CWB Senior Scholar Dr. Steve Gladis, who co-teaches our Positive Leadership program, has released the book Self-Leadership: Become the CEO of Your Own Career. Gladis, who is the author of more than 20 popular leadership books, wrote this book to help people navigate the career changes that happen so often in today’s workplaces.
He writes in the book’s introduction that, “The nature of work has changed radically. A generation ago people worked for corporations and organizations for entire careers. … Today you’re on your own when it comes to your career. You must lead yourself and become the CEO of your own career, thus this book’s title.”
The first part of Self-Leadership is a business fable that features the journeys of six very different people as they navigate their careers at different ages, solving different types of problems and learning how to take charge of their own careers. Through the changes they make along the way, they create successful new career adventures for themselves.
The book’s second part features practical information that readers can use to navigate career transitions. It explores these 10 key questions:
1. What jobs along the way have I liked and gave me energy?
2. What things do I value most in my life?
3. What are my chief strengths and challenges?
4. Where am I now on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
5. What is my level of self-esteem?
6. How do I handle change?
7. What course or path do my partner, good friends, and close advisors think would work best?
8. Is there a new adventure that takes advantage of my strengths and minimizes my challenges?
9. Who could help me if I chose a new path?
10. How do I handle failure?
Gladis is passionate about helping people bring positive change to their careers — and he has reinvented his own career for positive change significantly over the years. He writes about his own career journey: “What gives me the authority to write such a book? First, my education and research have focused on human development and adult learning, which are the underlying principles of coaching and suggest how one might go about reinventing a life and a career. Second, and perhaps more importantly, I’ve done it. I’ve reinvented myself several times. I transitioned first from being a Marine Corps officer to becoming an F.B.I. agent, then to becoming a professor at both George Mason University and the University of Virginia, and finally to becoming the CEO of my own executive development company. … Enjoy the story, and good luck on your own career journey.”