well written, it is a quick read and provides inspirational and motivational insight and advice. I will be looking for more by this author.

An exceptional work that is a delightful "read". In a very friendly yet literate style, Ms. Kalil lays an easy foundation for finding harmony with our career focus and personality. The included card set is an amazingly simple way to find your direction and learn about your "True Colors". The book is truly informative, and very helpful.

My most recent college career planning class was instructed to purchase the book Follow Your True Colors to the Work You Love as well as the workbook. The students were given weekly homework reading assignments from the book. During class they completed individual and group exercises from the workbook. The book provided a framework for understanding the career planning process based on an individual's true color personality profile. The workbook provided an opportunity for the students to apply the principles learned from reading the book. In conjunction, the two books complimented one another and increased the students' understanding and application of the concepts.

During the course, several students approached me independently and commented on how much they enjoyed the readings and exercises they were assigned. Some individuals felt that the author was speaking directly to them and their circumstances. Other students were amazed by the author's uncanny ability to pinpoint their personality traits and characteristics.

However, I had no idea until I read the finals submitted by the students at the end of the class how universally these two books had impacted people. Even students who were initially skeptical about the usefullness of this class and its approach to career planning were quite pleased with the insight and information they had learned about themselves. Overall, students benefited greatly from reading and using these exercises for self discovery and understanding presented in the book and workbook Follow Your True Colors to the Work You Love. These two books will definetly be required reading for my future students!

Thank you. Your book has truly changed my life. Family and friends have always stated "you think to much", "Don't analyze me", and "You have a hard time getting in touch with your emotions". I have always been a perfectionist at work and have been hard on myself. I have to be competent in what I do and I love a challenge. Once I was able to recognize my true colors I was able to understand me!

When I read Chapter 6 on Green Personality - Knowledge is Power- I saw myself. My true color. What I represent in actual writing. Reading that chapter helped me to understand who I am. Something I often question. I have to accept I am green to full accept myself and that is deep. I have to realize my strengths and weaknesses.

I see how my weaknessness have caused problems in my work, family, and relationships. I have to work on these weaknesses to have inner peace.

Your book has helped me to realize a lot about myself. Your book gives me the guidance to explore my life and see what I am missing. I realize I have been missing a lot. I have always been hard on myself. I push and push myself. Everything I do has to be perfect.... I am so quickly to judge things around me that may not be perfect. I did not realize I have prided my 30 years on being perfect and having an answer for every question. Sometimes in life there ar no answers. I have been searching my inner soul and realize I must change to be truly happy. I realize I have let my critical self hurt me.

I want to thank you Carolyn Kalil for coming into my life. Your book has let me see where I need to go instead of where I am. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

An excellent addition to books on careers. The book has a whole section on career identity. This is useful as most of us identify ourselves by our career identity rather than our personal characteristics, family background or origins from the part of the world we come from. Another section deals with managing emotions in the context of career change. Ultimately, it is indeed a book not only for career counsellors but also for any career hunter or someone who has been affected by redundancies! Some very useful and helpful ideas to re-invent yourself and your career. A book that fills a void in career counselling! Thank you, Prof. Chope.

This book is aimed at employees who are interested in changing their career or their job, depending on age and circumstance. As an employer, I purchased this book from Amazon to learn how "new" employees were thinking. I learned a lot from the employee's viewpoint, but found many of the chapters extremely thought provoking and useful for employers.

The last part of the book is primarily great advice, but the first part of the book I could not put down as it taught me quite a bit. In fact, I have passed it on to some business owners I know as I found the information very useful. The book is also very well written and easy to read.

This job search book helped me understand why the job market of today feels so stressful -- one reason being that lots of people are changing jobs (I love the term "portfolio career") or, like I did in my 40's, starting a second career. So it helps to have a tool like this to take your pulse and remind you that it's not you, it's THEM -- you're just reacting normally to a crazy world -- and then guide you with ways to cope. The author doesn't make yet another approach at explaining how to prepare resumes and write letters. Instead, Robert Chope addresses the emotions that come up when you're looking for a job or considering a career, which can be scary and confusing. For instance, maybe you want to make a change but doing that would go against a parent's or partner's desires. Maybe just the idea of a job quest makes you nervous or suddenly need a nap. This book addresses situations like that and many many others: fear, anger, uncertainty, indecisiveness, and the book reminds us too that physical well being is important. The rules, exercises, examples, suggestions, and lists of resources are helpful and goal directed, and most of all the positive, encouraging tone is energizing. If you're stumped, Chope's book will help you find your way.

