The Rules for a Distinguished Career is one of the latest and best books Stephen Covey.

Together with his assistant Jennifer Colosimo, head of training at FranklinCovey, he created a real guide for anyone who wants to stand out from the crowd, get their dream job and enjoy it.

This book will teach you:
Create new opportunities for promotion and turn any work you choose into an outstanding one
Identify your advantages and understand what market needs they correspond to
Build relationships with key people
Create a resume that will work for you, and not lie somewhere in a pile

Why did you decide to publish this book:
This is a highly relevant, well argued book, one of the most helpful and inspiring books of our time from the bestselling author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which Chief Executive Magazine has named the most influential business book of the last 100 years.

Book features:
Excellent translation, simplicity of presentation, many examples and tips already tried and tested - the book has sold millions of copies around the world.
She got rave reviews famous people: Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone (“…Kovy and Colosimo will change your attitude to work and teach tactics that will help you get a really tempting offer…”), Marcus Buckingham, author of the book “Live full life"("... This book will help you discover your unique talent, passion, strength that you put into your work and thereby change the world ...") and many others.

Who is this book for:
The book will be useful to anyone who wants to find the perfect job and become indispensable in their place.

Authors of the book:
Stephen Covey (1932-2012) world-renowned leadership authority, educator, writer, consultant, co-founder and vice chairman of FranklinCovey. He is the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This edition, even 20 years after its release, still has its place on the bestseller list. Covey's books have been translated into 38 languages ​​and have sold over 20 million copies.
Dr. Covey received an MBA from Harvard University and a PhD from Brigham Young University, where he taught organizational behavior. For more than forty years, he has taught millions of people - including national and corporate leaders - the transformative power of the principles that guide human and organizational performance.

Jennifer Colosimo is the Head of Training at FranklinCovey. She has influenced over 30,000 clients around the world with whom she has worked as a facilitator and speaker. She is an executive coach, and in this role she promotes performance at all levels of the organization, from the front line to the CEO.
Before joining FranklinCovey in 1966, Jennifer received her master's degree from Purdue University and worked as a personnel reshuffle consultant for Accenture. At FranklinCovey, she is the facilitator of many audio and web programs, including the iTunes Greatness Coming Series and the Speed ​​of Trust webinar series, and has co-hosted leadership events with celebrities such as Jack Welsh and its co-author Stephen R. Covey. Jennifer lives in sunny Colorado with her husband and daughters.

We live in an era in which it is much easier to reach the top in business and on the career ladder. The world has become global, the laws have changed, there are many new opportunities for the development of companies and workers in them. If you do not want to sit in one place for a long time, but want to find Good work and advancement, then you should pay attention to Stephen Covey's book "The Rules for a Distinguished Career", about which will be discussed below.

The book covers many useful topics:

What a great resume should look like.

– How to stand out from other applicants when considering applications and get an interview with the right person.

- What you need to pay attention to for a successful interview.

– How to get the job you want and overcome barriers to contributing.

- What to do if you already have a job, but you don’t like it and you have been marking time in one place for a long time.

– What to do for those who do not have work experience in the required field, but have a strong desire to get to such a job.

– How to identify your strengths and implement them in your work.

– How to find your own business and become indispensable in this work.

As you can see from the short list of topics, this book will be useful not only for those who want to find and get a good job, but also for those who need a change in their existing job.

Now great importance has not money and connections, but the knowledge and skills that you possess and your personal qualities. If you choose the right path of development, which the book contributes to, you can achieve a lot. So, everything depends on you.

“Everyone has a unique gift - often even several. It seems to be the law of nature. So what is your nature?

The first part of the book will help you answer the question: "What will be your contribution?". The second part will answer the question: “How will you contribute?” Both parts are necessary in order to build a great career. Each chapter contains tools to help you apply the ideas you learn and build your great career.

About the authors of the book

Dr. Stephen Covey (1932-2012) - world-renowned leadership authority, educator, writer, consultant, co-founder and vice chairman of FranklinCovey Co. He wrote The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which was named the most influential business book of the last 100 years by Chief Executive magazine. Dr. Covey received an MBA from Harvard University and a PhD from Brigham Young University, where he taught organizational behavior. For more than forty years, he has taught millions of people, including national and corporate leaders, the transformative power of the principles that guide human and organizational performance. Rules for a Distinguished Career is one of Stephen Covey's latest and best books.

Jennifer Colosimo is Head of Training at FranklinCovey Co. She has influenced over 30,000 clients worldwide with whom she has worked as a facilitator and speaker. She is an executive coach, and in this role she promotes performance at all levels of the organization, from front-line to CEO.

“In the age of knowledge, working with the old paradigm of the industrial age leads to a dead end. Passive execution of a job description in the turbulent reality of the new world will quickly make you unnecessary, throw you to the sidelines. Why? Because your job description is outdated the moment it's written. If you don’t constantly change yourself to adapt to the challenges your organization is facing, you will be out of work.”

Stephen Covey and Jennifer Colosimo "Rules for a Distinguished Career"

The book on the official website of the publishing house "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber".

List of CIS stores where you can To buy a book.

Original name: Covey Stephen, Colosimo Jennifer "Great Work, Great Career"

About the book in one sentence: anyone can make their career great.

Stephen Covey, Jennifer Colosimo

Rules for a distinguished career

Preface to the Russian edition.

Recipe for illness

Many of you have read Stephen Covey's amazing book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which has won the hearts of millions of people around the world.

Why did this book become equally in demand in all parts of the world, in countries with completely different histories, with different levels of economic development, with a population represented by different races and nationalities? The fact is that the "7 Habits" is a universal set of social attitudes and tools, the consistent use of which guarantees the growth of the efficiency of each person - wherever he lives and whatever he does. All these skills are based on natural laws, which, like the law gravity, act everywhere and inevitably.

20 years of experience working with organizations of all sizes - from small private companies to multinational giants, as well as with employees different levels– from workers to top managers and owners allows me to diagnose and immediately write a prescription for most of the inhabitants of our resource-rich and talented country.

Such is the diagnosis. We suffer from an affliction called "dream failure" which comes in two forms: "passive dreamer" (usually in early age) and "victim of circumstance". It is this disease that prevents dreams from becoming a reality, despite our spirituality, high intelligence, broad outlook and ingenuity.

Now the recipe. To cope with this disease, we, like no other people on Earth, need to develop the most important of the seven skills - skill number 1, "Be proactive."

The book you hold in your hands is all about practicing Habit #1 in the big part of your life that is related to work and career. This book - important step in the fight against the disease "Failure of dreams" - no matter what stage of your career you are at and what position you hold. It will help those who are just looking for their job, and those who have long found and stopped dreaming.

Maxim Ilyin, Partner at MTI www.mti.ru

Super job, super career

How to get the most best work and make the biggest contribution

This book is about how to make a great career. You may be saying to yourself, “This is not the time to discuss careers, especially great career. Now I just need a job. I need something to eat!”

