Becoming Generation Flux
Why Traditional Career Planning is Dead: How to be Agile, Adapt to Ambiguity, and Develop Resilience
by Miles Anthony Smith
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date Oct 01 2014 | Archive Date Jun 21 2015
Description
More than ever before, successful career planning means riding the wave of change. Robert Safian coined the term Generation Flux in a February 2012 article in Fast Company magazine to describe those who relish riding the wave. It is important to note that the term is psychographic, not demographic. Generation Flux is not defined by age group but by their ability to adapt and remain flexible in the face of a tremendous onslaught of chaotic change.
But change is stressful. This is true all the way down to the level of biology. If you give an organism a consistent environment, unchanging levels of temperature, moisture, nutrients, and threats, it will adjust itself to succeed in that environment. If the environment begins to change frequently or rapidly or both, the organism doesn’t know what to expect and goes into a state of high alert. Stress is the name we give to this high-alert state. In the short term, it keeps the organism alive, but in the long term, it’s a killer. No wonder many people view change and stress as the enemy. But as important as it is to escape or relieve stress, it’s important to remember that the stress reaction serves a vital purpose. You can’t survive in the long term if you die in the short term.
The surest way to ensure extinction is to resist change and adaptation.
The key to the success of Generation Flux is that they adapt to their ever-changing environment. They neither pretend that change isn’t happening nor allow the need for constant adaptation to overwhelm them. Generation Flux is agile and resilient, quick to pivot away from unsuccessful strategies and tough enough to handle setbacks. They are not afraid to fail, since failures are inevitable, and adaptation requires failure. They realize that career success will look different and will be won differently than in the past.
Advance Praise
As the Great Recession lingers and the job market remains a dark, dingy, and competitive place, it's becoming more and more clear that things are never going to be as they once were. Smith is, luckily, the perfect person to take readers on this journey. Even the way in which he writes this book, flitting from topic to topic and cramming these 180 pages full of intriguing questions and conversations, makes it clear that Smith is one of the chaos-embracing individuals that define Generation Flux.
Miles Anthony Smith gives compelling evidence that the past view of a career has been altered and, instead of fighting this change, he urges us to embrace it. Complete with practical steps and a variety of options, this testament will stand as a beacon for the unemployed and underemployed who are frustrated with using old skins to hold new wine.
"Becoming Generation Flux" is a "What Color is Your Parachute?" adapted for the constantly unpredictable (and let's face it) pessimistic job market that is out there for job seekers.
Smith doesn't come across as a stuffy academic who is spouting examples that he has never experienced firsthand. The author is part of Generation Flux, and he is sharing his knowledge and advice from the trenches. This book might irritate or frighten readers, but it will make people think. This is a scary time in history and Smith is bold enough to tell it like he sees it. There's no denying the job market is evolving so do yourself a favor, consider reading this book. You don't have to agree with everything, but it will behoove you to listen.
Miles Anthony Smith does a great job of showing the reality of the job market: declining jobs overall declining wages, outsourcing, reduced funding for colleges, increasing doubt about colleges, and the need to adapt to changing times. This was the first book that really just laid it out there and said what needed to be said! Smith delves in many areas (freelancing, marriage, entrepreneurship) that are not traditionally covered in a "job search" book.
"Becoming Generation Flux" is a how-to, self-help book for individuals seeking jobs in a very tough, very mercurial economy. Miles Anthony Smith has been there himself and writes from personal experience while drawing on the insights of a number of commentators on our current dilemma.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780988405332 |
| PRICE | $6.99 (USD) |