This is the best self-improvement book I've read in years. Discover True North really gets to the core of just how powerful our Inner Guidance System is if we will just take time to learn how to tap into it and apply the information we gain. I especially liked the exercises in this book. All were easy to use and implement, step-by-step. I'm recommending this book to all my friends and colleagues and plan to start a Discover True North Expedition and Study Group, as well. This book will help almost anyone to better focus on their personal and professional growth without abandoning others in the process.

Carole Herman
Corporate Vice President
Banner Software, Inc.
Sacramento, CA

DISCOVER TRUE NORTH is definitely a masterpiece. It will assist any person willing to make our world a better place for those that follow.

The Author goes beyond inspiring a person to unleash their potential sources of energies and talents. Practical and action-driven programs are provided to help guide them.

"Discover True North" arrived this morning, and I feel like Anne is talking directly to me. The organization is brilliant; every concept is bite-sized and manageable. In some ways, I feel like this is the book Anne Bruce has been waiting to write all along. Her others, which I have read, were all parts of the big picture. "Discover True North" IS the big picture!

I've been a devout follower of "What Color is Your Parachute?" ever since college...recommending it to folks who are ready to assess (for the first time, or once again) what the best fit is for them work-wise...

This book, Manage Your Own Career: Make it a SNAPP (I'll refer to it as MYOC from here!), is a perfect complement to 'Parachute', after you have found the right job...helping you know what you can do to make your dream work personally fulfilling and successful...because just doing your dream work doesn't guarantee fulfillment and success!

We are all our own 'career managers' and need to do so just like we would manage a project. That is what SNAPP is all about...practical tools to managing projects...and what a worthy project: our careers!

You'll find the parallels drawn in this book quite surprising, including how to build teamwork into your 'project'! It makes perfect sense!

But, instead, of MANAGING our careers, we tend to act as victims of fate and let whatever befalls us (promotions, demotions, layoffs, reassignments, etc.) just happen and go with the flow. This book will give you a whole different perspective and make you aware of things you can do to increase your real value to your organization and maximize your opportunities.

It's easy to read, conversational, and very practical, with lots of exercises and tools. MYOC provides ideas and actual tools (worksheets, checklists, etc.!) for how to get the most out of your career. And if the SNAPP process works for you, check out their other books: Make it Happen! Snapp Your Way to Success in Business and in Life (a true project management 'how to' book) and Career Contuation: Make it a SNAPP (a how to guide for making career transitions: finding a job, starting a business, etc.).

Collaboratively written by Donald J. Hanratty (President, The Career Control Group, Inc.), and Ron Biagi and Teresa Eyres (Co-Founders, ITH - a management consulting company), Manage Your Own Career: Make It A Snapp is a fine, step-by-step guidebook that coaches the concerned reader on how to take charge and manage their career for success. The SNAPP plan (See It, Negotiate It, Act on It, Persist, and Praise the Team) is a straightforward, winning plan to advancement, achievement, and recognition. Manage Your Own Career is especially recommended reading for motivated and career-minded workers regardless of their chosen field of employment.

At last! In the midst of today's economic confusion and disillusionment with self-serving corporations, along comes a guide for career self-management that is clear, concise, compact, and makes sense. In today's "new world of employment", Manage Your Own Career presents the concept that enterprising employees with focused career aspirations should think of their employer as their "customer." The book presents one approach to successful career management using three essential attributes: an individual managing their own career must be "entrepreneural, excellent, and engaging."

With these attributes as a base and using the SNAPP approach described in this and previous volumes by the same authors, the book proceeds to describe in no-nonsense language how to self-evaluate and how to take action. There are a wealth of practical success tips for reaching one's goals which include the expected tips for resumes and networking. However, to my delight, the authors have a "holistic" approach for the well-being of the reader including such tips as "keep fit" and "be nice to everyone".

With over 25 years in the corporate world, I have written countless business plans, action plans, and quarterly reports. I have experienced a myriad of seminars, conferences, and books with "how to's" for success...however, only the authors of Manage Your Own Career could finally explain to me the difference between "Goals" and "Objectives"!

I have read the "What Color is you Parachute"- types of career management books and, as Ibarra says in Working Identity, while books such as these provide useful, introspective exercises for inventorying your skillsets and interests, they have never provided me with the magical answer I was looking for in terms of what I want to do with my life. If anything I actually became more frustrated, because I had invested all of this time doing the exercises and still only had a few faint ideas for careers that might interest me.

