Cast - The Right—and Wrong—Stuff: How Brilliant Careers Are Made and Unmade

Do your career a favor and read Carter Casts new book. Its practical, thought-provoking, and funnyand it might just stop you from derailing when you least expect it.

Dan Heath, coauthor of bestsellers Made to Stick, Switch, and Decisive

Talent and drive arent enough to prevent your career from derailing. After spending years exploring what causes people to stall or fall off the ladder, Carter Cast offers a book thats honest and actionable. Think of it as a mirror to help you see your blind spots.

Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take, Originals, and, with Sheryl Sandberg, Option B

Carter Cast is a refreshingly original voice on a tough topic. His book will make you think differently about managing your career.

Marshall Goldsmith, bestselling author of What Got You Here Wont Get You There

Are you playing the right role at work? It may just be that the golden parts of your personality are precisely what are causing shadows to fall on your career. Carter Cast is a wise guide on how to get in sync with what the team around you is expecting from you.

Seth Godin, bestselling author of Tribes

Carter Cast breaks the mold for professors/practitioners with The Rightand WrongStuff. The book reveals a unique set of five career archetypes that ring true, clear tips for accelerating your career, and page-turning stories of career success and failure.

Dr. Geoff Smart, chairman and founder, ghSMART, and New York Times bestselling author of Who

This insightful and lively book is a pragmatic must-read for all those aspiring to the C-suite. Cast brilliantly translates his grounded wisdom and classroom mastery onto the written page.

Sally Blount, dean, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University

People tend to assume that careers are just about trajectory. Theyre really about knowing your strengths and weaknesses, then finding environments where you can adapt and flourish. Casts insights are based on real-world experiences. This book will help so many people have the right career conversations to build their own Right Stuff.

Gary Briggs, chief marketing officer, Facebook

The most neglected fact in business is were all human. Casts brilliant, candid exploration of how self-awareness can make you a better leader should be required reading for managers at all levels of any organization. Know your blind spots and youll have a very bright future.

Chip Conley, hospitality entrepreneur and bestselling author of Emotional Equations

Casts ability to demystify and shine a light on why talented people stumble is a gift to anyone trying to progress in their career. Casts blend of no-nonsense, practical advice delivered with a good dose of humor makes The Rightand WrongStuff a leadership book youll actually enjoy reading while you are learning something.

Laila Tarraf, former chief people officer, Peets Coffee

In The Rightand WrongStuff, Cast offers an insightful exploration of the primary ways high-potential professionals can get off track in their careers and then provides a road map to success for those who are willing to put in the work. I highly recommend it to anyone who is serious about making the most of their career.

Mike Gamson, senior vice president, Global Solutions, LinkedIn

In The Rightand WrongStuff, Cast has managed to combine a wealth of personal leadership experience in some of Americas best-performing companies with some serious research into what makes for a successful career. Add a big dose of humility and humanity, and the result is a field guide to building your skills and leading your career that you need to have at arms-reach. It will become a dog-eared companion on your journey to career growth and well-being.

Brock Leach, former CEO, Tropicana and Frito-Lay North America

For anyone, at any level, who really wants to understand and traverse the leadership journey (including the inevitable ups and downs), Cast delivers it in his first book in an honest, transparent manner. He is one of a very few practitioners and professors that can truly change your life. Knowing him has changed my life.

Harry Kraemer Jr., former chairman and CEO, Baxter International, Inc., and executive partner, Madison Dearborn Partners

In The Rightand WrongStuff, Cast provides valuable insights for both individual career development and organizational effectiveness. His broad range of professional experiences, situational awareness, and interest in people and their development gives him a perceptive and unique perspective.

John Fleming, CEO, Global eCommerce, UNIQLO

This book is dedicated to the memory of Bradford Macomber.

Most people think they know what theyre good at. They are usually wrong.

Peter Drucker

I had just gotten off a phone call with Randy, a colleague with whom I had worked some twenty years ago. I hadnt spoken with him in years and, although it was great catching up, the thought that went through my mind that summer day in 2014 was what happened? Randy was smart, hardworking, well educated, and, after working for several strong, brand-name companies, had an admirable set of skills. He seemed to have the right stuff. Yet his career had stalled somewhere along the way, and I could hear the disappointment in his voice when he talked about it. What went wrong?

That conversation led me to think back to one of those never-to-be-forgotten moments that we all experience: receiving bad career news. Mine took place in the mid-1990s, during a wilting performance review, where my boss described me as obstinate, resistant, and insubordinate.

I was then a thirty-two-year-old marketer in PepsiCos Frito-Lay division in Dallas. Up until that time, Id had a pretty good nine-year run at PepsiCo, starting off in Wichita in 1986, as an assistant marketing manager for the Pizza Hut division, then, three years later, I became a marketing manager working on the initial expansion of the Taco Bell franchise into the Ontario, Canada, market. By 1995, I was a senior product manager, working in the new products department at Frito-Lay. Id been fortunate enough to have received several promotions in my career at PepsiCo and was told that I had senior management potential. I had developed a skill set in the fundamentals of consumer marketing and could drive results by gaining the enlistment of others, because I was empathetic and had pretty good listening skills. I didnt feel compelled to take all the credit for accomplished work and, by and large, approached my job with a high degree of enthusiasm and a strong dose of irreverent humor. If asked, my peers probably would have said I was a hardworking, well-organized team player who was fun to work with. I was a big believer in one of Harry Trumans adages: Its amazing what you can accomplish if you dont care who gets the credit.