Joanne Cleaver - The Career Lattice: Combat Brain Drain, Improve Company Culture, and Attract Top Talent

Copyright 2012 by Joanne Cleaver. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-07-179170-0
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To Mark: Up, down, and sideways, the best partner I could hope to have,
and far better than I deserve

Eric Winegardner
VICE PRESIDENT, MONSTER WORLDWIDE

THE CORPORATE LADDER. Remember when it was the only way to the top? Only a few were chosen to advance. And even fewer made it.

The corporate ladder is no more.

Todays workers are their own advocates. They want work that is meaningful. They want to follow their curiosity, their interests, their skills and most importantly, their passions, to continuously grow and evolve. To succeed not because they got to the top, but because they are part of a winning team.

Over 4 million people search Monster every day to find their next job. They are looking for a better chance, a better job, a better opportunity. Finding better is the beacon that pulls us all forward. We know it is out there. It is in all of us. It is less about a giant leap. It is about small steps to better. Employers are looking to find better talent. People are looking for better jobs.

Some people believe finding better is difficult. There is a skills gap in our economy. In The Career Lattice, Joanne reflects that today there are jobs without people and people without jobs. Unemployment is high but jobs still go unfulfilled. So how do you find better, as an employer and as a worker?

Employers want people who are adaptable, ready and willing to take on new skills. Flexibility is the key to success. Those who are experts today, may be left behind tomorrow.

The lattice embodies the concept of continuous learning. Moving across, up, even down can help todays workers find their next job, their next career. Todays managers must not only understand the lattice, they must live it. They must be pathfinders, showing their workers the way to betterthe path to their next skill, their next job, even their next career.

Finding better is within you, whether you are the person who is looking for the next job or the manager who is responsible for helping others achieve their goals.

Dont be fearful of the lattice. The lateral move, the change to a new industry, the leap to a new role. Read on. Find the path to your success and the success of your team. The road is no longer straight. But the journey is worth it.

Every book has many authors in addition to the one whose name is on the cover. In the parlance of The Career Lattice (), my crew came through. Sincere thanks and everlasting gratitude to:

My lookouts: Holly Root of the Waxman Agency; Pam Tate of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning; Parthavi Das of Women in Cable Telecommunications; Zach Gajewski and Daina Penikas of McGraw-Hill; and David Moldawer, now of Amazon.

My wingpeople: Kristen McGuire, who kept this project on track and kept me away from many ditches, detours, and distractions. I could not ask for a better collaborator or friend. Stephanie Cleaver masterminded the lattice diagrams and collaborated on the graphic elements. I am grateful to have reared a talented and thoughtful designer.

My spotters: Beth Doyle, Dorothy Wax, and Shawn Hulsizer of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning; and each employer and latticer who shared his experiences so that others could have career success, especially those involved in San Antonios Mission Verde.

It is impossible to put my husband, Mark, in any category, lattice or otherwise. He understands that the creative process sometimes happens while one is quilting, shopping, baking, swimming, walking, or watching Real Housewives marathons. Without his constant encouragement and practical support, The Career Lattice would still be only a good idea.

The goodwill and good work of these people should not be tarnished by any inadvertent errors, for which I am wholly responsible.