Working Identity provides a very refreshing perspective, and one that I agree with. That while introspection is good and necessary, it is doubtful that introspection alone will provide us with the answer of what we want to do. Rather, only through new experiences and relationships will we begin to "think out of the box", so to speak, and get a true sense for what we enjoy and for what motivates us.

I highly recommend this book to anybody who feels stuck in a professional rut and is not quite sure how to get out of it. Not only will you be able to empathize with some of the individuals in the case studies, but I believe the book will help you to begin thinking in a new way, in terms of how to initiate change in your life.

However, I do have a few criticisms of the book. At several times I had to ask myself who was Ibarra's intended audience, career changers or her fellow professors? Many times it just sounded unnecessarily "academic" in tone, particularly in the beginning of the book where she uses several pages to form "models" for her particular theories. Again, it is as if her audience at this point are her fellow professors and academians, rather than simply the frustrated individual who is trying to create a career change. It is not difficult to understand, but she just makes it sound much more complicated than it needs to be, when in reality the theory/model is just common sense: Make a list of things you're interested in, go explore them a bit, and then go with the flow based on how that experience makes you feel.

Another criticism I have is that all of the individuals highlighted in her case study examples are very highly educated, and seemingly have done very well for themselves financially. In and of itself this is not a problem, in that the case studies are still interesting. The subjects she uses are most likely a product of the circles in which she runs, as Ibarra is, after all, a professor. However, I really would have liked to see more diversity in the subjects that she chose, as I think the book could really have spoken to a lot more people who are struggling with career change.

For example, she frequently cites that "taking a sabbatical" from work is one great way to break out of the box and start looking at some new interests. No doubt, a sabbatical sounds really great to must of us, but unfortunately the reality is that there are not many people who can afford to just stop working. There are plenty of very intelligent, educated professionals who are supporting families or have other committments, and it's just not realistic for them to take a sabbatical. Of course, it would be impossible for Ibarra to address every different situation, but I would have liked to see her stretch the case studies beyond the $100K+ professional with a Master's or PhD. Again, this is just another area where I think Ibarra makes the change process sound more complicated than it needs to be. My personal suggestion to someone who is not in a financial position to "take a sabbatical" would be simply to volunteer an hour or two a week in a charity, church, or other organization that is important to you, where you have the opportunity to use and explore some different skills than what you would normally do during your work day. I have personally found this to be very valuable, but for some reason I never saw volunteering suggested by Ibarra in her book.

These criticisms aside however, this book is revolutionary in that it challenges 95% of the career change advice that is out there right now and provides a new and very refreshing perspective on how an individual will typically journey towards change. It is not a "how to" book that provides a step by step process, but rather a book that will help you "think out of the box" and come up with ideas that you can apply in your own life. Again, I highly recommend this book to anyone who 1. has been frustrated with the traditional career change books (as I was), and/or 2. who just feels they are in a career rut and isn't quite sure how to break out.

Best of luck to you!

This is a book for people that don't know what they want to do when they grow up. Most career books take the position that you can divine what you want to do through introspection and self-analysis.(See, for example, What Color is Your Parachute?)
The primary message of this book is get out of your head, get out in the real world and start experimenting,even on a part time basis,with the things you think you might like to do. It's a decent read and full of interesting ideas for people who want to change their careers.

Working Identity is one of the few self-help books that I have read from cover to cover. I found Ms. Ibarra's thoughtful work extremely helpful in my personal, mid-career dilemma. It offers practical advice and approaches the topic from a different perspective. I would highly recommend it to anyone who eschews the more "touchy-feely" approach to personal change and also to anyone who yearns for more satisfaction in her/his career.

'The Work We Were Born To Do' offers some very helpful information for those seeking to discover or rediscover the type of work that should motivate and inspire. Williams is full of positive thinking and offers many practical and helpful exercises, first for unlearning the things that keep our vision limited and small. Then he teaches how to reprogram your thoughts so that you can follow your passion, whatever it may be. Some great examples, stories, and exercises are included.

I'd give the book 3.5 stars if I could. My complaint is that a lot of the theological thinking in the book is (to me) really far out in some cases and offensive in others. Christians reading this book should read with a close eye.

Nick's work on this book certainly shows his love for his subject. It is easy to read and the practical exercises helped me discover my new creative and fulfilling heart-centered career. It is like having Nick Williams as your personal guide to intrapective, honest and authentic decision making. A must-read for anyone wanting to discover their purpose and move into new life-enriching areas and be empowered to take "the risks" in making changes.

