My Book - Reclaiming Your Power, Freedom, and Future

* Sharing the first draft chapter with you from the book I'm writing this year *

“No, I won’t be promoting you.”

JB sat in stunned silence on the video chat. They hoped their face wasn’t revealing?their surprise and disappointment.?

“But, I thought I was on track for one this cycle? My previous manager was happy with my performance and said they were going to put me up for a promotion this year.”

The manager frowned, “Yeah, well. They’re gone now, and I don’t have any paperwork to support that. But, let’s see how things go this year, ok?”

The call ended. JB was shocked, slumped down in the chair, and stared at the laptop screen. All of that extra hard work this year for nothing.?How could this happen?

Everything had been fantastic working for the previous manager. JB had enjoyed years of significant raises and steady promotions. Their career was on an amazing trajectory. But, that all?changed?in the blink of an eye.

The wonderful manager left the company for a great new opportunity. The resulting re-org placed a new leader in the role JB had expected to grow into. The relationship with this new person was already rocky, and they didn’t seem to click.?

Now what?

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Unfortunately, this type of vulnerability is all too common. I’ve experienced it before, and many of my coaching clients have run headfirst into the brick wall of an unexpected re-org.

When it happened to me, I promised myself that I would never be that?vulnerable?again. I had focused on one career path in one job at one company reporting to one great boss. But, it all fell apart in an instant on a Friday afternoon.?

Licking my wounds, I grew wiser and stronger. I learned to recognize the signs. I built better relationships and more powerful partnerships across organizations and outside the walls of the company.?

I created backup plans, a clear vision for my future, and a roadmap to get there. I pumped energy into my networking flywheel and promised never to let it spin down into an idle state again.?

Many years later, I began building a new?coaching practice ?to help others avoid the mistakes I had made. More often than not, people learn lessons the hard way and get?burned by vulnerabilities?they’re not even aware that they have. But, it is possible to avoid some — or maybe even all — of the unfortunate pain and setbacks.?

I want to help you eliminate your vulnerabilities in your work and life, which is why I coach ambitious people and started writing this book. When you create what I call an “Invincible Career,” you are in charge of your professional destiny. You steer the ship instead of being a powerless passenger who is at the mercy of your employer’s unexpected decisions, the whims of bad bosses, or the chaos of economic uncertainty.?

I wish?bad bosses ?didn’t exist, but they do and probably always will. The sad fact is, about?50% of people ?have quit a job to escape a miserable manager.?

I’ve encountered my fair share of terrible leaders, and my clients have too.

• I’ve been shouted at by executives, cursed at by CEOs, and called every name in the book by unpleasant coworkers.?
• I’ve been threatened, both verbally and physically.?Yes, believe it or not, one leader threatened to fight me after a meeting.
• Some of my clients have endured verbal abuse, emotional bullying, and physical attacks too.?Who knew that you could have equipment thrown at you in a white-collar job?
• We’ve all had the experience of incompetent leaders being hired, promoted, or moved into roles where they proceeded to run the organization into the ground.?

None of this is acceptable. But, it does happen, and the company won’t always have your back.

Yes, I do have a few amazing friends in HR and Legal, but most of the people in those organizations are there to work for the company, provide legal air cover, and protect executives. I’ve been told of HR reps witnessing the inexcusable leadership behavior in the examples above, looking the other way, and covering it up.?

You should assume that you will be on your own. Or, you should at least anticipate there will be times you're on your own.?No matter what your situation is, it’s wise to take control and become empowered.

Take care of yourself and own your career. No one will ever care as much about your professional future as you do.

Eliminate your vulnerabilities before disaster strikes. Make yourself invincible so you can weather any storm, bounce back from adversity, and always move on to bigger and better things.

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I’m here to help you with that journey. I don’t work for your employer.?I don’t work for any employer. Therefore, I don’t need to pull any punches, speak from a “corporate script,” or cover my executive ass.?

I’ll share what I’ve learned from my decades of experience in the corporate world, as a leader, and now as a leadership and career coach. I’ve helped my clients navigate this chaotic world and become?more invincible?in their work and life. This book will help you become more powerful too.?

