Career Development All-in-One For Dummies

Book description

Take control of your career today

Want to get ahead in the workplace? Learn new skills and increase your visibility as a leader in your company with the help of this practical, hands-on guide to professional development. You'll find new techniques for being a better leader, tips for writing better emails, rules for running more effective meetings, and much more. Plus, you'll discover how to give presentations that will keep your audience engaged and learn to be a more mindful person.

Combined from seven of the best For Dummies books on career development topics, Career Development All-in-One For Dummies is your one-stop guide to taking control of your career and improving your professional life. Perfect on its own or as part of a formal development program, it gives you everything you need to advance your career.

  • Become a better leader
  • Manage your time wisely
  • Write effective business communications
  • Manage projects more effectively

Success is an individual responsibility—so put your professional future in your own hands with this guide!

Table of contents

    1. Cover
    2. Introduction
      1. About This Book
      2. Foolish Assumptions
      3. Icons Used in This Book
      4. Beyond the Book
    3. Book 1: Mindfulness
      1. Chapter 1: Exploring Mindfulness in the Workplace
        1. Becoming More Mindful at Work
        2. Finding Out Why Your Brain Needs Mindfulness
        3. Starting Your Mindful Journey
      2. Chapter 2: Discovering the Benefits of Mindfulness
        1. Discovering the Benefits for Employees
        2. Looking at the Organizational Benefits of Mindfulness
      3. Chapter 3: Applying Mindfulness in the Workplace
        1. Gaining Perspective in the Modern-Day Workplace
        2. Adjusting Your Mental Mind-Set
        3. Rewiring Your Brain
        4. Developing Mindfulness at Work
      4. Chapter 4: Practicing Mindfulness in the Digital Age
        1. Choosing When to Use Technology
        2. Communicating Mindfully
        3. Using Technology Mindfully
    4. Book 2: Project Management
      1. Chapter 1: Achieving Results
        1. Determining What Makes a Project a Project
        2. Defining Project Management
        3. Knowing the Project Manager’s Role
        4. Do You Have What It Takes to Be an Effective Project Manager?
      2. Chapter 2: Knowing Your Project’s Audiences
        1. Understanding Your Project’s Audiences
        2. Developing an Audience List
        3. Considering the Drivers, Supporters, and Observers
        4. Displaying Your Audience List
        5. Confirming Your Audience’s Authority
        6. Assessing Your Audience’s Power and Interest
      3. Chapter 3: Clarifying Your Project
        1. Defining Your Project with a Scope Statement
        2. Looking at the Big Picture: Explaining the Need for Your Project
        3. Marking Boundaries: Project Constraints
        4. Documenting Your Assumptions
        5. Presenting Your Scope Statement
      4. Chapter 4: Developing a Game Plan
        1. Breaking Your Project into Manageable Chunks
        2. Creating and Displaying a WBS
        3. Identifying Risks While Detailing Your Work
        4. Documenting Your Planned Project Work
      5. Chapter 5: Keeping Everyone Informed
        1. Successful Communication Basics
        2. Choosing the Appropriate Medium for Project Communication
        3. Preparing a Written Project-Progress Report
        4. Holding Key Project Meetings
        5. Preparing a Project Communications Management Plan
    5. Book 3: Leadership
      1. Chapter 1: Building Your Leadership Muscles
        1. Putting Your Brain to Work
        2. Communicating Effectively
        3. Driving Yourself
        4. Developing a Sense of Urgency
        5. Being Honest and Searching for the Truth
        6. Displaying Good Judgment
        7. Being Dependable and Consistent
        8. Creating an Atmosphere of Trust
        9. Encouraging a Learning Environment
        10. Looking for Common Ground: The Type O Personality
      2. Chapter 2: Managing as a Leader
        1. Setting Reasonable Goals
        2. Delegating to Your Team
        3. Settling Disputes in Your Team
        4. Allowing Your Team to Find Its Own Path
        5. Leading When You Aren’t Really the Leader
      3. Chapter 3: Creating a Vision
        1. Where Do Visions Come From?
        2. Supplying the Human Element
        3. Establishing a Standard of Excellence
        4. Helping You Stay Ahead of the Game
        5. A Vision Links the Present to the Future
        6. A Vision Is a Doable Dream
        7. A Vision Is Not Just an Idea
        8. A Vision Is Based on Reality
        9. A Vision Helps You Harness Opportunities
        10. A Vision Is Dynamic
      4. Chapter 4: Leading across Cultures
        1. Leading in a Diverse World
        2. Emerging as a Leader from a Cultural Group
        3. Leading across International Divides
        4. Leading in the Virtual Age
    6. Book 4: Time Management
      1. Chapter 1: Organizing Yourself
