James Lehman has had an interesting career to say the least. At the beginning of Maneuvering Your Career, he shares with us his diverse work history and the job instability and difficulties he has experienced throughout his years of employment:

“Because I had to maneuver my career, I was fired multiple times, had my position eliminated multiple times, quit before landing another job more than once, and my employer was acquired, merged, closed, and bankrupt. I have worked for the same employer three different times. And I’ve been self-employed. My shortest job has been eight days (not including weekends). My longest tenure has been a mere five years. Along the way, I’ve collected severance pay and unemployment “I filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) claim and won an appeal of an unemployment decision. Even though it’s not my plan, I even collected severance from two different companies while working for another.”

While most of us may not have experienced as many job changes in our careers, I doubt there’s a reader who hasn’t known the worries of losing a job, finding a better job (or any job), or at the very least, having to deal with a crazy boss. There’s no job security anymore, and for that reason, James Lehman has written Maneuvering Your Career to teach readers how to survive career transitions and all other kinds of office politics, disgruntled co-workers, and micromanaging bosses who don’t care. what to administer to anyone.

Using a river metaphor throughout, Lehman teaches us how to maneuver the river of our runs, avoiding obstacles along the way and learning when to go with the flow. Each chapter is dedicated to one of the twenty strategies he offers, and these chapters are grouped into three sections on Taking Control, Owning Your Job, and Taking Care of Yourself. The bottom line is that no one will take care of him in the workplace, so he has to take care of himself. Once in a while, you can forge a strong alliance with a boss or co-worker to give you some leverage in your career advancement, but for the most part, you need to work hard and smart, use common sense, and not settle for being stuck. in a bad situation. Some of the strategies Lehman offers include: breaking the rules, envisioning the future, working smart, knowing your rights, and getting paid back.

Lehman illustrates all his points with personal stories from his own career, many of which are surprising and even funny (although I’m sure they weren’t at the time). In each story, he shows how he handled a difficult situation and what he learned from it. In some cases, he admits his own personal failings and what he learned from an experience; at other times, he displays humor and wisdom in dealing with situations out of his control, such as a difficult boss personality or a job interview gone wrong.

I can’t resist sharing just one of the many stories of crazy people Lehman has worked with. In this case, he was stuck trying to please two crazy bosses who worked in different offices. Lehman decided to take advantage of this situation to keep his sanity, as he explains:

“I could split my time as to where I was working, and the other would always think I was in the other office. When things got too crazy, a walk by the lake in the nearby city park during lunchtime was always It was a great escape. The funniest thing was when I was in office B, I finally got a text from the crazy office A: “James, where are you this morning?” I knew then that I was freaking him out that he couldn’t see me. so I couldn’t control myself, and was paranoid about what I might be doing that would hurt him, I would tell him that I had a meeting in office B, and I would go as soon as I could, which in some cases was the next day. It was very bad for my team members because they would call me to tell me (laughing) that Crazy was looking for me.”

In the end, Lehman makes it clear that we cannot allow anyone else to control or dictate our careers for us, and we cannot trust any company to be loyal to us. Instead, we need to own our jobs, and that doesn’t mean just doing good work, but working for ourselves, either literally by working for ourselves or doing what’s best for us rather than just what’s best for us. the company or the boss. Lehman does not make lofty or false promises, but rather offers a realistic look at the changes in today’s workplace and a message of hope, independence and security for those who are willing to stand up for themselves and their beliefs. Sometimes that can mean paddling against the current that everyone else blindly follows, but in the end, it will lead to greater job satisfaction, career advancement, and the feeling of a job well done at the end of the day. If you want to not only survive, but thrive in the workplace, pick up a copy of Maneuvering Your Career.