“Reclaiming Your Power, Freedom, and Future” (that’s my working title) is for you if one or more of the following is true:

• You’re starting to feel sad Sunday evening and dread going to work Monday morning.?
• You’re tired of kissing a narcissistic boss’s butt every day.?
• Unpleasant coworkers are making you miserable every week.
• A toxic work environment is damaging your well-being, but you feel trapped in your job and don’t know what to do.?
• You worry that you’re one layoff away from not being able to cover your rent or mortgage.?
• You can feel the best years of your life slipping away.
• You’re putting off your happiness until some magical future date after retirement.?

Let me touch on that last point for a bit. In the past two years, I’ve seen what happens when people let work come between them and living the life they want.?

I’ve watched friends and acquaintances put work first, delay their dreams, and wait for their retirement to a sunny beach somewhere warm. That’s what our educational system and corporate world train us to expect, right? But, what actually happened to my friends breaks my heart.?

• One was planning to travel the world with their spouse after retirement. They started making travel plans, finally did leave their job, and died two months after their retirement date.?Now, their spouse has put all of those dreams aside.
• A friend had a few years of work left but never got a chance to retire. They died of COVID.?We lost a dear friend, and their partner and children lost a loving spouse and parent.
• Another friend was semi-retired but couldn’t resist going back into the working world for another swing at success. Finally, they retired again and were just beginning to enjoy the fruits of their decades of successful labor, but suddenly passed away one morning. Now, those plans of a future with their family have vanished.

I had my own health scare several years ago. That was?my wake-up call. I could no longer tolerate spending 2-4 hours in?a daily commute on California freeways , knowing that my life might end before I even got a chance to live it the way that I’d always dreamed.?

So, I left the corporate world about 12 years ago and never returned. I continued building my own Invincible Career, creating a business I love, and moved away from the crowded Bay Area to live a better life before it was too late.?

Therefore, my message to you is this;?don’t wait too long. There are no guarantees in this world, and your tomorrow is never certain.?That should be more obvious now than ever before.

You only get?one life, so don’t waste it on a job you dislike or maybe even hate, working for a bad boss or with coworkers who drive you crazy, or spending all of your days doing things that don’t fulfill you or let you explore your full potential.

When you create an?Invincible Career, you choose how you spend your days. You decide with whom you spend your time. You reclaim your power, your freedom, and your future.?

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Here’s a taste of what’s to come this year in the chapters I’m working on for my book:

• What Is an Invincible Career and Life?
• Assessing Your Situation, Risks, and Opportunities
• Defining Your Vision of the Future
• Identifying Blocks and Barriers
• Embracing the Best You
• Identifying Your Audacious Goals
• Creating Your Winning Strategies
• Building Your Achievable Plans
• Living and Working Intentionally
• Investing in Yourself
• Boosting Your Confidence
• Building Your Brand
• Creating a Powerful Network
• Showcasing Your Expertise
• Generating Greater Awareness
• Building Your Content Factory
• Growing Your Audience
• Finding Your Tribe
• Nurturing Your Inner Circle
• Selling the Product of You
• Interviewing as an Equal
• Maximizing Your Earning Potential
• Tracking Your Progress
• Practicing Gratitude
• Believing in Yourself
• Maintaining Momentum
• Living Your New Life

Thanks for joining me on this journey! I’m excited to share more of my book with you this year.?Subscribe now ?to read the draft chapters as I complete them. As I mentioned in?an earlier article , this weekly process is my forcing function to meet my goals this year and finally publish something.

I hope you’ll experiment with this productivity strategy for 2022. I’d love to hear more about your goals and the progress you make. We can help hold you accountable!

???Scroll to the top if you want to?listen to my more detailed discussion on Spotify???

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Larry Cornett?is a?leadership & career coach and business advisor ?who hosts a private?mastermind community for ambitious professionals ?with weekly challenges, office hours, and ongoing support. If you’re interested in starting your own business someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur ” course (launching later this year).

Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on?Twitter @cornett.?