Well, if you are still with us, then we will tell you how to get a better job. This is the first, momentary step.

However, the day will come when food alone will not be enough for you. And this day will be followed by another day when you look back on your life and want to appreciate the professional contribution that you have brought to the world. This book is about today and tomorrow. It's about how to get a better job today, a Then enjoy a great career all your life.

When we say that a person has built a great career, what do we mean? That he made a lot of money? Did you rise to a high position? Have you become famous or recognized in your profession? But what about what movie stars usually say on talk shows: “Imagine, and I still for this pay!" Is it really only the chosen few who have experienced this, but we are not given it?

And you? Do you dream of a great career? Can you call your current career "great"? When you come to the end of your professional life and look back, do you see a mediocre career behind you? Good career? Great career? And how do you know? Moreover, How create a great career for yourself?

We, the authors of this book, have been captivated by these provocative questions. What we have been doing for years has made us feel like knowledge-hungry learners who strive to understand what it takes to make life and career great. And each of us has accumulated our own experience, so from time to time we will contact you personally from ourselves. We will share our discoveries and provide methods and approaches, teaching you how to find answers to these questions yourself.

We wrote this book for you, people who want to find a job or give their - already existing - work more meaning.

Anyone can make their career great

To begin with, anyone can have a great career, no matter what they do.

It's all about what exactly you mean by a "great career." If you consider that it should bring you a lot of money and power, then there is no guarantee that you will reach the level of Alexander the Great. Of course, it is important to receive a salary that provides normal life, but is a great career just a salary?

We invite you to remember the most effective and influential people you have met on your professional path. Imagine someone that comes to your mind. This could be your teacher, co-worker, friend, or manager you worked for. What contribution has this person made to your life? What did he do for the organization? For peace? And was it necessarily associated with wealth and power? What do you feel about this person? Do you feel affection and trust towards him? And do other people feel it? We believe that these are the two main signs of a great career. A person of great career makes a tangible contribution to the lives of those around him and inspires in them a strong sense of affection and trust. This can be any person, regardless of title and position.

Your tangible contribution is “ What» your great career. It comes from the depths of your personality, from your unique combination of talents and passions. This is something that only you can do, no matter who you work for.

Loyalty and trust come from How» your great career. These are the fruits of your personality and conscience, your highest aspirations and best intentions. They grow when you act on your deepest beliefs. Let us give an example of one great career.

Fiona Wood was a young English sportswoman who decided to enter medicine. She went the usual way - she entered Medical College, then married and, raising six children, graduated from plastic surgery. After moving to Australia, she joined a burn clinic in Perth.

The anguish of her patients and their horrendous scars after they heal made her wonder if other, more effective treatments could be found. She knew that the longer the burns healed, the worse the scars. By shortening the healing process from weeks to days, much of the suffering and disfigurement could be avoided.

Fiona did a lot of experiments and invented "spray skin" - a method of applying skin cells to burns. According to Dr. Wood, this method heals in a matter of days instead of the weeks it takes for the skin strips to adhere to the burned areas.

On the night of October 12, 2002, the small hospital where Fiona worked was filled with victims of the terrorist attack in Bali, many of whom received terrible burns. Dr. Wood and her small team worked tirelessly for several days, they managed to save 25 out of 28 patients with burns. The skin cell spraying method was part of the treatment process. This achievement brought Dr. Wood worldwide recognition, and for the next four years she was consistently "Australia's most trusted person" in national polls.

Dr. Fiona Wood is a perfect example of what a great career is, based not on the pursuit of fame, but on the contribution you make to the world. “You have to strive to do something; where there is a need, where there is a problem, you need to find a solution,” she says. “About scars… we all took it for granted that if we operate on a person, cut him open, then sew him up, and he leaves a scar, then this is how it should be. But I thought it was wrong."

Could you find more simple words? "I thought it was wrong." A great career is all about solving big problems, being willing to take on any challenge, and striving to make the biggest contribution. You are probably saying to yourself, “But I am not a miracle surgeon. As if to me build a great career? We emphasize that anyone can have a great career. Fame, wealth, unusual talents - it's not about them.

From Steven:

One of my relatives has been working at IBM all his life. He successfully weathered the changes in this very dynamic company - and in doing so worked hard to keep up with the revolutionary changes that the industry undergoes every few years. He is a great professional and takes his job seriously. Clients love him very much. Moreover, he has a wonderful family. He is not ambitious in the sense that he does not need signs of external success, such as permanent promotions or public recognition, but a lot depends on him. For me, this is a great career. He gives his all to the cause and wins the loyalty and trust of customers, employees and family members.

Many argue about ambition and ambition. Is it good or bad? I think it depends on the subject of ambition. If your ambition is limited only by the pursuit of success and you are not willing to pay a fair price for this success, then over time ambition will destroy your happiness. However, if your ambition is to make a meaningful contribution, to change the world for the better, then you will experience a deep sense of satisfaction from a job well done and a good life. I believe in such ambition. And besides, climbing the corporate ladder is not the only path to a successful career. There are other options besides the "up or through" movement. Only you yourself determine what a great career is for you, what your “winning” is.

From Jennifer:

I have a French friend who started out in the automotive industry programming robots to paint cars. He was always interested in technology - cars, bicycles, motorcycles, he was always dismantling and assembling them. At work, he gradually expanded the scope of his duties and became a person who can do everything - only he could fix a seemingly hopelessly broken unit or make robots do something new. He learned English, a little Italian and a little German in order to communicate with his clients from all over the world and to understand the wishes expressed by them on his own. mother tongue. Over the years, he was responsible for more and more work, and eventually became the head of the research and development team in Detroit, which was engaged in new products and solutions. By the time American auto companies began to skimp on automatics, he had repurposed his group enough to attract other sources of income.

In his spare time, he explored alternative fuels and converted the family car to run on vegetable oil. He figured out how to store large amounts of fuel for long trips and how to keep oil warm during the cold season. He is constantly trying to find cleaner sources of used vegetable oil (such as from expensive Japanese restaurants). When it drives past you, it smells like fried potatoes. Of course, the hobby became an important contribution to his work.

His wife, after graduating from college with a degree in marketing, eventually became a senior sales agent at a local mall. After working at exhibitions and trade fairs, she decided that she wanted to continue working for herself. She bought and then successfully sold franchises, and today she works in an organization that sells dietary supplements. She enjoys helping people solve their health problems and has built a very successful business with her knowledge of marketing and sales. She learned French from her husband and now offers her line of supplements in France.

My friends are not famous. They don't roll like cheese in butter. They both have built great careers that are deeply satisfying because they are built on their individual talents and what they love to do.

