TechLeaders Resources and Reading List: On Managing Your Career

Articulating Your Vision

Do’s and Dont’s for Realizing Your Vision, by TechLeaders

Sher, Barabra and Gottlieb, Annie.(2nd Edition 2003). Wishcraft: How to get to What you Really Want. Ballantine Books.

Targeted to adults who wish to articulate their vision and goals and enumerate steps to realize those goals. It is considered a classic in the self-discovery genre.

West, John E. (2005). The Only Trait of a leader: A field guide to success for new engineers, scientists, and technologists.

Written by a computer scientist who wanted to share his learnings on leadership and “save some pain to others,” this book is grounded in the context of technology. It is full of practical tips on leading technical teams, communicating effectively, and articulating your vision.

Building Your Network

Uzzi, Brian, and Dunlap, Shannon. (2005). How to Build Your Network. Harvard Business Review, December 2005 Issue. Reprint # R0512B.

Networks have to be carefully constructed through relatively high-stakes activities that bring you into contact with a diverse group of people. Most personal networks are highly clustered–that is, your friends are likely to be friends with one another as well. And, if you made those friends by introducing yourself to them, the chances are high that their experiences and perspectives echo your own. … But what if someone within that cluster knows someone else who belongs to a whole different group? That connection, formed by an information broker, can expose your idea to a new world, filled with fresh opportunities for success. Diversity makes the difference. Uzzi and Dunlap show you how to assess what kind of network you currently have, helping you to identify your superconnectors and demonstrating how you act as an information broker for others. They then explain how to diversify your contacts through shared activities and how to manage your new, more potent, network.

Increasing Your Visibility

Fletcher, Joyce K. (2001). Disappearing Acts: Gender, Power, and Relational Practice at Work. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.

Fletcher’s work is unusual in focusing on technical women, in this case in design engineering. She found that these women often acted in ways that promoted cooperation and collaboration, officially valued by their organization. Yet their contributions “disappeared” in a culture that valued heroic individual action. She concludes with a chapter on how to move beyond this pattern.

Glasser, Connie and Smalley, Barbara (2003). What Queen Esther Knew: Business Strategies from a Biblical Sage”

“Women often don’t recognize the importance of increasing their visibility at work. They think if they do a good job, they’ll be recognized and rewarded for their efforts. But the workplace reality remains: It’s not only what you do that counts, but who knows what you do.” Sounds familiar? This book may help you making yourself more visible.

Strategic Risk-Taking

Kotter, John P. (2001). “What Leaders Really Do.” Harvard Business Review, December.

The difference between leadership and management: Management is about coping with complexity, leadership is about coping with change. Both are needed in a successful organization.

Treasurer, Bill. (2003). Right Risk: 10 Powerful Principles for Taking Giant Leaps with Your Life. Berrett-Koehler Publishers

This book, written by a coach and facilitator who started his career in high diving, encourages risk taking based on personal values.

 

Issues specific to the Entry Level

Resources for Technical Women at the Entry or Intern Level

Based on a systematic review of the academic and business literature, ABI has developed a specific list of resources and tips for technical women at the entry level in industry.