The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers: The Guide for Achieving Success an d Satisfaction

US: Three Rivers Press, 2007. Paperback. Good. What is different about the careers of people like Lou Gerstner, the acclai med, recently retired chairman and CEO of IBM? Or Senator Elizabeth Dole, Y ahoo! COO Dan Rosensweig, and Tom Freston, chairman and CEO of MTV Networks ? Why did they ascend to the top and prosper-why did they have extraordinary careers-while others equally talented never reached their potential or aspi rations? Jim Citrin and Rick Smith of Spencer Stuart, the world's most influential e xecutive search firm, set out to explore this question. The result-based on in-depth, original research-is sure to be the most important and useful bo ok for anyone seeking to crack the code of how to build a rewarding, person ally satisfying career. Like weather systems and financial markets, careers contain patterns. What Citrin and Smith found from their research and extensive experience is that people with extraordinary careers are guided by five straightforward patte rns that can be harnessed and used by everyone. These individuals: • Understand the value of you by translating their knowledge and expe rience into action, building their personal value over each phase of their career • Practice benevolent leadership by not clawing their way to the top but by being carried there • Solve the permission paradox, the dilemma of not being able to get a job without experience and not getting the experience without the job • Differentiate using the 20/80 principle of performance by storming past their defined jobs to create breakthrough ideas and deliver unexpected impact • Do not micromanage their careers, but macromanage them by gravitating t.