Title | Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing your Career |
Author | Herminia Ibarra |
Publisher | Harvard Business School Press |
ISBN | 978 15913 9413 6 |
Usefulness | 4/5 |
Although published in 2004, Working Identity has stood the test of time. It addresses the question of how people change careers – a pressing concern for many in the current climate. Ibarra’s answer reveals that the conventional wisdom of change following intense structured self-reflection and planning is misplaced. Changing careers means changing identities: you cannot map it out in advance.
Ibarra charges us to focus on “action rather than reflection, doing instead of planning”. This stance has far-reaching implications for anyone undergoing a career shift and for anyone coaching them through it.
I found the book an engaging and inspirational read. Its smooth flow effortlessly melds business, psychological and anthropological approaches, immersing us in the stories of 39 people who reinvented themselves through major career transitions.
Books that rely heavily on individual narratives can be like ice-cream – briefly titillating our taste buds but forgotten almost as soon as we’ve eaten it. Working Identity has much more to offer. Founded on rigorous research and presenting a wise, perceptive framework for career transition, it’s a satisfying meal rather than a light snack.
Liz Gooster is currently on the Meyler Campbell Business Coaching programme and is business publisher for FTPH
www.business classcoach.com
Title | The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry (2nd ed) |
Author | Sue Annis Hammond |
Publisher | Thin Book Publishing Company |
ISBN | 978 09665 3731 4 |
Usefulness | 4/5 |
If you’re looking for a ‘where to start’ with Appreciative Inquiry (AI), this book covers all the key points – and in little more than an hour.
There are two overriding themes. First, a challenge to the prevailing problem-solving paradigm of: learning from our mistakes. With AI you simply do more of what works. Second, a very human view of organisations and the pride people feel in belonging to them.
AI is based on what has gone well in the past; successes that people know how to repeat because they are based on experience.
The book also contains a useful section on the role of assumptions, positive and negative, and a list of the eight held within AI. For example, “People have more confidence and comfort to journey to the future (the unknown) when they carry forward parts of the past (the known)” and “If we carry parts of the past forward, they should be what is best about the past.”
One of the assumptions I found very interesting states: “The act of asking questions of an organisation or group influences the group in some way”, challenging the role of consultant or facilitator as a neutral observer.
Overall, a good introduction to the key principles and with enough depth to be thought-provoking.
Charlotte Baker is founder of Undine Coaching
www.undinecoaching.com
Coaching at Work, Volume 6, Issue 2