Your Job Survival Guide

Gregory Shea, Ph.D., consults, researches, writes, and teaches in the areas of organizational and individual change, leadership, group effectiveness, and conflict resolution. He is president of the consulting firm Shea & Associates, a principal in The Coxe Group international consultancy; Senior Consultant at the Center for Applied Research, Adjunct Professor of Management at The Wharton School, where he has taught for more than 25 years, an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, and a Faculty Associate of the Wharton School’s Center for Leadership and Change. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard, Shea holds an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and an M.A., M. Phil., and Ph.D. in Administrative Science from Yale. He is a member of the Academy of Management and the American Psychological Association.   Robert Gunther is coauthor or collaborator on more than 20 books, including The Wealthy 100 and The Truth About Making Smart Decisions. He has appeared on CNBC’s “Power Lunch,” NPR’s “Morning Edition,” and numerous local and national radio and television programs, and his projects have been featured in The New York Times, Time, USA Today, and Fortune. His columns or articles also have been published in Harvard Business Review, American Heritage, Investor’s Business Daily, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. As founder of Gunther Communications, he has consulted with Fortune 500 companies, universities, and major nonprofits. He is a graduate of Princeton University.  

Preface: We Surely All Will Die xix

 

CHAPTER 1: AN ESKIMO ON THE TITANIC 1

    Dangerous Waters 3

    Sailors and Paddlers:Your Real Job Is Change 6

    The Limits of Flat-Water Thinking 9

 

CHAPTER 2: WORKING THE EDDIES: Pace Yourself to Preserve Your Sanity 13

    All Hands on Deck 17

    We Are Drowning in Change 19

        The Impact of Exhaustion 22

    Strategies for Pacing 25

        Create a “Not To Do” List 27

        Build Breaks in the Action 30

        Get Good Sleep 32

        Take a Nap 33

        Enforce Vacations 35

        Avoid the Perils of the Crazy Brave and Phony Tough 38

    Keep a Roll in Reserve 41

 

CHAPTER 3: MASTERING THE ROLL: Prepare to Fail Gracefully and Recover Quickly 45

    Failure Is the Only Option 48

    Strategies for Failing Quickly and Recovering Gracefully 52

        Treat Your Career as a Series of Experiments 52

        Minimize the Risk of Failure 54

        Master the Emotions of Failure 56

        Practice Failing 57

        Prepare to Learn from Failure 59

        Make Your Mistakes on the Move 60

    Failing and Play 62

 

CHAPTER 4: THE POWER OF PLAY: Optimism and Resilience 65

    The Play’s the Thing 66

    The Power of Optimism 70

    Strategies for Unsinkable Optimism 71

        Create Optimism and Avoid Learned Helplessness 72

        When All Else Fails, Paddle Like Hell 74

    Choose Your Equipment for the Right Level of Fun 75

        Patience: Keep Your Feet Up and Go With the Flow 77

        Recharge by Paddling 79

        Create Time and Space for Play 80

    Cultivate Exuberance 81

 

CHAPTER 5: PERSONAL FLOTATION: You Are Responsible for Your Own Se