        1. Planning
        2. Grabbing the Three Keys to Personal Organization
      2. Chapter 2: Setting Yourself Up for Success
        1. Getting to Know Yourself
        2. Following a System
        3. Overcoming Time-Management Obstacles
        4. Garnering Support While Establishing Your Boundaries
        5. Keeping Motivation High
      3. Chapter 3: Valuing Your Time
        1. Getting a Good Grip on the Time-Equals-Money Concept
        2. Calculating Your Hourly Income
        3. Boosting Your Hourly Value through Your Work Efforts
        4. Making Value-Based Time Decisions in Your Personal Life
      4. Chapter 4: Focusing, Prioritizing, and Time-Blocking
        1. Focusing Your Energy with the 80/20 Theory of Everything
        2. Getting Down to Specifics: Daily Prioritization
        3. Blocking Off Your Time and Plugging in Your To-Do Items
        4. Assessing Your Progress and Adjusting Your Plan as Needed
      5. Chapter 5: Controlling Email Overload
        1. Managing Email Effectively
        2. Separating Your Work and Private Life
        3. Responding to Email More Quickly
    7. Book 5: Business Writing
      1. Chapter 1: Planning Your Message
        1. Adopting the Plan-Draft-Edit Principle
        2. Fine-Tuning Your Plan: Your Goals and Audience
        3. Making People Care
        4. Choosing Your Written Voice: Tone
        5. Using Relationship-Building Techniques
      2. Chapter 2: Making Your Writing Work
        1. Stepping into a Twenty-First-Century Writing Style
        2. Enlivening Your Language
        3. Using Reader-Friendly Graphic Techniques
      3. Chapter 3: Improving Your Work
        1. Changing Hats: Going from Writer to Editor
        2. Reviewing the Big and Small Pictures
        3. Moving from Passive to Active
        4. Sidestepping Jargon, Clichés, and Extra Modifiers
      4. Chapter 4: Troubleshooting Your Writing
        1. Organizing Your Document
        2. Catching Common Mistakes
        3. Reviewing and Proofreading: The Final Check
      5. Chapter 5: Writing Emails That Get Results
        1. Fast-Forwarding Your Agenda In-House and Out-of-House
        2. Getting Off to a Great Start
        3. Building Messages That Achieve Your Goals
        4. Structuring Your Middle Ground
        5. Closing Strong
        6. Perfecting Your Writing for Email
    8. Book 6: Presentations
      1. Chapter 1: Creating Compelling Content
        1. Getting Your Content Up to Par
        2. Adding Variety and Impact
      2. Chapter 2: Honing Your Platform Skills
        1. Using Your Voice to Command Attention
        2. Captivating Audiences with Your Eyes
        3. Finding the Right Posture
        4. Making the Right Facial Expressions
        5. Gesturing Creatively
      3. Chapter 3: Captivating Your Audience
        1. Touching on the Laws of Communication Impact
        2. Starting with the Law of Primacy
        3. Starting Off on the Right Foot
        4. Building Your Introduction
      4. Chapter 4: Keeping Your Audience Captivated
        1. Standing and Shouting Out: The Law of Emphasis and Intensity
        2. Involving Your Audience: The Law of Exercise and Engagement
        3. Hitting Their Hot Buttons: The Law of Interest
        4. Facing the Consequences: The Law of Effect
      5. Chapter 5: Ending on a High Note
        1. Concluding Effectively: The Law of Recency
        2. Affecting Your Audience Right to the End
        3. Giving a Tactical Conclusion
        4. Engineering Your Conclusion with Building Blocks
    9. Book 7: Negotiation
      1. Chapter 1: Negotiating for Life
        1. When Am I Negotiating?
        2. The Six Basic Skills of Negotiating
        3. Handling All Sorts of Negotiations
      2. Chapter 2: Knowing What You Want
        1. Creating Your Vision
        2. Deciding How You Are Going to Achieve Your Vision
        3. Preparing Yourself for Negotiation
        4. Defining Your Space
      3. Chapter 3: Setting Goals
        1. Setting a Good Goal
        2. Separating Long-Range Goals from Short-Range Goals
        3. Setting the Opening Offer
        4. Breaking the Stone Tablet
      4. Chapter 4: Asking the Right Questions
        1. Tickle It Out: The Art of Coaxing Out Information
        2. Asking Good Questions: A Real Power Tool
        3. Dealing with Unacceptable Responses
        4. Look for Evidence of Listening
      5. Chapter 5: Closing the Deal
        1. Good Deals, Bad Deals, and Win-Win Negotiating
        2. Concessions versus Conditions
        3. What It Means to Close a Deal
        4. Understanding the Letter of the Law
        5. Recognizing When to Close
        6. Knowing How to Close
        7. Barriers to Closing
        8. Closing When It’s All in the Family
        9. When the Deal Is Done
    10. About the Authors
    11. Connect with Dummies
    12. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Career Development All-in-One For Dummies
  • Author(s): Consumer Dummies
  • Release date: April 2017
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9781119363088