Introduction
Think Like An Entrepreneur, Act Like A CEO is a book about achieving a better working life. The author wants to help the readers to become more nimble in the workplace. At first, I was wondering whether this is for business owner or for employees and I was looking to learn more about running a business. But this is actually a book for workers.
Authors
Beverly E. Jones is an executive coach, leadership consultant, speaker, author and podcaster. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service at Ohio University.
Contents
Think Like An Entrepreneur, Act Like A CEO has an introduction and 50 chapters.
These chapters are 1) To Launch Something New, You Need a Good Plan, 2) Think Like an Entrepreneur, Wherever You Are, 3) Listening Is Your Sure Fire, Go-to Career Strategy, 4) Tweak Your Brand to Send Clear Messages, 5) Start Now to Build Leadership into Your Brand, 6) Power up by Tweaking Your Personal Style, 7) Talk Back to the Voice in Your Head, 8) How Do Other People Get Self-Discipline?, 9) How And Why to Keep Smiling, 10) The Real Meaning of “Networking” May Surprise You, 11) What to Say When Your Work Is Praised, 12) Give Positive Feedback in Smart Ways, 13) Get Over Your Fear of Looking Like a Suck-Up, 14) Use Games to Create Power and Direction, 15) Be Prepared with Clever Ways to Brag, 16) Get the “It” Factor: Create Presence, 17) To Make a Career Shift, Start with One Grain of Sugar, 18) How to Take a Career Side Step, One Sugar Grain at a Time, 19) Those Annoying Speech Habits May Cost You, 20) Does Your Calendar Support Your Success?, 21) Prioritise Your Priorities, 22) Getting Your Boss to Listen, 23) Leading Upward: Manage the Boss, in a Good Way, 24) The Jimmy Fallon Touch: Good Manners Help You Shine, 25) Do’s and Don’ts of Saying “Sorry”, 26) Find the Magic 20 Percent, 27) How to Create Mentoring that Works Both Ways, 28) Don’t be Sabotaged by Your Own Frustration, 29) Yes, You Can Do Something about Difficult Colleagues, 30) Find or Build Communities, 31) Make Your Meeting Time More Productive, 32) How to Love Your Work Again, 33) Make Social Media Work for You, 34) Stress Is Contagious and Debilitating – but Manageable, 35) Snap Out of It: Coping with Career Rejection, 36) How to Foster Great Teams, Even If You’re Not the Leader, 37) Celebrate Your Wins and Theirs, 38) It’s (Usually) Not Okay to Be Late, 39) Measuring Progress Makes Your Goals Powerful, 40) Use Those Annoying Checklists, 41) Overcome Big Project Letdown, 42) Know When to Forget about Status, 43) To Lead without Authority, Know How to Herd Cats, 44) How Bigger Goals Can Take You Further, 45) You Might Hesitate, But Keep Going, 46) Ageism Is Real: Deal With It Sooner than Later, 47) How to Stay Steady When Change Is Constant, 48) Art Can Boost Your Creativity at Work, 49) The Right Way to Move On, and 50) Choose to Be an Optimist.
Review
Think Like An Entrepreneur, Act Like A CEO offers inspiration, guidance, and tools to discover smart ways to take control and get our career in gear.
We cannot predict where our career path will take us, thus we need to be adaptable and resilient. Career resilience means being able to anticipate risks and feel comfortable with change. Nobody else was in charge of making us successful other than ourselves.
Strong human relationships require a delicate mix of hard work, honest communication, and good luck. Some stronger leaders are able to lead upward, influencing their bosses to make better decisions and become more effective. Focus on the big picture to stop worrying about status symbols when they are holding you back or tripping you up.
To build an effective team, it requires frequent and effective communications. A good starting point to create a great team is to think about a configuration that suits your tasks, allows regular discussion among members, provides a way to acknowledge contributions, and lets everyone enjoy the camaraderie that team membership can bring.
The goal in communication is to assure delivery of key messages even when it does not seem fair that you have to do so much of the hard work. Listening is one super career skill. It goes beyond hearing someone’s words; it encompasses noticing body language, facial expressions, and signs of emotion.
As Asians, when we are praised, we tend to downplay it and might even cause the praiser to feel bad about the praise. I like what the author says in the book. When someone praises you, the end result should be both of you feeling better after the conversation. Thus, we should receive the praise gracefully.
A good chapter to read is Chapter 31. I believe most of us cannot escape from meetings. This chapter about making meeting more productive will help us to get something out of these meetings.
To achieve a big goal, take a small step at a time, and the most important thing is to get started. What really matters is that you do a little something on a regular basis. When learning is involved, quantity does lead to quality. Remember the 10,000-hour rule? It says that the key to achieving true expertise in any skill is simply a matter of practicing, albeit in the correct way, for at least 10 000 hours.
In the penultimate chapter, the author mentions that we should resist the urge to speak up to create a classy departure. I do not completely agree. We should point out the weaknesses but not in a harsh way. This might help the ex-colleagues or even the bosses to improve themselves or the workplace.
Regardless of career stage, we all run up against difficult bosses, feeling stuck, and feeling like we have no work-life balance, bored and burned out. It is up to us to choose whether to continue being unhappy or pick an alternate path and change it up, even if it’s in baby steps.
Overall, it is a good read for all employees, and even employers if you care about workers’ welfare.
Quotes
- Your career encompasses your learning experiences, from the books that you read to your circle of friends, vacation pursuits, and community activity.
- Your personal brand isn’t the same as the real you, because it’s defined partly by what people think about you. It’s based on their assessments of your expertise, your work, and your character.
- No boss is perfect, most managers are too busy, and some are flat out weak.
- Professional life has always been full of annoying jolts and tedious challenges.
- If you want to be happier, you have to do something, to take action.
Rating
Interested in Think Like An Entrepreneur, Act Like A CEO?
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