Working in the field of Personal Development as I do, it rare to come across such a truly inspiring book. Nick Williams combines inspiring writing with practical exercises that I found life affirming.

The book helps individuals uncover how they can make a difference and ovecome the fear and barriers that stop us putting this into practice.

For anybody struggling to break free from the chains of their current work read this book. It can change your life.

This book is very well written for the beginner bodyguard or for just educational purposes. It will get a bodyguard off to a good start by explaining briefly the topics and tactics that a bodyguard will need to use.

... This book is the first piece of training I assign to my new employees, all of which are cops. The cons of hiring aggressive warriors (cops) are offset as this book clearly explains the new concept that capture of the enemy is NOT the goal, but rather, the invisible protection of the client. This is very valuable, and all for less than [price]! Great book!...

"Executive Protection" is a short but vital primer for anyone interested in pursuing a career as an executive/personal protection specialist. In a no-nonsense manner, Benny Mares debunks a lot of the myths surrounding this growing profession, tells you what skills and experience potential clients look for, and what the pitfalls of the job are and how to avoid them. A seminal work on a fascinating career.

For those of you who wonder why people in the Portland Oregon area recommend this book, it's because Peter and Pam's company, CareerMakers, is here! I've been fortunate to meet both Peter and Pam, though I haven't had an opportunity to take their course live yet. The book is wonderful; I found my dream job after two years of searching because of this book. I'm still there, by the way :).

If someone were to offer you a job guranteed to provide enjoyment, meaning, and purpose in your life, would you accept? There is just such a job available within the reach of each individual job seeker. How is it that so few in today's society locate such jobs?

Locating a soul-satisfying job is a type of work in and of itself. Most of us received little, if any, valid training in how to consciously approach the job search in order to produce the desired result: a job congruent with who I am and what interests me in life. The book, "Want A New Better Fantastic Job?" provides the training and job search methods that most of us never received. Job search tools are introduced and demonstrated. A flexible "new way" job search process is outlined describing the steps necessary to craft or locate a soul-satisifying job. Remember, like any other new set of skills to be learned in life, job search skills are learned and developed through exercise, practice, and patience.

"Want A New Better Fantastic Job?" provides the tools and teaches the process necessary for a successful job search. This invaluable book, co-authored by long time career management partners, Pam Gross and Peter Paskill, is complete, concise, and "digestible", a quality piece of work. The process being taught and shared through this insightful book has been tested and refined through the real life-work experiences of unique, ordinary people during the past eighteen years. This vital job seekers manual includes positive tips and suggestions learned from thousands of past job search experiences. Many of the most common mistakes and pitfalls are chronicled as well. Also, the book is outstanding in responding to the self doubts and fears which commonly arise for many of us during the "new way" job search process. These self doubts and fears are given voice through a superb question and answer dialogue contained within the book.

The "someone" who knows where the meaningful job is you and only you. Many of us become lost in the satisfying job quest because we continue to look toward others to provide the "magic answer", the elusive golden ring as the carousel of our work-lives goes round and round, year after year. Self-discovery is a growing up, an inner process, accepting and choosing the responsibility for one's own life. You and no one else holds the keys to unlock the inner doors to the vast richness particular to your own soul, your own individual life experiences. The subject is you--the unique self, a part of the unseen, inner world. The object is the job--the vehicle through which the self, the inner subject, finds expression and is made visible in the outer world. The subject of inquiry and the object being sought are inseparable, yet distinctly different. Remember, the self who lives inside of you is the subject, the job is the outer object. The process shared in this book connects the two together, subject and object, self and job. Stay the course, trust the process, and the satisifying job search will come to fruition.

"What would your life be like if you loved your work? Want to find out?" Today, take the first step. Trust your instincts. Buy the book: "Want A New Better Fantastic Job?"

This book deserves a 6 STAR amazon.com book rating!

Although at first blush it would seem that this book is about how to find a New Better and Fantastic Job it is really about how to align your personal passions with a way to make a living. The authors have spent the last 18 years helping people understand the key elements of their lives that they want to be remembered for, an exit interview with God. Since the vast majority of people(over 80%) dislike their jobs this book is an invaluable tool to allow people a methodology to understand what is important in their lives and how to align their careers with what they consider to be the most meaningful. For anyone who takes their lives and careers seriously this book is "must" to be read.

Steve Watson President Perkins Strategic Management