Reinventing you dorie clark pdf free download

PRAISE FOR REINVENTING YOU

"Be forewarned . . . you need this book! The good news is that you will love it and can make it the foundation of the next steps of your career and your life."

—Len Schlesinger, President, Babson College; former Vice Chairman and COO, Limited Brands; coauthor, Just Start: Take Action, Embrace Uncertainty, Create the Future

—Bo Burlingham, author, Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big; Editor at Large, Inc. magazine

—Gary Hirshberg, cofounder and Chairman, Stonyfield Farm, Inc.

—Robert Reich, former US Secretary of Labor

"Insightful and practical, Reinventing You is a modern-day guide to self-discovery in pursuit of career satisfaction and success. Full of illuminating case studies and anecdotes, the book provides valuable advice for anyone just starting out in the workforce, as well as for those in mid-career seeking to build or enhance their reputations or to change direction."

—Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School; author, Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy

"As the corporate ladder morphs into a corporate lattice, where there is no single climb toward career success but rather a multiplicity of ways to grow, personal branding becomes your calling card. Reinventing You presents effective ways to help you develop your brand proposition."

—Cathy Benko, Vice Chairman, Deloitte LLP; best-selling author, The Corporate Lattice:Achieving High Performance in the Changing World of Work

—Meg Cadoux Hirshberg, author, For Better or For Work: A Survival Guide for Entrepreneurs and Their Families

—Robert Cialdini, author, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Reinventing You is a must-read for anyone who wants to expand their career horizons and become more authentic—in work and in life.

—Chip Conley, author, Emotional Equations: Simple Truths for Creating Happiness + Success; founder, Joie de Vivre Hospitality, Inc.

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Copyright 2017 Dorie Clark

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu, or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163.

First eBook Edition: Oct 2017

ISBN: 9781633693883

eISBN: 9781633693890

For my mother, Gail Clark, with love

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Praise for Reinventing You

Copyright

Dedication

Preface

1. The New Branding Landscape

2. Recognize Where You’re Starting

3. Research Your Destination

4. Test-Drive Your Path

5. Develop the Skills You Need

6. Who’s Your Mentor?

7. Leverage Your Points of Difference

8. Build Your Narrative

9. Reintroduce Yourself

10. Prove Your Worth

11. Keep It Going

Epilogue: Make Your Reinvention Work

Appendix A: Your Professional Reinvention Self-Assessment

Appendix B: Classroom or Book Group Discussion Questions

Notes

Index

Acknowledgments

About the Author

PREFACE

Professional reinvention can feel incredibly challenging. How can you make the transition effectively? What if your income dips as you’re making the change? How can you get people to take you seriously in your new field? What if your friends or family aren’t supportive? How do you even know what sort of new job or career would be right for you?

I had those questions, too.

I started my own reinvention journey reluctantly. In 2001, I was laid off from my job as a political reporter and couldn’t find another: no one was hiring. That might be standard fare for journalists today—unfortunately, nearly 60 percent of newspaper jobs have disappeared since 1990—but I was caught off-guard at the beginning of the decline.¹ I had no Plan B.

In the nearly twenty years since, I’ve held a myriad of full-time jobs, including presidential campaign spokesperson and nonprofit executive director. And as a self-employed consultant, I’ve gotten to explore even more areas of interest—directing a documentary film, teaching at leading business schools, coaching and consulting for C-level executives, writing books, producing a multiple Grammy-winning jazz album, speaking to major corporations on four continents, and more. Reinvention, it turns out, was possible.

But I spent years fumbling through the process, unsure how to explain myself or tell my story. I knew it could be done more efficiently and more effectively. That’s why I wrote Reinventing You.

After all, more and more of us are reinventing ourselves these days. A Bureau of Labor Statistics study shows that people have held an average of eleven jobs—a number that may well be on the rise for younger employees.² In some cases, professional reinvention is mandatory—like my experience when I got laid off. In others, it’s about seeking meaning and fulfillment, and a career that better suits your personality or allows you to make a deeper mark.

Since Reinventing You was first released, I’ve heard from many readers who used the strategies laid out in the book to change their lives for the better. For example, Blair was an Australian schoolteacher who dreamed of a career in the sports industry. He created a meticulous plan to gain expertise in his chosen field, which he leveraged into a job offer from an exciting startup.

Mark, like me, was a journalist, and had spent more than thirty-five years in the field. When it came time for him to leave, he wrote me, Reinventing You

And Denise had been fruitlessly searching for a job when, she wrote me, at a leading business school.

Almost all of us will want, or need, to reinvent ourselves at some point. Through sharing my own experience, and interviewing and distilling the wisdom of dozens of professionals who successfully reinvented themselves, I’ve sought to create a road map that will help you reinvent yourself faster and more easily.

One of the examples that makes me proudest is Richard Bistrong. He reached out to me in the months after Reinventing You was first published and sent me a kind thank-you note. The book, he said, had been instrumental in showing him a path for his successful reinvention.

But he wasn’t transitioning from being a lawyer to owning a yoga studio, or from HR to sales. He was transitioning from jail.

his LinkedIn profile begins. Richard had been a vice president of international sales for a defense and law enforcement contractor when his professional life took a very wrong turn. How can you come back from a prison sentence? Resurrecting his career would be the ultimate reinvention.

Instead of hiding or downplaying his background, as so many of us (even without criminal records) are tempted to do when we’re making a shift—such as apologizing for our lack of experience in a given field—Richard was inspired by Reinventing You to be up-front about his experience and demonstrate the unique value he could offer.

his LinkedIn profile continues, ³

Richard transformed his harrowing experience—which many would have viewed as career-ending—into an exciting new chapter helping others. As I write this, in the past month alone, he’s visited Switzerland and Hong Kong to speak to organizations about anticorruption efforts; he’s even been named one of the top ten authors in the compliance field by a leading legal news site.

If Richard can reinvent himself, so can you.