Advance Praise for Reinventing You “As the corporate ladder morphs into a corporate lattice, where there is no single climb toward career success but rather a multiplicity of ways to grow, personal branding becomes your calling card. Reinventing You presents effective ways to help you develop your brand proposition.” —Cathy Benko, Vice Chairman, Deloitte LLP; best-selling author, The Corporate Lattice: Achieving High Performance in the Changing World of Work “The days of reliable, lifelong careers—complete with pension and gold watch—are over. With Dorie Clark’s clear, practical, step-by-step approach to reinvention, the reader comes to see this fact not as daunting, but rife with opportunity and possibility. Enriched with riveting examples from the worlds of business, politics, and nonprofits, this indispensable guide will help you take control of and shape your professional life.” —Meg Cadoux Hirshberg, author, For Better or For Work: A Survival Guide for Entrepreneurs and Their Families “Necessity may still be the mother of invention, but today’s relentlessly changing world necessitates reinvention, sometimes sequential reinvention. I can think of no better guide through that daunting process than Dorie Clark’s wonderfully readable and informative book.” —Robert Cialdini, author, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion Reinventing You is a must-read for anyone who wants to expand their career horizons and become more authentic—in work and in life.” —Chip Conley, author, Emotional Equations: Simple Truths for Creating Happiness + Success; founder, Joie de Vivre Hospitality, Inc.
Copyright Copyright 2013 Dorie Clark All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to
[email protected], or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163. First eBook Edition: April 2013 ISBN: 978-1-4221-4413-8
For my mother, Gail Clark, with love
Contents
Copyright 1. The New Branding Landscape 2. Recognize Where You’re Starting 3. Research Your Destination 4. Test-Drive Your Path 5. Develop the Skills You Need 6. Who’s Your Mentor? 7. Leverage Your Points of Difference 8. Build Your Narrative 9. Reintroduce Yourself 10. Prove Your Worth 11. Keep It Going Epilogue: Make Your Reinvention Work Appendix A: Your Professional Reinvention Self-Assessment Appendix B: Classroom or Book Group Discussion Questions Notes About the Author Acknowledgments
CHAPTER 1
The New Branding Landscape Are you where you want to be professionally? Whether you want to advance faster at your company or change jobs or even careers, one thing is clear: no one wants to spend a lifetime doing a job they hate. To succeed in today’s competitive job market and build a career that leverages your unique passions and talent, it’s almost certain that at some point you’ll need to reinvent yourself professionally—and ensure that others recognize the powerful contribution you can make. After all, it’s clear that the era of gold watches and lifetime employment is over. How many people do you know who are lifers at a company? For better or worse, people today skip around professionally, forced by layoffs or seeking a better title or salary. Even for those who would have wanted to make a career at one company, the options are limited. Harvard Business School Professor T