Douglas E. Welch is a pioneer in the blogging world, technology, and Social Media. He has spent 25 years working in many aspects of high-tech and writing about much of it through his Career Opportunities column and podcast.
Douglas's latest e-book, Cultivating Your Career Reputations is an easy read: clear, concise and solid in its direction. The "Reputations" are essential parts of life that can and will enhance a career if handled properly, or tank a career if handled poorly. Douglas's advice, culled from his many years of experience as an employee, independent contractor, and business owner, helps to focus you as an employer, employee, or as an essential part of any team.
In the "Introduction", Douglas posits:
"All of these smaller reputations, and more, make up your 'Reputation' with a capital 'R'. Each can raise or lower people's opinion of you and directly effect your ability to succeed in your career. They also point the way when building a career or finding the next job."
Douglas paints comparisons and contrasts on why these Reputations are critical, and the result of a lack of attention to honoring and building these Reputations. In the chapter, "A Reputation for Decision-Making" Douglas presents the stark consequences of failing to make decisions:
"The biggest danger in avoiding decisions is that your managers and your family will eventually start making decisions for you. They will refuse to have their productivity stunted by your lack of decision. Even worse, when you fail to make decisions, you will often be saddled with decisions you dislike."
Entrepreneurs and independent contractors will greatly benefit from this book, as symbiotic relationships are the glue to bring a product to market, or deliver a service. The book strives toward helping individuals from every walk of life to fine-tune strong areas, and shore up weak areas, and for the most part, it succeeds.
Where the book could use refinement is including a bullet list to revisit "the lessons" and some action items for each of the Reputations. The author does this in the conclusion, presenting challenge questions to direct the reader's thinking on the overall subject; it would have given greater depth to each chapter had he included this type of rhetorical reasoning throughout. Actual cases-in-point to shore up each Reputation would have also enhanced the author's arguments. The beauty of the digital format is that these things can be easily incorporated in future editions.
But overall, the structure and essence of the information goes a long way in giving food for thought, as well as important reasons why building ones Reputations can dramatically expand or improve their career.
The book is available for purchase on Amazon.com in Kindle format. Prices range from $4.99-$9.99 per download; but if you purchase by January 15, you can download a copy for only $2.99!
You can discover more about Douglas E. Welch and his work at his website.
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