The book felt like a giant advertisement for LinkedIn, but there were useful nuggets as well.

I guess my biggest takeaway is that I need to get out and make valuable connections, and there were some good pointers on how to do that effectively. ( )

(note: this was among my to-be-reviewed books that ended up in the hands of the wrong people when moving 4/1/18 - see https://btripp-books.livejournal.com/206862.html for details - I did brief reviews of these lost books on recall)
(finished 02/16/18)
OK, I have no memory of reading this book. I just bought it off of Amazon last fall, and evidently read it in the chaos of the early months of this year, but the more I dug into other reviews of it, the less I could place it. How odd. The author has recently been in the news for having funded some really sleazy election shenanigans. Currently, that's the most focused thing I can say about it. Some of the other reviews mention it was about running your career like a start-up, but I guess one might have been able to get that from the title.

An important read and perhaps one that should be required for everyone graduating from college these days. People still act as if there are these fixed "job" entities just waiting for them as soon as they get a degree; unfortunately, this is just not the case. Nowadays, it's more of a pure market than ever and you are a merchant selling your skills.

The book does meander into the "self-help" flavor at times and the "you should REALLY be using LinkedIn" at other times. However, for the most part, it's full of compelling anecdotes, good advice on networking, and a strong theme of personal growth and adaptation.

My favorite part:

"Opportunities do not float like clouds. They are firmly attached to individuals. If you're looking for an opportunity, you're really looking for people."


( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2472186.html

I do like to read the odd personal development book sometimes, but in general I like them more than this one, which summarises its approach thus:

"How do you survive and thrive in this fiercely competitive economy? You need a whole new entrepreneurial mindset and skill set. Drawing on the best of Silicon Valley, The Start-Up of You helps you accelerate your career and take control of your future–no matter your profession."

The authors mock the What Color Is Your Parachute approach of establishing a clear desired vision, and urge instead an aggressively flexible approach of constantly rethinking your priorities, which to me sounds like an awful lot of work. It seemed to me full of assumptions about personal values and experiences which will apply only to a small subset of people, most of whom are either already very well off or are already well-placed to become so. There is no harm in encouraging people to think creatively, and some of the ideas about networking are actually rather good, but I don't recommend this particularly strongly. ( )

This one is a tough one to rate. I was initially inclined to give it just three stars, which is actually a pretty good rating, I'd say -- it means something is worth reading, just not something I'd likely read again. A lot of what's in here presents concepts I'm personally already familiar with, but what was refreshing was hearing some actionable ideas for putting them to work. It certainly feels at times like it could be a thinly veiled advertisement for LinkedIn, but... the ideas given seem like they could be translated to other social networks both internet-based and otherwise.

I'm not going to suggest I necessarily agree with all the ideas and suggestions presented here, but there's a lot here to bring to your personal direction both in terms of your career and your life outside of your work. I feel inclined to recommend this book to various past and present coworkers, colleagues and friends, but the truth is that some of the ideas are already things I've suggested in the past. Also, I think some of this needs to be tested by the "common man" so-to-speak, given that most of the case studies cited are what most of us would consider exceptional. ( )