What's Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job by Kerry Hannon

"What's Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job" by "U.S. News & World Report" Contributing Editor Kerry Hannon is an entertaining, interesting, and quick book to read that provides the reader with examples and motivation to follow their passion rather than sticking out a job that is unfulfilling and not providing the important things for life, such as family time and wellbeing. The book is a collection of stories, interviews, and suggestions related to changing careers when in your 40s, 50s, or older. The stories and interviews are of real people who did just that, and the jobs they left and the careers they entered are extremely varied, but all interesting with a few common themes behind why they changed. From the opening story of a tough cop turned Nashville music agent to the final story about a lawyer, congressional aide, lobbyist turned pianist, singer and performer of parodies, satire, and song, I found myself engaged and motivated as I pursue a career change myself.

Each chapter is formatted in the same way and features a different person and their career change. First there is a short story of the change the person made. Next there is a question and answer section where the author asked questions to the person about the reasons behind the change, difficulties and resources. Questions such as, "What did the transition mean to your personally?" or "What do you tell people who come to you for advice on starting the second act?" While the answers are brief, they do provide some nice insight and made me stop more than once and ponder my own situation. After the interview questions and answers, there are short segments that provide tips and resources, and some expert advice. These sections are brief too, but contain some very good information to think about upon thinking about your own second or third act and career change. There are sixteen chapters, so sixteen profiles and other information.

Additionally, the back of the book has a few pages of additional books on the topic and helpful web sites on topics such as nonprofits, job hunting, continuing education, small businesses, and more.

Hannon writes in an engaging style and I found myself enjoying the book and really thinking about my own possibilities. And that is the benefit of this book. It's not going to lay out a road map for your career path. Very unlikely you will want to follow the same course as one of the sixteen profiled, and even if you did, your path would be different. This book is for motivation. It allows you to see what others have done and why, and just may trigger a sense of excitement within that leads you to your own second or third act. (Or maybe even your forth, who knows?) The purpose of the book is to show what's been done to open your eyes to your own possibilities. If that is where you are in your life right now, this may be just the book you've been needing.

Alain Burrese, J.D. is a performance and personal development expert who teaches how to live, take action, and get things done through the Warrior's Edge. Alain combines his military, martial art, and Asian experiences with his business, law, and conflict resolution education into a powerful way of living with balance, honor, and integrity. He teaches how to use the Warrior's Edge to Take Action and Achieve Remarkable Results. Alain is the author of Hard-Won Wisdom From The School Of Hard Knocks, the DVDs Hapkido Hoshinsul, Streetfighting Essentials, Hapkido Cane, the Lock On Joint Locking series, and numerous articles and reviews. You can read more articles and reviews and see clips of his DVDs as well as much more at http://www.burrese.com/ and http://www.aikiproductions.com/

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Career Warfare - A Book Summary

It is a tough and competitive business environment you
live and it is getting more and more difficult to achieve
your goals. You have to stand out among your colleagues
and competitors. You have to work hard for career
advancement, and better compensation.

Whether you are a senior executive, an entrepreneur or
an employee, this book will show you the best way to
succeed, accomplish your personal and career goals,
outshine your competition and differentiate yourself
from the pack. David F. D'Alessandro shows you how to
stand out from the crowd by developing your own
"personal brand"; and provides valuable lessons in
the etiquette of reputation building.

What is Personal Brand?

You need to realize that success does not only come
from hard work and appropriately playing the part.
To be successful in business and in your career, you
must be able to distinguish yourself from the rest of
the pack - you need to develop, build and defend your
reputation.

Personal branding is a way you manage your career or
business. It is a way of communicating that makes you
different and special. By using these qualities you
can distinguish yourself from your peers so that you
can expand your success.

There are 10 rules you can follow for building a
successful personal brand and keeping it:

Rule 1: Try to Look Beyond Your Own Navel - The biggest
obstacle in building a positive personal brand is your
own ego. In order to develop an attractive personal
brand, you need to have self-respect and you need
to respect the people around you.

Rule 2: Like It or Not, Your Boss is the Coauthor of
Your Brand - You must realize and accept the fact that
early on in your career, your boss will reap most of
the rewards for ideas you give, money that you brought
in, etc. This is how the corporate world operates. Do
not fight the power structure. Instead learn how to
play and live by it.

Rule 3: Put Your Boss on the Couch - Not all bosses
will help you. It is best that you recognize what type
of personality your boss has so that you would realize
what advantages and disadvantages this person can
cause to your brand.

Rule 4: Learn Which One is the Pickle Fork - Good manners
are crucial in developing and enhancing your personal
brand. Manners are about consideration and respect,
knowledge and patience. Practice good business etiquette.

Rule 5: Kenny Rogers is Right - While it is important
for you to seize the opportunity to build your brand,
it is equally crucial to know what battles to take. Know
when to keep on fighting and when to move fold.

Rule 6: It's Always Show Time - You must realize that
reputations are not usually made by big events -
sometimes it is those big events that smear your brand.
What builds your reputation is your day-to-day
behavior in the business setting, such as how you deal
with people, how you make decisions, your work habits,
etc.

Rule 7: Make the Right Enemies - The best personal brands
include courtesy, fairness, tolerance, self-respect and
having good and proper manners. However, a small amount
of ruthlessness is good for your brand. Your reputation
will not suffer much if you fight your enemies,
but it will suffer if you lose your self-respect.

Rule 8: Try Not To Be Swallowed By the Bubble - Once you
are successful in building your brand and is rising in the
ranks, do not lose sight of the forest. Do not be too
full of yourself that you will be swallowed by success.
It is bad for your humanity, and bad for your career.

Rule 9: The Higher You Fly, the More You Will Be Shot
At - Everybody makes mistakes. The higher you are in the
ladder of success, the more likely that your mistakes
will be highlighted. Accept the fact that bad press comes
with prominence in any field.

Rule 10: Everybody Coulda Been a Contender; Make Sure You
Stay One - Set yourself to be distinct from your peers.
Since you are constantly being compared to your peers,
don't be afraid to offer something unique or distinctive.
Don't give up easily. Don't throw in the towel immediately
because of a setback or two. Learn from your mistakes and
turn it into an opportunity. Don't lie, cheat or
steal. Be cautious of the reputation you are building.

By: Regine P. Azurin

Regine Azurin is the President of BusinessSummaries.com, a company that provides business book summaries of the latest bestsellers for busy executives and entrepreneurs.

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