When talking about their work, the French use the word metier, the original meaning of which is “service” or “service”. This good word. It echoes how a person gives himself to other people, finds satisfaction in doing something real and meaningful for them. A great career does not come from a need for outside approval, it grows from within you, from your curiosity, from your unique combination of talent and passion.

Another source of it is your conscience, which whispers to you that should do. Of course, a person like Dr. Fiona Wood could not do her job without applying all the professional skills. But her conscience is as much the key to building a great career as her special education. People who know her say that "compassion and a deeply rooted desire to help those in need are as important as the new methods she uses." Fiona Wood is not only an excellent professional, she is very good man. Professionalism and personal qualities make her worthy of trust. If you suffer from burns, you would like her to treat you.

A great career requires both the desire and ability to contribute, and the human qualities that make people believe in you and feel affection for you.

This means that every person - and you too - can decide that they want to create a great career. You can decide that you will be the best at your job. And for this it is not necessary to be a genius or a high-class professional, like Fiona Wood.

However, sadly, you can choose a career of mediocrity, and along with it, the lingering dissatisfaction with yourself that arises when you give less than you are capable of. Roger and Rebecca Merrill write: “Mediocre workers are bad leaders, bad team players. Raising salaries and promotion bypasses them. They are always irritated, they are bored. They do not get satisfaction from their work. So why not strive to improve? Your contribution will increase. You will feel better. Earn more money. You will be more trusted, favorable opportunities will open before you.

What's more, now is the time to start (or start over) your great career. What is happening now is unprecedented, it is a change that shakes the foundations of human history and opens up opportunities for you that you could not even dream of before.

From Steven:

Many years ago my father built a cabin by the border national park Yellowstone, in the western United States. It has been in our family for almost a century. We love the old house for its unique smells, for the view of the dark green lake in the canyon of the Rocky Mountains. This is a quiet place. A cool pine forest descends to the water from amber-colored rocks. The silence is occasionally broken only by the splash of a fish jumping out of the water.

But on a late summer evening in 1959, this place was not quiet. A powerful earthquake shook the canyon. The lake has actually boiled over. Relatives told me that they heard a terrible roar of water, but it was so dark that they did not know where the wave was coming - on them or in opposite side. Millions of trees broke like matches. The highway split into thousands of pieces of asphalt. The mountains shook, millions of tons of earth slid down from them into the nearest river, and overnight a new lake arose.

This mountain oasis is a perfect example of the forces of nature at work. Enormous power is gradually accumulating in the bowels of this supposedly peaceful land, then exploding with an earthquake that completely changes the landscape.

Now we live precisely at a time when, as a result of the action of gigantic forces, new world. The economic landscape is undergoing a seismic shift, and with it, the landscape of opportunity for all of us is changing. Such economic "earthquakes" occur periodically in the history of mankind. The early farmers revolutionized the world because they could produce hundreds of times more food than the hunters and gatherers who lived before them. Then the machines of the industrial age increased the capacity of each worker and made it possible to produce hundreds of times more than a single farmer could.

Today we are witnessing another earthquake, a revolution that changes everything. We are moving from the industrial age to the knowledge age. Where an agricultural era farmer could feed himself and a hundred others, an industrial age worker could produce goods for himself and thousands of other families. But one worker of the age of knowledge - what can he do? What limits it?

Nothing limits it, and this is good news about the era of knowledge that we are now entering.

Here is a story that will explain what we mean.

Industrial age worker Jean came to work at an aircraft factory at nine in the morning and all morning riveted the wing of an airplane with a mechanical stapler - every day the same job. At noon, she went to dinner with everyone. On a signal, she returned to the workshop and continued to put rivets until the end of the working day. This went on day after day, year after year. And the same thing happened with all the other workers of the plant. Accountants handed over the same reports. The sales people were called on the same occasions and given the same tasks. At five in the evening every day, they all marked the time at the checkpoint and went home.

Today Liz, Jean's daughter, works in the same shop, but things are different. Today, the work that her mother did is being done by a machine. Liz is part of a cross-functional team that includes marketing and finance professionals as well as engineers. All day she decides most interesting problems: “How much faster can this composite element be produced? What happens when a new wing cover is sheared by the oncoming air flow? How can the wing be made more resistant to damage?

The difference between the Industrial Age and the Knowledge Age is that the world today requires you to contribute to your work, as Liz does. During the Industrial Age, workers were treated like machines. They had "user manuals" which were called job descriptions. They weren't required to bring anything unique or unexpected to the job - after all, you don't expect a toaster to do something "unique" to your bread. But the knowledge age worker is the exact opposite of a machine. He chooses the problems he will work on. He comes up with new solutions. He understands that the contribution he can make is unlimited.

Recently in a news release they said that soon good work may not be enough for everyone, as if we soon felt a shortage exciting problems and tasks that require creative and inquisitive people to solve.

Obviously this is not possible. Quite the opposite. Of course, the age of knowledge is full of upheaval and uncertainty. One of the painful consequences of the transition from the industrial age to the knowledge age is the loss of job security.

Lifetime work and pensions, as they were in the old days, are fading into oblivion and probably will not return. Most of the top 100 companies in the US only offer simplified retirement plans (401(k) or similar) to new hires.

During an earthquake it is difficult to stand on your feet. And you don't know which way the wave is going - towards you or away from you.

And yet, in this perilous and exciting new time, there is positive side: You you can secure a great future for yourself by becoming indispensable in solving important problems. Rather than watch developments in awe, we should welcome this wild, complex new world, anticipating the opportunities it brings with it. There is no lack of problems, only a lack of solutions.

Start (or restart) your great career

Maybe now you're starting to understand what we mean by great career.

The word "career" comes from the French carriere, which originally meant "to move in circles", like cars in circuit racing. Carriere also translates as "stone quarry" - a place where people spent whole days crushing stone. Unfortunately, for too many of us, careers feel like that. We feel like we are going in circles and getting nowhere. Or we feel like convicts in shackles in a quarry.

If this is how your career seems to be, then it's time to rethink everything. You are no longer bound by the outdated idea that you are just a cog in a machine or a spoke in some bureaucratic, mindlessly spinning wheel. As one philosophical writer said, “In an industrial economy, a man could do work with his body, even if neither his mind nor his heart lay in it. But this is not suitable for work in the age of knowledge.

The age of knowledge forces us to ask questions, question old truths, reconsider long-standing intractable world problems and find new, unique solutions for them. It challenges us to look at human needs, poverty, misunderstanding, pain, ignorance and fear, and tell the world what Fiona Wood said: "This is wrong!"

In the industrial age, people rarely found satisfaction in mechanical work, which did not require much from them, and as a result, they gave her as little as possible. But the era of knowledge changes everything. You are free to customize the work of your life to suit you, to give free rein to what you are capable of and what you love - to do what no one else can do.

So let me invite you to the beginning - the beginning of your great career.

