Career Nirvana (& Life After Tech): Suggested Reading

Last week I recorded a podcast for ClueCon in which I discuss how to reinvent yourself in a new, more rewarding career.

It goes live on the FreeSwitch YouTube channel on March 18th, but in the meantime, here is a bit of sneak peek.

It’s a list of books and other resources you might find useful as you navigate such a career (and life) transition.

Books

  • Main Street Millionaire, by Codie Sanchez. 40% of small businesses are owned by baby boomers. Millions of them reach retirement age each year. Who will steward the legacies of these businesses, the heart of our communities?
  • What Color is Your Parachute, by Richard Bolles. An oldie, but goody, this one helps you “uncover your greatest passions, most valued traits, and transferable skills to design a life that enables you to flourish”
  • Forever Employable, by Jeff Gothelf. Stop looking for jobs and, instead, let the jobs find you. It starts with understanding your personal brand and then figuring out how to communicate it to others.
  • Business Model You, by Timothy Clark and Alexander Osterwalder. Visualize your career in a canvas designed to help you uncover insights and design experiments to test your career plan.
  • Who do you Want to Be When You Grow Up?, by Paula Faris. Get in touch with your inner child. This one is a children’s book that asks us to consider the type of person we want to be rather than the job we wish to hold. A handy printable to help us work through this model is available on Paula’s website, too.
  • Designing Your Life, by Bill Burnett. You can use same Design Thinking techniques the pros use to develop products to develop a purposeful and rewarding career.
  • Big Enough, by Lee LeFever. You don’t need to own a multi-billion-dollar company to be successful. Learn how Lee built a business that supports his lifestyle instead of a lifestyle that supports his business.
  • Let Your Life Speak, by Parker Palmer. If you want to live an authentic life, more closely attuned to your inner self, this one’s for you. Identify what fills you up and makes you whole, and also what diminishes you, and then adjust your behaviors accordingly.
  • Pivot, by Adam Markel. “… A road map for embracing your true potential without abandoning your responsibilities or risking your future”
  • 80,000 Hours, by Benjamin Todd. Your career is made up of roughly 80,000 hours. What will you do with yours? If you make the right choices, you could be positioned to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Online Resources