10 Things You Might Not Know About How to be Resilient in Your Career: Facing Up to Barriers at Work
By Dr. Helen Ofosu
1. This book was inspired, in part, by someone in my business network who said he planned to write a psychology book. He had no work experience or formal training in psychology. I thought, “If he can do it, I can definitely do it!”
2. The book started as a pandemic project to give me something to do that wouldn’t bother my husband or son during the lockdowns.
3. Fourteen publishers rejected this book before Routledge accepted it. Although that sounds like a lot, many famous authors had their first books rejected many more times. Stephen King, Alex Haley, and James Patterson are a few examples.
4. My approach to writing is based on advice from a close friend named Amber. She's a former journalist and an extraordinary writer who helped me find my authentic voice when I started blogging in 2013.
5. I wrote this book for many reasons. One of them is that I believe if I had learned the lessons shared in this book earlier in my career, I’d have been more successful much sooner.
6. My original title for this book was simply The Resilient Career. The marketing folks at Routledge strongly encouraged me to change it to How to Be Resilient in Your Career: Facing Up to Barriers at Work.
7. Although I am very proud of this book, the ideas and content I set aside for future projects are at least as compelling—but also more niche and possibly more provocative. Lately, I’ve been reflecting on leadership challenges unique to people who are part of traditionally marginalized groups. If you’re curious, check out my recent blogs and podcast interviews.
8. How to Be Resilient in Your Career: Facing Up to Barriers at Work has been nominated for a 2024 Trillium Award! This prestigious award is the province of Ontario's leading award for literature. Past Trillium winners include Margaret Atwood (author of The Handmaid's Tale) and Michael Ondaatje (author of The English Patient). The Trillium Award is open to books in any genre: fiction, non-fiction, drama, children’s books, and poetry. I could not be more excited.
9. Through the magic of analytics and algorithms, it’s clear that the key messages in this book are not reaching the people who could benefit—especially if they have traditionally been marginalized. This book does not spark outrage or polarization—it’s mostly helpful and affirming. This means my book’s reach has been limited.
10. This book is also available on Audible. When my young adult son started listening to it on Audible, he said it felt amazing, like I was talking just to him. Other listeners who are not close to me have said the same thing.
In good times and bad, resilience is one of the major keys to success – including career success. Dr. Helen Ofosu believes this applies to employees and entrepreneurs, individual contributors, subject matter experts, leaders, and executives.
That’s why her approach to career and executive coaching is to help people get ahead in a way that insulates them from future setbacks – or recover if things have gone sideways. This is also why, as a consultant, she helps organizations become stronger and more resilient, so they are ready for both the anticipated and the unexpected challenges that all organizations face at some point.
Part of what sets her apart from many career and executive coaches is her experience on the inside, as an HR and professional development professional, within large corporate workplaces and her intimate knowledge of typical HR processes and systems.
Clients come to her when the stakes are high. They can count on her to share insights and customized services that few others can deliver. They love that she has developed countless hiring tools and helped to resolve many HR problems over the years.
Her “insider” experience gives her clients an edge in getting hired and promoted in the public (and private) sector, and in managing their careers as they progress.
And as an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist (her field is more commonly known as Work and Business Psychology), she takes an evidence-based approach by using the latest research and best practices to increase the odds of her clients’ success.
Author Links
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