This book has two parts. The first part will help you answer the question: "What will be your contribution?". The second part will answer the question: “How will you contribute?” Both parts are necessary in order to build a great career.

Part 1 Review: What will be your contribution?

At the very beginning of his writing career, Charles Dickens experienced serious difficulties and disappointment. It was necessary to support a pregnant wife and four children, but he did not have a permanent income. Tormented by self-doubt and heavy financial problems, he was unable to write and spent long sleepless nights wandering the streets of London.

Under the cover of night, he talked with the "people of the streets", saw their struggle for existence, saw child labor, poverty and hopelessness, and something began to change in his thoughts. These observations ignited in him a desire to help the poor, he was able to see not only his own problems. Could he change anything? What contribution could he make to make the world a better place?

On October 14, 1843, Dickens sat down again at the table and took up his pen. The combination of newfound passion and writing genius resulted in the birth of a small book that he hoped could change the world and his own destiny. A month and a half later, he published his immortal "Christmas Story", which immediately became incredibly popular and changed public opinion. Some researchers attribute the beginning of the movement in Britain to social reforms with the release of this book.

For Dickens, this moment marked the beginning of a successful writing career. The novels he wrote made him rich, and this allowed him to engage in the education and socialization of the poor. What gave Dickens such momentum and redirected his great career? He finally found a unique combination of natural talent, a passionate desire to make a meaningful contribution, and the voice of his conscience that allowed him to meet a huge need that existed in society.

After talking to thousands of people seeking to make their careers more effective, we have come to the conclusion that what is true of Dickens is true of any person. It suits you too. It all comes down to finding a job that: 1) reveals your talent; 2) ignites your passion; 3) satisfies your conscience. But it's not just about you. It is also a matter of responding to an existing important need.

It is best to set off on a journey with the end goal in mind. What do you see when you come to the end of your career and look back - a history of great accomplishments or mindless mediocrity? in the best way You can answer this question by writing what we call a "statement of contribution." We have always believed in the principle of double creation: everything is created twice - first in the head, then in practice. Take, for example, building a house. Obviously, you should first draw a plan and only then pour the foundation. After all, you are trying to imagine your future home in every detail before you start investing money and effort in its construction.

You devote most of your life and energy to your career, so shouldn't you imagine and create a great career from the very beginning, and not blindly follow the circumstances and take for granted what you have by default? This is the beginning for you to apply for a contribution.

In a statement of contribution, summarize the best you can offer to address the issues that concern you. This will be the wheel of your career. The Contribution Statement will tell you what the main goals of your great career will be.

Your great career will begin, in the words of Peter Hawkins and Nick Smith, "when you stop asking the question 'How do I get promoted?' and start asking, “What do I want to change? What legacy do I want to leave?”

Your statement of contribution will be the answer to these questions.

The application for contribution is very individual and can be presented in different forms. Here are some examples:

“If someone wants a helicopter that can fly higher or faster than what exists today, it will be up to me to find materials that can withstand the stress and temperature generated in the engine under such a load.” — Katherine Beiser, engineer.

“[To] convey to modern women that the mind is beautiful… so that women who are obsessed with appearance do not suffer from eating disorders… so that young women understand that it is important what they are as people, and not just how they look.” – Dr. Vidushi Babber, physician and educator.

“Improve working conditions for employees so that they suffer less and get fewer injuries at work. I would like to do this by creating a positive work environment that encourages safety and teamwork.” — Brian Ness, Safety Engineer.

Pest control in the US Northeast is the work of Jamie Donalds, who restores chestnut groves: "We all need a meaning in life ... This is how I want to change the world." - Jamie Donalds, gardener.

“Having been in leadership roles in companies and coaching and consulting for more than a decade, I realized that the change I want to make is to help people make their change. Through this, they will gain passion and find meaning in their work.” - Julia Tang Peters, Leadership Coach.

In my opinion, one of the best statements of contribution is a poem written by a schoolteacher named Taylor Mali, who was once asked by a mercantile friend how much she “makes” (money) doing her job as a teacher:

Do you want to know how much I make and what I do?

A great career is a great contribution, it is the changes that you can make that are important for you and for the people associated with you. By submitting, formulating, and writing down your statement of contribution, you are taking the first step towards a great career.

The first part of this book will help you create a statement of contribution. You can't do this in between. To do this, you should carefully analyze your talents, desires and conscience. You must know your strengths. You will also need to analyze what you want to do and what your employer and clients need from you. How to do this is shown in the diagram. We recommend that you take sufficient time and think carefully about the statement of contribution before writing it. It is best to write a statement of contribution not only for your entire career, but for every position or project you are involved in.

You have a power that no one else has - a unique combination of your talents, passion and conscience. Where do your strengths intersect with the pressing needs of the market? This is where you can make your unique contribution.

People who just want to get a job write a resume. People who want to create a great career make a statement of contribution.

From Jennifer:

The vision of the contribution you can make will expand, transform, and possibly change dramatically over the course of your lifetime. I started working when I was fourteen. For a few years I worked because I wanted to know what it was, I wanted recognition and a sense of my own importance, then for a few more years I earned my living. I worked at Taco Bell as a grocery store clerk and cashier, as a workwear salesman, as a waiter at a Mexican restaurant, and as a counselor for members of the Health Security Organization. For the first seven years of my career, no one would be interested in my career, no one would say: “Wow, what a strong motivation she has!”. I had one goal - to find an occupation to taste adulthood and pay my own bills.

Maya Angelou said: "You cannot become what you cannot imagine." I grew up in a poor family in a very small town. My mother was the first woman I knew to graduate from college when I was in high school, and it wasn't easy for her because she was the only one who raised me and my brother. The thought of leaving town, graduating from college, and getting a good job seemed like an impossible dream.

It was a big victory for me when I, a senior student, was appointed as a teacher oral speech. I made about $10,000 that year. Most of that money went to tuition fees, so the victory was not the money, but the expansion of my vision of what I can achieve, do.

Do not misunderstand me; I did not see myself as the arbiter of the fate of thousands of people (or at least one person) and I would surely ridicule you if you told me that I would be the co-author of a book by Stephen R. Covey! But at that job, I discovered that I can easily communicate with people and numbers - such an amazing combination. I found that I could communicate complex mathematical ideas in an accessible way. I could do an economic analysis and explain why people should pay attention!

Gaining confidence in my abilities, I changed many temporary jobs and internships, among other things, reorganizing the activities of a wholesaler of parts and improving the system of workers' compensation in a manufacturing company.

When I was interviewing for a job at the then high point of my career at the international consulting company Accenture, the interviewer told me that I was more aware of their practice of change in the management of client companies than he was. A few years at this excellent company convinced me that I could apply for an even more tempting position - at FranklinCovey, for which 30,000 employees I have already given presentations and consulted clients in 48 American states and in 15 countries. My youthful, humble vision of independence has grown tremendously along with my ability to make meaningful contributions.

