"Three things – autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward – are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying.  It is now how much money we make that ultimately makes us happy between nine and five.  It is whether our work fulfills us."

"Work that fulfills those three criteria is meaningful.  Being a teacher is meaningful. Being a physician is meaningful. So is being an entrepreneur…"

-Malcolm Gladwell “Outliers: The Story of Success”

As mentioned in the New York Times article "It May Be a Good Job, but Is It 'Good Work'?" (11/16/08), the Harvard Psychologist Howard Gardner says:

"There are three questions people can ask about their jobs to evaluate their good-work level: Does it fit your values? Does it evoke excellence; are you highly competent and effective at what you do? Does it bring you that subjective barometer of engagement, joy?"MR. GARDNER’S advice for anyone being forced to find a new job, setting out on a career or hankering for a midcareer change is: “Decide what you really like to do and what you would like to spend your life doing. That’s more important than deciding what particular job to hold, because the employment landscape is changing radically and quickly. Then ask, ‘Where could I carry that out?’ and be very flexible about the milieu and venue — but not about what you get a kick out of and can be good at.“And then, third, if you have any choice over where to work, when you’re considering a job, go there and talk to people. Ask yourself, ‘Is this the kind of place where I can see myself in others?’ You might make five times more money at one place, but does it reflect who you are and who you want to be? Are my colleagues people I’d admire or people I’d prefer to avoid?”

"First Ninety Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels" is written by Michael Watkins. When I think about this book, I always think about "Securing Early Wins".  Other books in this genre include "You're in Charge, Now What?" and "The New Leaders 100-Day Action Plan."  For longer term career planning consider books such as "Five Patterns of Extraordinary Careers."

You can tell Watkins wrote the book after designing transition acceleration programs for different companies and working with leaders in transition; it is specific, or as least as specific as these types of books can be. I found his descriptive advice and illustrations helpful and I often refer back and recommend this book.

Watkin's 10 suggested strategies are:

1. PROMOTE YOURSELF. Make a mental break from your old job and establish new patterns and limits with your new boss and subordinates.

2. ACCELERATE YOUR LEARNING. Engage in effective and efficient learning in part by listening to customers, external partners, and new colleagues.

3. MATCH STRATEGY TO SITUATION. Try to diagnose the business situation accurately and clarify its challenges and opportunities.

4. SECURE EARLY WINS. Build your credibility and create momentum with early victories.

5. NEGOTIATE SUCCESS. Figure out how to build a productive working relationship with your new boss.

6. ACHIEVE ALIGNMENT. Play the role of organizational architect, especially the higher you are in an organization.

7. BUILD YOUR TEAM. Evaluate and potentially restructure your team.
      
8. CREATE COALITIONS. Your success will depend on your ability to influence people outside your direct line of control.
              
9. KEEP YOUR BALANCE. The risks of losing perspective, getting isolated, and making bad calls are ever present during transitions.

10. EXPEDITE EVERYONE. Finally, you need to help everyone else.

Recently I read "Five Patterns of Extraordinary Careers" by James Citrin and Richard Smith.  They based their book on a survey of 16,000 top executives. Therefore the authors’ points are often more believable since they are backed by statistics (“Extraordinarily successful executives lead careers that fully leverage both their strengths and their passions six times as often as the average employee.”) Their ideas helped me identify a few patterns in my career which have been both helpful and detrimental.   

In general, I am surprised there aren’t more books written on this topic (Amazon suggests “Career Warfare." One of my favorites “First 90 Days” is obviously more focused but a similar theme). The structure of the book might have been improved if they provided more than five principles from which the reader could have selected depending their type of career.  The book does make a basic assumption that the reader is climbing the corporate ladder as opposed to being a small business owner, a teacher, etc. 

While reading the book, I often thought the authors could have spent more time giving examples on how a principle was used by a more typical executive, instead of providing a longer narrative on how a principle was used by a super-successful CEO.  However while reading this book, I mostly thought about how helpful it would have been if I had read it or a book like it earlier in my career; and that I need to make sure I keep this book and these type of ideas close in mind as my career progresses.

They five patterns are
1) Understanding the Value of You  - align your activities with how value is created by the organization.
2) Practice Benevolent Leadership - benevolent leaders don't claw their way to the top but are carried there.
3) Solve the Permission Paradox - gain experience by doing those things that you weren’t explicitly told you could do.
4) Differentiate Using the 20/80 Principle of Performance - meet your objectives and then use remaining resources to generate the most value to your company.
5) Find the Right Fit - strengths, passions, and people.

Geoff Colvin in "Why Talent is Overrated" (Fortune 10/21/08) argues that "deliberate practice" explains achievement and is more important than talent.
Deliberate practice:
     -is designed specifically to improve performance
     -can be repeated frequently
     -allows for feedback
     -is demanding mentally
     -is hard
     -can done before, during, and after the work activity itself.

Colvin writes that the best performers set goals about the process to improve a specific elements of their work. They are able to monitor what is happening and determine how well it is going (metacognition).  Deliberate practice is an investment, the costs come now and the benefits later.

I always thought I was a decent public speaker.  When I took "Communicate to Influence" by Decker Communications (highly recommended) and a coach pointed out some obvious bad habits that I needed to correct. I now realize that I will never become a great public speaker without deliberate practice.