Strategize to Win

October 27, 2014
Harris (Expect to Win), Morgan Stanley’s managing director, offers hope in this career manual both to people just starting out and to those seeking professional redirection or revitalization. She divides the book into three major sections, respectively entitled “Starting Out,” “Stepping Up,” and “Starting Over.” The first section provides solid guidance, including on choosing a career, identifying necessary skill sets, and examining company entry points, to beginners who want to be deliberate in their career choices. For mid-levels who want to move up, she emphasizes that responsibility for this task rests on the individual, providing practical help on communication strategies, bouncing back after a misstep, and building up “relationship currency.” Advice to those in the “Starting Over” phase covers knowing when it’s time to jump ship and recognizing what factors motivate one, whether it’s increased compensation, improved chances for advancement, or escaping current unfair treatment. She also provides an informative chapter on repositioning oneself, which many will find especially insightful. Most professionals should be able to find something of value, whether they’re just starting out, ready to move on, or somewhere in between. Agent: Barbara Lowenstein, Lowenstein Associates.

November 15, 2014

Directed at young and midcareer professionals, this title is a focused, no-nonsense primer on making strategic choices to guide one's career in the current economy. In material that is born out of conversations with readers of the author's book Expect To Win, Harris (vice chairman, managing director, and senior client advisor at Morgan Stanley) delivers the sequel to her inspirational autobiographical look at becoming a successful woman on Wall Street. She describes defining and steering the trajectory of your career, positioning yourself for the job you want, and repositioning yourself should you get stuck. With apt examples, the author connects the dots between the practical aspects of managing a career and the currencies of communication, performance, and relationships and describes the varied profiles ("good soldier," "yes man," "chief," and "arguer") in any environment and the art of positioning your profile in the mix, as well as how to recover from a mistake and read unspoken cues. VERDICT This title will appeal to business students and professionals alike. Harris's sensible grit from 30 years on Wall Street makes this an instructive yet enjoyable read.--Jane Scott, Clark Lib., Univ. of Portland, OR

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2014
It's not so much a new way to manage your career as it is a smart and a wise one. Well-known author (Expect to Win, 2009) and businesswoman Harris speaks from experience, and she uses that experience to give readers more than a good idea of how to sell yourself, to understand your performance and relationship currencies, and to move through change successfully. The three sections (as per her title) address millennial issues as well as those confronting Gens X and Y and baby boomers. Instead of asking what to major in for life, she recommends defining the contentthat is, activities and goals that the career seeker enjoysthen cross-referencing that content with jobs that offer these experiences. Of course, interviews and negotiating are key subjects (do your homework, she advises, as do other experts); more important, though, is her emphasis on the kinds of internal capital employees and leaders need to build, whether it's performance- or relationship-based. The crossroads that many confrontknowing when it's time to leave, being downsized, losing a sponsor, and repositioningare well handled. And just in case readers skim through the chapters, she summarizes her content in Carla's Pearls. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)