As I found and mastered my strengths, my statement of contribution gradually evolved. And it still goes through some changes with every new project, new task, every change in life. Here is my current contribution statement:

I use mine economic Education and the ability to communicate as a catalyst for achieving greatness in the FranklinCovey community for the benefit of our customers and the effective people who work with us around the world—constantly contributing to improved sales and service delivery.

Part 2 Review: How will you contribute?

Having written a statement of contribution, you naturally want to put it into practice. However, so many people fail to create a great career because they waste their time waiting for it to develop on its own. We hear from them such complaints:

"I don't know where to go to take an aptitude test for this job."

“I don't know anyone in this company. Without connections, nothing will work."

"My education does not meet the requirements of this job."

"I don't know how to write a resume."

“I sent in my resume for this position, but they never responded to me.”

We do not say that obstacles do not exist. Each of us has to deal with an individual set of adverse circumstances. For example, people from economically disadvantaged groups have to overcome many obstacles to become on a par with the rest. However, regardless of the historical, social difficulties and external environment, as well as the opportunities open to you, you have a huge choice of what you can do. right now. We see in abundance examples of people who have decided to overcome the conditions that are unfavorable for them and give much to the world. What if the courageous American women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony decided not to campaign for women's right to vote, but instead spent her time in a knitting circle complaining about life? What if the Japanese entrepreneur Konosuke Matsushita, who lost everything during World War II, decided not to rebuild his great company, known today as Panasonic? What if world-famous Israeli violinist Itzhak Perlman hadn't fought the effects of polio and remained paralyzed for life?

Waiting for someone to take care of you and solve your problems for you will never make the contribution you are capable of. People who get good jobs are proactive, they take the initiative to get things done.

However, most of us do not face insurmountable obstacles to a great career. For most of us, it's just a matter of time. We are so busy living every day, working feverishly at our current job, that we never really think about what we would like to do. really wanted to do. Year after year we keep moving forward vicious circle saying to yourself: “Next year, everything will change. I will go to study again. I'll get another job." But we don't change anything. People who create great careers take the time to determine what they want to contribute and decide how they will do it.

The second part of this book will help you understand "how" you will contribute. You will understand how to use your hidden resources to become a solution for your employer, not a problem. You will also learn how to build "your own village" - to create a community of supportive people who appreciate your contribution.

At the end of this book, you will find answers to "frequently asked questions" such as:

What should a great resume look like?

What should be written in a cover letter?

I know that I am just one of hundreds of applicants. How do I get past the usual application review routine and land an interview with the right person?

What is important for a successful interview?

I already have a job and I need to keep it. But I don't really like her. She is uniform. It seems to me that I am marking time. What should I do?

It is easy to get a job if you are rich and have many connections. But if I'm just starting out, I have nothing and no one knows me?

Each chapter contains tools to help you apply the ideas you learn and build your great career. In addition, the section titled "Teach to Learn" will help you.

The best way to learn what you have learned in this book is to teach it to others. Everyone knows that when preparing for a lesson, the teacher learns much more than his student. So we suggest you reach out to someone—a co-worker, friend, or family member—and teach them what you just learned. You can follow the questions in the Teach to Learn section or create your own.

What will be your contribution?

Section overview

How to identify your strengths, formed by talent, passion and conscience.

How to find your own business, the care of which you can take over, and how to become indispensable in this work.

How to identify your contribution and create a contribution statement.

Find out your strengths

First of all, you must identify your strengths - this is necessary in order to understand what your contribution will be.

Here are a few questions you should be answering right now.

Do you feel apathy at the beginning and end of the working day?

Do you feel underappreciated or ignored at work?

Are you holding on to your job because you need a paycheck and insurance?

How often do you pretend to be busy?

Do you think of an annual certification without, shall we say, passion?

Do you think your work is meaningless?

Most important question: do you agree that you have much more talent, intelligence, professionalism and creativity than your current job requires or even allows?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you may have come across one of the greatest human dilemmas of our time.

We mean the waste of limitless human potential. We're talking about the fact that maybe your job just doesn't allow you to use much of what you have to offer.

The great philosopher William James taught that “most people live in a very limited circle of their potential to be. We all have the energy resources and the genius to create things we don't even dream of." Maybe it's time break this “limited circle” and use your “potential to be” more fully, and not let the current difficult times break you.

However, maybe you don't have a job at all and you feel like you are not valued because everything you have to offer is rejected.

In this chapter, we'll talk about how to find and use your strengths to help you make the kind of contribution that only you can make. You will see how you can literally build your career by drawing strength from all the brightest and best that you have to offer the world.

Here is a story that a friend of ours told us:

“I recently spoke with a man who is not yet thirty. A few years ago, he graduated from college with excellent grades and a strong desire to apply all his knowledge and strength to his future workplace. Today he works for a financial services company.

I asked him a few questions.

– What is the main strategic priority of your company?

He did not know.

– When was the last time you had a face-to-face conversation with your manager about your tasks in achieving the priorities of your organization?

He replied that he had not communicated with the head alone since he was hired three years ago. Finally, I asked him:

What is your personal contribution to the work of the organization?

He thought for a moment and calmly replied:

“I probably saved the company half a million dollars last year.

I asked:

“Who knows about this but you?”

Once a week I write a report for my boss. But I don't think he reads it.

I really sympathized with the downcast young man- the energy left him, the forces left, the dreams that he would make a big contribution melted away, now he just did what he was told. He allowed himself to become a "walking job description."

Part of the blame for the situation this young man finds himself in lies with mismanagement, but more so because he allowed it to happen.

He lost his sense of self-worth.

Build your portfolio of strengths

The key step is to put together a portfolio of strengths that you can then use. At the end of this chapter, we will provide a tool to help you identify your strengths. These strengths can be divided into three categories: talent, passion, and conscience.

Because they add up to who you are, and not just what you do. You are more than just a set of abilities; otherwise you would be a machine. You are more than your passions and instincts, otherwise you would be an animal. And the main difference is in your conscience, that part of you that whispers how you should behave and why you answer. Your talents, passions and conscience make you the whole person. Until you put that whole into your career, you will always feel underused, frustrated, and possibly guilty.

The career counselors who tell you to “do what you love” are only partly right. Doing what you love is often not enough to do well in the job market, and it won't always satisfy your conscience either. Someone has to be willing to pay for what you enjoy doing. And in any great career, there are aspects that are not necessarily endearing, but that must be accomplished.

Anyone who tells you "Use your strengths" usually means "Use your talents and abilities." But you are strong not only with them. You also have your passion. You can do things with passion that make others bored. Your passion is just as important in the totality of your strengths as your ability and conscience.

Now please give some serious thought to the key questions in each of the above categories.

First, let's look at your talents.

