Introducing ‘A Career Carol’, and the Shey in all of us!
Shey Sinope is the main character in the fictional part of our latest book by Drs. Schuster and Oxley. When David and I began cowriting #ACareerCarol, we quickly aligned on four key principles.
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1.???We wanted to give the book a fictional part with a real story of real people reflecting ‘NextGen’ dilemmas.
2.???We wanted to make the advice relevant and pragmatic, offering real and relatable solutions to problems faced by so many young people today. As a result, we agreed to share some of our own stories.
3.???Agreed to bring our characters to life with drawings of our key characters.
4.???For the advice section of the book, we agreed that we wanted the voices of real people in their twenties captured and brought to life through the fictional character of Shey – focused on advice from people we know personally.
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In our June newsletter, we revealed the book cover, which will soon be available on Amazon. I used this opportunity to re-read the book, with the latest edits sent from our publishers. In truth, I had not really opened the book since our submission to the publishers a few months back and as I kept reading, I felt gripped by the story.
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After finishing the last page, I immediately called David Oxley and expressed my positive sense of disbelief around what we had created together. Having read so many books on leadership throughout my career, written by far more accomplished writers than us, I was thrilled with the depth of advice we had covered. But what really touched a nerve with me, was how the character of Shey captures the Zeitgeist of the post-Covid era so well and, at the same time, the characteristics and emotions that I myself went through at his age. Even now, I have moments when I can relate to the emotions felt by his character.
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There is one quote that I would like to leave you with. At this point in the book, Shey and his friend Ellen argue about the significance of commencement speeches at graduations and he suddenly has an emotional outburst:
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‘Don’t even get me started on the politicians… they use commencement speeches much the same way as cult leaders seeking to exert mind control over their followers. It’s all about ‘do as I say and not as I do’.
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Following UK newspapers over the last few days, this rings true as ever.
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What do I mean when I say that there is a Shay in all of us? Well, put simply, we all have our moments of self-doubt and the occasional need for grounding and re-orientation. It is so important that generations at work meet each other at eye level. The old do not hold all the answers - and the young do not lack wisdom!
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Finally, I wish to say a thank you to Andy Doodles Baker for bringing the character of Shey alive through his beautiful art. We love how you have captured the true essence of our characters. Thanks you!
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Very much interested in the readers view on the image. Please comment!
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Andy Baker is an amazing artist!
HR Manager in energy markets with experience in Retail Power, Renewables and Commercial Wholesale companies. Passionate at both growing and developing organizational efficiency through people, processes and systems.
1 年Great read Helmut - thank you. I totally agree that not only with our careers, but also with our personal life, we all have our moments of self-doubt and the occasional need for grounding. The re-orientation helps us reflect - and continue with forward with our resiliency. I also appreciate your leadership book recommendation by Collins. Wishing you and David continued growth and longterm success.
Senior HR Business Partner at Saputo
1 年I’m looking forward to reading this! You mention in the article you’ve read a lot of leadership books. What are some of your favourites?
Head of Digital Excellence
1 年I really like the idea of bringing the characters to life. I never read a business book doing that. Looking forward reading your book!