From Amazon
Laura Berman Fortgang, like fellow personal coaches including Cheryl Richardson (
Take Time for Your Life) and Thomas Leonard (
The Portable Coach), has distilled her knowledge into book form. (For the uninitiated, personal coaches are like personal trainers--only they work to motivate you to perform at your peak on the job, instead of in the gym.) Her corporate clients have included Johnson & Johnson, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Prudential Securities.
Berman Fortgang says you need to identify the hurdles that are holding you back--even if it's a boss more cognitively absent than Dilbert's--and then do something about them. That's easier said than done. She's also big on making a five-year plan, something that may actually require hours of self-analysis and/or the assistance of a career counselor. But for anyone who feels in a rut but is also truly devoted to investing the time it takes to improve professionally and is willing to take risks, Take Yourself to the Top could be the answer. Berman Fortgang writes like a kinder, gentler Tony Robbins; you get the sense that she's genuinely concerned with bringing out the best in people. And there's targeted information in here for everyone: salespeople, workers on the verge of burnout, wishful entrepreneurs, and those just struggling to make ends meet. Admittedly, the advice in this book takes much more self-discipline to follow than would a dozen sessions with a personal coach egging you on in person or over the phone, but then, you also save the $200-a-session fee.
From Library Journal
Fortgang, a personal career coach, offers timely tips for executives interested in taking charge of their career and becoming responsible for their own choices. Rather than focusing on writing a r?sum?, dressing for success, or improving interviewing skills, typical career guidance topics, Fortgang instead deals with self-discipline, identifying obstacles to reaching one's goals, leaping out of a mid-career rut, and thinking big. Eleven obstacles to success are examined with plans to conquer each, brought to life by motivational tales of Fortgang-coached clients who have "taken themselves to the top." For "crispy critters," those suffering from burnout, her advice on kicking the reliance on adrenaline is the primary new concept in this selection among this heavily saturated genre. The author's advice requires a significant degree of self-discipline to follow, but the audiobook, read by Fortgang, will be a less expensive investment than her personal per session fees. Her sensitive approach conveys genuine concern with bringing out the best in people and may result in a broader emotional appeal to the target audience than Thomas Leonard's The Portable Coach, or Anthony Robbins's Unlimited Power. Recommended only for larger public libraries that may still be weak in this genre.
-Dale Farris, Groves, TX Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