What unique knowledge, gifts, or skills do you have that help you contribute?

The talent category includes the tools you possess. In the Industrial Age, the company owned the tools and means of production; the talents of individual workers did not matter much. Today this is no longer the case. In the age of knowledge, as Peter Drucker says, each of us, in literally words, possesses "the means of production ... These means are in our heads and at our fingertips ... Intellect has become new form property. Directed intelligence, that is, the ability to acquire and apply knowledge, is a new source of income.

“Here's the good news,” writes Charles Handy, “it turns out it's almost impossible to get people to stop using their intelligence. In theory, everyone has intelligence of one kind or another - or can develop it in themselves - and thus gain access to power and prosperity. There is little that can stop a small firm from breaking into the Microsoft space the way Microsoft broke into the IBM space. When the main property is intelligence, it is not necessary to be big or rich to enter the stage. This is a market with cheap entrance tickets.

Talent is like a fingerprint. Everyone has it, and no two are alike in the whole world. Your gifts are unique, they are unique to you. But don't confuse your skills with your talents. People can develop skills in areas where they are completely mediocre. If your job requires skills but does not use your talents, then you will never connect to the authentic instinctive part of yourself that makes up you as a whole person.

There are many different tests and personality profile studies to help determine what talents you have. These tools can be a useful addition to your portfolio. But be careful. Most of these tests will label you in some way. They will say that you "influence people" or that you "create relationships" or that you are "yellow", "blue", "diamonds", "hearts", or "clubs". The result of the test will point to some function that you can successfully perform, such as "facilitator" or "creator". They will simply find a place for you in the chart, as if you were just a certain number.

Beware of these labels. The danger is that you yourself will begin to consider yourself destined for this or that function - you will begin identify yourself with her.

From Jennifer:

I once brought a group of twelve-year-old Girl Scouts to a food bank to do community service. There we met a man who was a cleaner. He took a long break from sweeping the floor to tell the girls that he hoped that one day, like him, they could find a job that would serve the people. He shared with us his pride in "feeding the hungry." This man was not just performing a function. He contributed.

From Steven:

I know a first class choir director. He leads the choirs in general education schools; he conducts church choirs; he composes and arranges beautiful music. He plays the organ in a huge church in Los Angeles. In addition, he loves jurisprudence and successfully studied in law school. Today, he combines his unique knowledge of law and music as a legal advisor to one of the largest record labels in the music industry. No labeling test could have recommended this job to him.

While test results can be interesting and will no doubt give you food for thought, most talent and fitness tests are relics from the industrial age. However, the best of them will describe your qualities and inclinations in such a way that you recognize many strengths in yourself. The key to making these tests useful lies in a fundamental shift in your thinking: you have to think seriously about the contribution you want to make, not about the function you want to perform.

You are not yours function.

The industrial age worker says, "I want to be a microbiologist." This is a function. (Of course, you must be trained as a microbiologist if you want to contribute to this field, but the word "microbiologist" does not define you.)

Notes

The poem uses a play on words. IN English language the verb to make has several meanings: to make, create, force, earn. - Note. per.

Helth maintenance organization (HMO) is a health care organization that offers both group health care and health insurance services to clients. - Note. per.

Bibliography

"Dr Fiona Wood is the most trusted person in Australia." Australian of the Year Awards, Jun. 30, 2008. http://www.australianoftheyear.org.au/media/?view=news&id=579

Roger Boyes, “Forget Burnout, Boreout Is the New Office Disease”, TimesOnline, Sep. 15, 2007.

Quoted from Handy, Paradox, 17–18.

Handy, Paradox, 20.

End of free trial.

Preface to the Russian edition.
Recipe for illness

Many of you have read Stephen Covey's amazing book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which has won the hearts of millions of people around the world.
Why has this book become equally in demand in all parts of the world, in countries with completely different histories, with different levels of economic development, with a population represented by different races and nationalities? The fact is that the "7 Habits" is a universal set of social attitudes and tools, the consistent use of which guarantees the growth of the efficiency of each person - wherever he lives and whatever he does. All these skills are based on natural laws, which, like the law of universal gravitation, operate everywhere and inevitably.
20 years of experience working with organizations of all sizes - from small private companies to multinational giants, as well as with employees of various levels - from workers to top managers and owners, allows me to diagnose and immediately write a prescription for most of the inhabitants of our resource-rich and talented country. .
Such is the diagnosis. We suffer from an affliction called Dream Failure, which comes in two forms: the "passive dreamer" (usually at an early age) and the "victim of circumstance." It is this disease that prevents dreams from becoming a reality, despite our spirituality, high intelligence, broad outlook and ingenuity.
Now the recipe. To cope with this disease, we, like no other people on Earth, need to develop the most important of the seven skills - skill number 1, "Be proactive."
The book you hold in your hands is all about practicing Habit #1 in the big part of your life that is related to work and career. This book is an important step in the fight against the disease of "dream failure" - no matter what stage of your career you are at and what position you hold. It will help those who are just looking for their job, and those who have long found and stopped dreaming.

Maxim Ilyin, Partner at MTI

Super job, super career
How to get the best job and contribute the most

This book is about how to make a great career. You may be saying to yourself, “This is not the time to discuss careers, especially great career. Now I just need a job. I need something to eat!”
Well, if you are still with us, then we will tell you how to get a better job. This is the first, momentary step.
However, the day will come when food alone will not be enough for you. And this day will be followed by another day when you look back on your life and want to appreciate the professional contribution that you have brought to the world. This book is about today and tomorrow. It's about how to get a better job today, a Then enjoy a great career all your life.
When we say that a person has built a great career, what do we mean? That he made a lot of money? Did you rise to a high position? Have you become famous or recognized in your profession? But what about what movie stars usually say on talk shows: “Imagine, and I still for this pay!" Is it really only the chosen few who have experienced this, but we are not given it?
And you? Do you dream of a great career? Can you call your current career "great"? When you come to the end of your professional life and look back, do you see a mediocre career behind you? Good career? Great career? And how do you know? Moreover, How create a great career for yourself?
We, the authors of this book, have been captivated by these provocative questions. What we have been doing for years has made us feel like knowledge-hungry learners who strive to understand what it takes to make life and career great. And each of us has accumulated our own experience, so from time to time we will contact you personally from ourselves. We will share our discoveries and provide methods and approaches, teaching you how to find answers to these questions yourself.
We wrote this book for you, people who want to find a job or give their - already existing - work more meaning.

