Penelope Trunk - Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success

Copyright 2007 by Penelope Trunk

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Some names and identifying characteristics have been changed to protect the privacy of certain individuals in the book.

Warner Business Books

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10017

Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com.

Warner Business Books is an imprint of Warner Books.

Warner Business Books is a trademark of Hachette Book Group, Inc. or an affiliated company.

Used under license by Hachette Book Group, which is not affiliated with Time Warner Inc.

First eBook Edition: May 2007

ISBN: 978-0-446-56165-5

This book has the street smarts you need to make your career and life work for you from the start. Read it now, or youll wish you had when youre forty!

KEITH FERRAZZI, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF NEVER EAT ALONE: AND OTHER SECRETS TO SUCCESS, ONE RELATIONSHIP AT A TIME

A road map specifically for young people to help them navigate corporate life... Trunks style is direct, practical, and anecdotal, and most important, incredibly helpful.

JULIE JANSEN, AUTHOR OF I DONT KNOW WHAT I WANT, BUT I KNOW ITS NOT THIS

There are two kinds of people in the workplace: careerists and achievers. If youve been too busy achieving to focus on how to move your career forward, this book is a must read. It will teach you how to find just the right balance between the two.

DR. LOIS P. FRANKEL, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF NICE GIRLS DONT GET THE CORNER OFFICE

Trunk brings considerable savvy and a fresh new perspective to the business of career success. Bold and sometimes unconventional, BRAZEN CAREERIST gives readers much to think about as well as concrete, practical suggestions that will help them know what they want and know how to get it.

PAUL D. TIEGER, COAUTHOR OF DO WHAT YOU ARE AND CEO, SPEEDREADING PEOPLE, LLC

This book is the What Color Is Your Parachute? for the new young generation.

BRUCE TULGAN, AUTHOR OF MANAGING GENERATION X

M y agent, Susan Rabiner, saw all my weaknesses within three minutes of first meeting me, which made life with her great because there was nothing I could hide. She has encouraged me in all aspects of life, and she has taught me how to follow the rules while at the same time inspiring me to succeed in unorthodox ways.

I would be lying if I told you that writing a book was easy. My editor, Diana Baroni, transformed me from a columnist to an author. No small feat. Sometimes I imagine that while she was going through edits with me on the phone, she was throwing darts at a wall to keep her voice so even. Leila Porteous saw me through rocky moments, and Jamie Raab and Rick Wolff believed in this book even when I wished it was a book but it wasnt.

I am a writer who loves a good editor. So I am thankful to a slew of editors who have helped me along the way. The easiest lesson was from Jessica Pompei: to just be myself. The hardest lesson was from Daniel Ray: to follow the rules. Jim Krusoe made me believe I was a writer and taught me not to write about writing. Leslie Epstein accepted me into grad school and accepted that I was not grad school material. Susanna Kaysen fed me rice at night while I spent my days as a starving grad student. Tim Carvell encouraged me to nag people until I got a column. Ned Desmond and Josh Macht gave me my first column, and Josh taught me to never write about my sex life in a business magazine. Riza Cruz taught me that I am more interesting when I am useful. David Wallis taught me to stop worrying about the last column and focus on the one I am writing. Perri Capell was my editor and then my networking project, but she also turned out to be a friend. Caleb Solomon gave me a chance to write for the Boston Globe. Doreen Vigue taught me to pay attention to pictures. Andrew Caffrey taught me the value of editorial banter. Tanya Singer gave me the opportunity to write for Yahoo! Hundreds of other editors have run my syndicated column in print and online, and this broad editorial enthusiasm has allowed me to keep writing.

My husband has been flexible with his own life so that I could go after my dreams, no matter what they were. He stayed up late teaching me HTML so that I could run a Fortune 500 Web site (yes, thats all it took in 1994). He managed a long-distance relationship so I could continue to run my company. He encouraged me when I took an 80 percent pay cut to be a full-time writer. He took care of our kids so I could finish my book.

Finally, I want to thank the people who have read my column and my blog. Some have been reading since 1999. Some have just started. Everyone who has written to me has taught me something. I write about careers because I love the dialogue about what we can do to find happiness in work and life. I hope this book continues that dialogue.

E very generation is known for something. My generation is revolutionizing work. Today there are new rules, new expectations, and new standards for success. If, like me, you are a member of Generation X or Y, that is, between the ages of eighteen and forty, this book will help you make good decisions so that you can get an exciting, rewarding career that helps you grow and accommodates your personal life.

As an older member of Generation X, I found myself constantly out of step with coworkers at the beginning of my career. I did not value the same things they did, I did not want their lives, I did not want their jobsI wanted something different. After ten years in the workforce, I realized that I wasnt weird for expecting my job to be fun (and for being disappointed when it wasnt). I wasnt lazy for moving back home with my parents. I was actually part of a large trend, but when youre helping start a trend, often you look less like a trendsetter and more like a freak.

I wrote this book to provide a road map that I wish Id had when I started out in business. This isnt a book by a career coach, advising you on how to navigate a world she never had to navigate. These are firsthand stories and practical advice on how our generation can successfully maneuver in the new workplace, from someone whos been there.

Here are some characteristics of the new generation of workers that set us apart from those who came before us:

• We move back with parents after college: In 2005 65 percent of college seniors planned to move back home.
• Career instability is a given and we hold more than eight jobs before age thirty-two.
• We invented the quarterlife crisis in which career and relationship problems come to a boiling point at around age thirty.
• Women dont aspire to be Superwomen; in fact, five years after business school, only 60 percent of women are working outside the home.
• We demand control and flexibility when it comes to work, which explains why 40 percent of all new businesses are started by people under thirty-four.

These new workers are forcing revolutionary changes in corporate life, and these changes will occur on magnitudes we have not seen since women entered the all-male office.

Work will become more fun, more fulfilling, and more accommodating of a personal life in the next five years. This revolution is due to the seemingly outrageous expectations of young peopleand their already apparent ability to get them met. One of the biggest topics in management consulting right now is how to change corporate life in order to retain young workers, because they wont stay if they dont like whats happening.