Every working professional needs career help.
Every working professional needs career counseling or coaching.
Every career professional needs to read books that cover careers in depth and breadth.
Coaches and Counselors are rising to serve this demand. And they do write books.
But often these books fall short of evidence-based writing or are written where the experience is grounded in social science research.
At our Curiosity Circle for OB-HR-Management professionals, we recently reviewed Career Heist — the first book discussed as part of our new Substack initiative, From Job to Calling.
(This was the first event organized by Substack, “From Job to Calling” for HR professionals. And they will be organized periodically. So join)
Career Heist:
The trio of authors met at an airport — a serendipitous beginning to a collaborative book project. (As an aspiring writer, I’m tempted to spend more time eavesdropping at the airport!)
The book “Career Heist” has 6 chapters covering various aspects of careers.
The cover design is excellent. I liked it.
References (Something a good critique shall glance at first) are just 20, and out of that, 6 are from HBR (Harvard Business Review). So it gave me the impression that the book is not evidence-based or based on social science research.
It is evident while reading the book. The authors have not referred to established concepts from research. Peter’s law is not referred to but used. Mid-career blues, or mid-life pause, are missing. Job hopping is referred to, but related terms like boundaryless careers, protean careers, or portfolio careers are missing. The author mentioned that one more book is lined up on careers, and we hope to see more evidence-based or scientific discussion there.
The book must have been written out of practice, experience, and observations. Such books are welcome. More and More coaches or career professionals shall write such books.
Concern about Career Books:
One observation I have is that HR-OB professionals and academics bring valuable experience and perspective to careers. However, they often fail to support or back it with scientific research. They also fail to compare/contrast it with popular books or models, or frameworks. The reason may be that many MBA programs don’t cover careers as a special elective. (Yes, true – Check out the syllabus of b-schools familiar to you.) Or maybe they are not reading and following books written on this topic.
Career 3.0:
Noted HR Influencer Abhijit Bhaduri has authored a book, Careers 3.0, which is next in line on Curiosity Circle for OB-HR-Management professionals. You may want to register/subscribe for updates.
Abhijit Bhaduri, XLRI Alumnus, author of fiction (MBA -Mediocre but arrogant) and non-fiction books (Digital Tsunami). It will be interesting to see his take.
I have read Abhijit’s earlier books, followed his blog, and have listened to him at XLRI. His writing is grounded in research. He brings insights from the academic world and blends them into the practical world. And make it visually appealing with sketch notes. This discussion will be a treat for career discussions.
Career Books worth your shelf:
(All images from Amazon)
In this context, I list here a few books on careers that are worth reading for their unique approach to careers.
- Designing Your life and Designing your work life:
The Design Thinking lab of Stanford University meets career thinking in this book. This is a unique way to look at career decisions. The book is a short read, but rich with activities and frameworks for various career decisions. Authors have a training program associated with their career coaching. Perfect for coaches, counselors, and trainers. .
- Business Model You
“Business Model Generation,” a book by Strategyzer, is immensely popular among entrepreneurs, strategy consultants, and business planners. “Business Model You” brings that graphical thinking, 9-block design in one page for career decision making. It’s an excellent model to think about the side hustle, developing passive income, or thinking about careers from a different lens. It helps you to create a one-page plan for your career.
- The Strategic Career:
Blends strategy consulting with career design. Bill Barnett, author of this book, was a partner at McKinsey. And he headed the strategy practice. He developed a course and taught at Rice University. The book is the outcome of this. The book is well appreciated by aspirants from a business background.
Those interested in applying strategy frameworks to careers. BCG consultants, too, have come up with a fascinating action-based article on HBR (Harvard Business Review) – you can find it here. It suggests a 7-step process for career thinking from a life satisfaction perspective.
- Working Identity
Career Change sounds romantic, and every professional thinks about a career change sometime. Being a career changer, I am deeply aware of it. However, there is a lack of the right guidance on this. This book, written by Insead scholar Hermenia Ibarra, is a gem. It is evidence-based. And it must be on your wishlist.
- Squiggly Careers.
This book was featured in the Sunday Times and Financial Times. A best seller. Career ladders are things of the past, and people move fluidly between roles, industries, and firms. The book talks about this and identifies 5 skills that is required to navigate such careers.
Career is everyone’s concern. And it is riddled with a myriad of puzzles. And not only professionals but also coaches, counsellors need to listen, read, and talk about it more often.
This blog is my learning journey, and I write about books here. We also organize once a month discussions under the title of Curiosity Circle for OB-HR-Management professionals. You can suggest the books or topics to be discussed. We will try our best to organize that. Most likely next book will be Career 3.0 by Abhijit Bhaduri. You can join the discussion by subscribing to the Substack here.
Feel free to comment, circulate.