Anyone can make their career great

To begin with, anyone can have a great career, no matter what they do.
It's all about what exactly you mean by a "great career." If you consider that it should bring you a lot of money and power, then there is no guarantee that you will reach the level of Alexander the Great. Of course, it is important to receive a salary that ensures a normal life, but is a great career just a salary?
We invite you to remember the most effective and influential people you have met on your professional path. Imagine someone that comes to your mind. This could be your teacher, co-worker, friend, or manager you worked for. What contribution has this person made to your life? What did he do for the organization? For peace? And was it necessarily associated with wealth and power? What do you feel about this person? Do you feel affection and trust towards him? And do other people feel it? We believe that these are the two main signs of a great career. A person of great career makes a tangible contribution to the lives of those around him and inspires in them a strong sense of affection and trust. This can be any person, regardless of title and position.
Your tangible contribution is “ What» your great career. It comes from the depths of your personality, from your unique combination of talents and passions. This is something that only you can do, no matter who you work for.
Loyalty and trust come from How» your great career. These are the fruits of your personality and conscience, your highest aspirations and best intentions. They grow when you act on your deepest beliefs. Let us give an example of one great career.
Fiona Wood was a young English sportswoman who decided to enter medicine. She followed the usual path - she entered a medical college, then got married and, raising six children, graduated from plastic surgery. After moving to Australia, she joined a burn clinic in Perth.
The anguish of her patients and their horrendous scars after they heal made her wonder if other, more effective treatments could be found. She knew that the longer the burns healed, the worse the scars. By shortening the healing process from weeks to days, much of the suffering and disfigurement could be avoided.
Fiona did a lot of experiments and invented "spray skin" - a method of applying skin cells to burns. According to Dr. Wood, this method heals in a matter of days instead of the weeks it takes for the skin strips to adhere to the burned areas.
On the night of October 12, 2002, the small hospital where Fiona worked was filled with victims of the terrorist attack in Bali, many of whom received terrible burns. Dr. Wood and her small team worked tirelessly for several days, they managed to save 25 out of 28 patients with burns. The skin cell spraying method was part of the treatment process. This achievement brought Dr. Wood worldwide recognition, and for the next four years she was consistently "Australia's most trusted person" in national polls.
Dr. Fiona Wood is a perfect example of what a great career is, based not on the pursuit of fame, but on the contribution you make to the world. “You have to strive to do something; where there is a need, where there is a problem, you need to find a solution,” she says. “About scars… we all took it for granted that if we operate on a person, cut him open, then sew him up, and he leaves a scar, then this is how it should be. But I thought it was wrong."
Could there have been simpler words? "I thought it was wrong." A great career is all about solving big problems, being willing to take on any challenge, and striving to make the biggest contribution. You are probably saying to yourself, “But I am not a miracle surgeon. As if to me build a great career? We emphasize that anyone can have a great career. Fame, wealth, unusual talents - it's not about them.

From Steven:
One of my relatives has been working at IBM all his life. He successfully weathered the changes in this very dynamic company - and in doing so worked hard to keep up with the revolutionary changes that the industry undergoes every few years. He is a great professional and takes his job seriously. Clients love him very much. Moreover, he has a wonderful family. He is not ambitious in the sense that he does not need signs of external success, such as permanent promotions or public recognition, but a lot depends on him. For me, this is a great career. He gives his all to the cause and wins the loyalty and trust of customers, employees and family members.
Many argue about ambition and ambition. Is it good or bad? I think it depends on the subject of ambition. If your ambition is limited only by the pursuit of success and you are not willing to pay a fair price for this success, then over time ambition will destroy your happiness. However, if your ambition is to make a meaningful contribution, to change the world for the better, then you will experience a deep sense of satisfaction from a job well done and a good life. I believe in such ambition. And besides, climbing the corporate ladder is not the only path to a successful career. There are other options besides the "up or through" movement. Only you yourself determine what a great career is for you, what your “winning” is.

From Jennifer:
I have a French friend who started out in the automotive industry programming robots to paint cars. He was always interested in technology - cars, bicycles, motorcycles, he was always dismantling and assembling them. At work, he gradually expanded the scope of his duties and became a person who can do everything - only he could fix a seemingly hopelessly broken unit or make robots do something new. He learned English, a little Italian and a little German so that he could communicate with his clients from all over the world and understand the wishes expressed by them in his native language. Over the years, he was responsible for more and more work, and eventually became the head of the research and development team in Detroit, which was engaged in new products and solutions. By the time American auto companies began to skimp on automatics, he had repurposed his group enough to attract other sources of income.
In his spare time, he explored alternative fuels and converted the family car to run on vegetable oil. He figured out how to store large amounts of fuel for long trips and how to keep oil warm during the cold season. He is constantly trying to find cleaner sources of used vegetable oil (such as from expensive Japanese restaurants). When it drives past you, it smells like fried potatoes. Of course, the hobby became an important contribution to his work.
His wife, after graduating from college with a degree in marketing, eventually became a senior sales agent at a local mall. After working at exhibitions and trade fairs, she decided that she wanted to continue working for herself. She bought and then successfully sold franchises, and today she works in an organization that sells dietary supplements. She enjoys helping people solve their health problems and has built a very successful business with her knowledge of marketing and sales. She learned French from her husband and now offers her line of supplements in France.
My friends are not famous. They don't roll like cheese in butter. They both have built great careers that are deeply satisfying because they are built on their individual talents and what they love to do.

When talking about their work, the French use the word métier, the original meaning of which is “service” or “service”. This is a good word. It echoes how a person gives himself to other people, finds satisfaction in doing something real and meaningful for them. A great career does not come from a need for outside approval, it grows from within you, from your curiosity, from your unique combination of talent and passion.
Another source of it is your conscience, which whispers to you that should do. Of course, a person like Dr. Fiona Wood could not do her job without applying all the professional skills. But her conscience is as much a key to building a great career as her special education. People who know her say that "compassion and a deeply rooted desire to help those in need are as important as the new methods she uses." Fiona Wood is not only a great professional, she is a very good person. Professionalism and personal qualities make her worthy of trust. If you suffer from burns, you would like her to treat you.
A great career requires both the desire and ability to contribute, and the human qualities that make people believe in you and feel affection for you.
This means that every person - and you too - can decide that they want to create a great career. You can decide that you will be the best at your job. And for this it is not necessary to be a genius or a high-class professional, like Fiona Wood.
However, sadly, you can choose a career of mediocrity, and along with it, the lingering dissatisfaction with yourself that arises when you give less than you are capable of. Roger and Rebecca Merrill write: “Mediocre workers are bad leaders, bad team players. Raising salaries and promotion bypasses them. They are always irritated, they are bored. They do not get satisfaction from their work. So why not strive to improve? Your contribution will increase. You will feel better. Earn more money. You will be more trusted, favorable opportunities will open before you.
What's more, now is the time to start (or start over) your great career. What is happening now is unprecedented, it is a change that shakes the foundations of human history and opens up opportunities for you that you could not even dream of before.

