Control Your Career - My New Book

On August 24th, I'm releasing my latest book titled "Control Your Career," and this time around it's a real book, not a pamphlet.

I joke because two years ago I released a book titled "It Probably Doesn't Fucking Matter," and it was 25 pages. Many called it a pamphlet, which I was ok with. It was a pamphlet.

This time around, I've taken the time to write a real book, with real chapters, and I think the message is going to resonate.

The purpose of the book is to show that everyone else controls your career until you decide to step up and own the narrative.

Early in my career, I genuinely believed that if you worked hard, kept your head down, and put in more effort than those around you, then you would get promoted and get ahead. I do not believe this any longer.

The truth is you have to work hard, and yes, you have to stay focused on the goals at hand, but nobody is coming to save you, and more importantly, nobody is going to hand you something. You have to be willing to build the brand, own the narrative, and know who the key players are in the process.

Over the years, I have watched people who were less talented, less experienced, and less effective move ahead simply because they understood how the game worked. They knew who made the decisions. They built relationships with the people in the room. They made sure their work was visible, and they knew how to tell a story about where they had been and where they wanted to go next. Meanwhile, better people sat quietly waiting for someone to notice them.

Nobody is coming to save you, but that does not mean you are powerless. It means it is time to figure out who has the keys and start taking some of them back.

That may sound unfair, but your career has never operated entirely on fairness. The best performer does not automatically get promoted. The most loyal employee is not always protected during a layoff. The person with the strongest results does not always receive the biggest opportunity. Decisions are made by people, and people make those decisions based on what they know, what they believe, and the version of you that exists in their head.

This book is about understanding who holds the keys to your career. Your boss has a key. Your peers have one. Senior leaders, recruiters, clients, and even your own fear may have one too. Every one of them has some ability to open a door for you, keep one closed, or influence what happens when your name comes up in a room you are not in.

Controlling your career does not mean you control every decision. You never will. It means you stop pretending your work will speak for itself. You learn how to build relationships before you need them, communicate your value without feeling like you are bragging, and correct the story when people have the wrong version of you. You become an active participant in your career instead of waiting to see what everyone else decides to do with it.

I wrote this book after spending nearly twenty years making some of these mistakes myself. I stayed quiet when I should have spoken up. I assumed results would be enough. I trusted people to tell my story accurately when I was not in the room. Sometimes it worked out. Other times, I paid a price that I did not fully understand until years later.

"Control Your Career" comes out on August 24th. It is a real book this time, although I will always have some love for the pamphlet. More importantly, it is the book I wish someone had handed me early in my career. Nobody is coming to save you, but that does not mean you are powerless. It means it is time to figure out who has the keys and start taking some of them back.