Four months ago, I got the first proof of my latest book, and yesterday it officially became available for sale on Amazon.
My latest book, I laugh when I write that, as if I'm in the middle of a four-book deal from Pendant Publishing. I'm very much not; I just happen to be someone who loves to write and has access to the same thing you all have access to: Kindle Direct Publishing.
Nevertheless, this does happen to be the third book I've published, and this time, it's a real book.
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Ok let me explain. Eleven years ago, I published a book titled "The Collections of Office Fiction," which was a series of writings I had for a website I had written for. Three years ago, I published "It Probably Doesn't Fucking Matter," which was a graphic corporate novel that was twenty-five pages.
This time, "Control Your Career" is 197 pages. A real book, with real chapters, and real, actionable discussions to help you take back the keys to your career.
I wanted to write about something I think has an enormous impact on a person's career: learning how to play offense and take ownership of your outcomes.
I've seen too many talented people hand the keys to their career over to their boss, HR, their peers, stakeholders, and everyone else around them. Then they wait. They wait to be noticed, wait to be promoted, wait to be given an opportunity, and wait for someone else to help them get ahead.
Too often, that waiting is exactly what keeps them from reaching the level they are capable of reaching.
Nobody is coming to save you. That doesn't mean people won't help you. But none of them are going to care about your career as much as you do, and they shouldn't have to.
What I've learned through coaching, leadership, and frankly my own career is that nobody is coming to save you. That doesn't mean people won't help you. Great bosses exist. Great mentors exist. Great companies exist. But none of them are going to care about your career as much as you do, and they shouldn't have to.
At some point, you have to stop waiting for permission. You have to ask for the promotion. You have to have the uncomfortable conversation. You have to build the relationships, tell your own story, advocate for yourself, and make sure the people making decisions about you actually know who the hell you are. That isn't arrogance. That's ownership.
That's really what this book is about. It's not a motivational book telling you to manifest your dream job or wake up at 4:30 in the morning and take an ice bath. It's about understanding how careers actually work, who has influence over yours, and what you can do to start taking some of that influence back.
I also wanted it to feel like me. I didn't want to write some polished corporate book full of buzzwords that nobody actually talks like. I wanted it to sound like the conversations I have with people every day. Direct, sometimes uncomfortable, occasionally profane, but hopefully useful enough that you close the book and actually do something differently.
I'm proud of this one and not because it's 197 pages or because Amazon now officially calls me an author again, but because I genuinely think it can help people. If one person reads it and finally asks for the raise, makes the move, leaves the bad boss, starts building their brand, or simply realizes they've been waiting for someone else to take control of their career, then it did what I wanted it to do.
So, Control Your Career is officially out in the world. You can buy it on Amazon, read it, highlight it, disagree with me, send me the parts you loved, or tell me the parts you think are complete bullshit. I'm good with all of it. I just hope somewhere along the way, it reminds you that the keys were always supposed to be yours.