From Steven:
Many years ago my father built a cabin near the border of Yellowstone National Park in the western United States. It has been in our family for almost a century. We love the old house for its unique smells, for the view of the dark green lake in the canyon of the Rocky Mountains. This is a quiet place. A cool pine forest descends to the water from amber-colored rocks. The silence is occasionally broken only by the splash of a fish jumping out of the water.
But on a late summer evening in 1959, this place was not quiet. A powerful earthquake shook the canyon. The lake has actually boiled over. Relatives told me that they heard a terrible roar of water, but it was so dark that they did not know whether the wave was coming towards them or in the opposite direction. Millions of trees broke like matches. The highway split into thousands of pieces of asphalt. The mountains shook, millions of tons of earth slid down from them into the nearest river, and overnight a new lake arose.
This mountain oasis is a perfect example of the forces of nature at work. Enormous power is gradually accumulating in the bowels of this supposedly peaceful land, then exploding with an earthquake that completely changes the landscape.

Now we are living in a time when a new world is emerging as a result of the action of gigantic forces. The economic landscape is undergoing a seismic shift, and with it, the landscape of opportunity for all of us is changing. Such economic "earthquakes" occur periodically in the history of mankind. The early farmers revolutionized the world because they could produce hundreds of times more food than the hunters and gatherers who lived before them. Then the machines of the industrial age increased the capacity of each worker and made it possible to produce hundreds of times more than a single farmer could.
Today we are witnessing another earthquake, a revolution that changes everything. We are moving from the industrial age to the knowledge age. Where an agricultural era farmer could feed himself and a hundred others, an industrial age worker could produce goods for himself and thousands of other families. But one worker of the age of knowledge - what can he do? What limits it?
Nothing limits it, and this is good news about the era of knowledge that we are now entering.
Here is a story that will explain what we mean.
Industrial age worker Jean came to work at an aircraft factory at nine in the morning and all morning riveted the wing of an airplane with a mechanical stapler - every day the same job. At noon, she went to dinner with everyone. On a signal, she returned to the workshop and continued to put rivets until the end of the working day. This went on day after day, year after year. And the same thing happened with all the other workers of the plant. Accountants handed over the same reports. The sales people were called on the same occasions and given the same tasks. At five in the evening every day, they all marked the time at the checkpoint and went home.
Today Liz, Jean's daughter, works in the same shop, but things are different. Today, the work that her mother did is being done by a machine. Liz is part of a cross-functional team that includes marketing and finance professionals as well as engineers. All day long, she solves the most interesting problems: “How much faster can this composite element be produced? What happens when a new wing cover is sheared by the oncoming air flow? How can the wing be made more resistant to damage?
The difference between the Industrial Age and the Knowledge Age is that the world today requires you to contribute to your work, as Liz does. During the Industrial Age, workers were treated like machines. They had "user manuals" which were called job descriptions. They weren't required to bring anything unique or unexpected to the job - after all, you don't expect a toaster to do something "unique" to your bread. But the knowledge age worker is the exact opposite of a machine. He chooses the problems he will work on. He comes up with new solutions. He understands that the contribution he can make is unlimited.
A news report recently said that soon there may not be enough good work for everyone, as if we soon felt a shortage of exciting problems and challenges that require creative and inquisitive people to solve.
Obviously this is not possible. Quite the opposite. Of course, the age of knowledge is full of upheaval and uncertainty. One of the painful consequences of the transition from the industrial age to the knowledge age is the loss of job security.
Lifetime work and pensions, as they were in the old days, are fading into oblivion and probably will not return. Most of the top 100 companies in the US only offer simplified retirement plans (401(k) or similar) to new hires.
During an earthquake it is difficult to stand on your feet. And you don't know which way the wave is going - towards you or away from you.
And yet there is a positive side to this risky and exciting new time: you you can secure a great future for yourself by becoming indispensable in solving important problems. Rather than watch developments in awe, we should welcome this wild, complex new world, anticipating the opportunities it brings with it. There is no lack of problems, only a lack of solutions.

Start (or restart) your great career

Maybe now you're starting to understand what we mean by great career.
The word "career" comes from the French carrière, originally meaning "to move in circles" like cars in a circuit race. Carrière also translates as "stone quarry" - a place where people spent whole days crushing stone. Unfortunately, for too many of us, careers feel like that. We feel like we are going in circles and getting nowhere. Or we feel like convicts in shackles in a quarry.
If this is how your career seems to be, then it's time to rethink everything. You are no longer bound by the outdated idea that you are just a cog in a machine or a spoke in some bureaucratic, mindlessly spinning wheel. As one philosophical writer said, “In an industrial economy, a man could do work with his body, even if neither his mind nor his heart lay in it. But this is not suitable for work in the age of knowledge.
The age of knowledge forces us to ask questions, question old truths, reconsider long-standing intractable world problems and find new, unique solutions for them. It challenges us to look at human needs, poverty, misunderstanding, pain, ignorance and fear, and tell the world what Fiona Wood said: "This is wrong!"
In the industrial age, people rarely found satisfaction in mechanical work that did not require much from them, and as a result, they gave it as little as possible. But the era of knowledge changes everything. You are free to customize the work of your life to suit you, to give free rein to what you are capable of and what you love - to do what no one else can do.
So let me invite you to the beginning - the beginning of your great career.
This book has two parts. The first part will help you answer the question: "What will be your contribution?". The second part will answer the question: “How will you contribute?” Both parts are necessary in order to build a great career.

Part 1 Review: What will be your contribution?

At the very beginning of his writing career, Charles Dickens experienced serious difficulties and disappointment. It was necessary to support a pregnant wife and four children, but he did not have a permanent income. Tormented by self-doubt and severe financial problems, he was unable to write and spent long sleepless nights wandering the streets of London.
Under the cover of night, he talked with the "people of the streets", saw their struggle for existence, saw child labor, poverty and hopelessness, and something began to change in his thoughts. These observations ignited in him a desire to help the poor, he was able to see not only his own problems. Could he change anything? What contribution could he make to make the world a better place?
On October 14, 1843, Dickens sat down again at the table and took up his pen. The combination of newfound passion and writing genius resulted in the birth of a small book that he hoped could change the world and his own destiny. A month and a half later, he published his immortal "Christmas Story", which immediately became incredibly popular and changed public opinion. Some researchers attribute the beginning of the social reform movement in Britain to the publication of this book.
For Dickens, this moment marked the beginning of a successful writing career. The novels he wrote made him rich, and this allowed him to engage in the education and socialization of the poor. What gave Dickens such momentum and redirected his great career? He finally found a unique combination of natural talent, a passionate desire to make a meaningful contribution, and the voice of his conscience that allowed him to meet a huge need that existed in society.
After talking to thousands of people seeking to make their careers more effective, we have come to the conclusion that what is true of Dickens is true of any person. It suits you too. It all comes down to finding a job that: 1) reveals your talent; 2) ignites your passion; 3) satisfies your conscience. But it's not just about you. It is also a matter of responding to an existing important need.