New book helps readers kick lives and careers into overdrive
In Alicia Reece’s new book Driven to Thrive: 10 Proven Strategies to Excel, Expand, and Elevate Your Career and Life, readers will learn how to manage and overcome the obstacles they face in their quest for career and life fulfillment. Reece, who has had a successful career in human resources and today trains Fortune 500 executives and works as a business consultant, shares her own personal trials and triumphs, as well as stories of how she helped her many clients take control of the racing wheel
Reece knows that many books on business, self-help, and careers already exist; What sets the book apart from him is that he believes solutions to job stagnation and dissatisfaction are best resolved when you learn to harness your own voice and deepen your self-awareness while cultivating the skills necessary to improve or change your situation. She advocates increasing your emotional intelligence, which includes becoming more aware of who you are and what you want.
Being self-aware is not easy. Too often, people try to be what they think others, especially bosses and colleagues, want them to be. Reece explains how this leads to impostor syndrome: feeling like you’re pretending to be someone you’re not. She discusses how to overcome this situation by accepting who you really are and beginning to live with the intention of achieving the success and happiness that you really want, and not just what others think you should want. When we don’t pursue goals that are right for us, or take jobs that aren’t the best for us, we can end up feeling burned out or unmotivated. Reece reveals that 50 percent of his clients seek his services because they feel drained of energy at their jobs, a number that Gallup polling reveals is typical in the workforce. Reece wants to change that.
Throughout the book, Reece offers tools to help people reclaim their careers and, with them, their personal lives. She guides readers through her DREAM (Discipline, Resilience, Energy, Adaptability, and Meaning) model, which represents the fundamental sources of energy to fully propel her career. She points out that “meaning” is one of the most important sources of power today, as evidenced by research that Millennials in the workforce don’t just want a job but to work with a purpose. As one of Reece’s mentors told him early on, “A career is a collection of experiences that allows you to develop and grow while leveraging your abilities to add value.” When people feel like they are adding value and have purpose, they have higher overall happiness and feel like they can thrive.
One of my favorite parts of Driven to Thrive is Reece’s discussion of the four stages of running: build, climb, slide, and jump. I especially appreciated her talking about inertia because it’s been overlooked in every running book I’ve ever read before. She gives readers permission to slip into their careers at appropriate times, like when a loved one dies or a new baby is born. While we always want to move forward in our careers, sometimes life gets in the way and we need to take a little care of ourselves until we’re ready to climb or even jump again.
Other topics Reece explores that I won’t go into detail about, but are worth discussing include the importance of cultivating relationships, including finding sponsors. He also clarifies what is wrong with many organizations’ current strategies for creating diversity in the workplace. Hiring people from diverse backgrounds is not enough; instead, a culture of inclusion must be established. One of the most powerful discussions in the book is about building your financial sustainability, including through entrepreneurship. He also appreciated how he emphasized that when accepting a job, we should “negotiate, no matter what. It could be something as small as asking for an extra week of vacation. Negotiate.”
Another valuable chapter focuses on winning at the game of organizational politics. Reece points out that no one teaches you in school how to play politics at work. She explores how to learn the rules within her organization, but also emphasizes that knowing the rules is not enough; You must also develop a strategy to win. That doesn’t mean you need to manipulate or crush others. Rather, you build relationships in valuable ways by learning the language of business, understanding how your organization makes money, realizing the stakes for your colleagues, and ultimately influencing decision-making to get the results you want. . Sometimes it even means realizing that a company is not a place where she can grow and prosper, so she decides not to play along and seek a new position.
Most Driven to Thrive readers will be looking for a change in their careers, possibly because they are new to their careers, possibly because they are not happy with their current situation. However, change can be scary, so I’ll end with a quote from Reece: “Change is not something to run away from; in fact, you should consider running toward change. When you run away from change, you run the risk of staying stagnant”. and left behind; As life continues to move, business continues to grow and evolve. Choose to go with the flow, which allows you to move in sync and even, in some cases, influence outcomes.”
I am sure that reading Driven to Thrive will help you improve the outcome of your future and that of any organization you will be a part of. I wish someone had given me this book when I was in college so I’d better know what to expect when I entered the world of work. It will be a real game changer for readers.