The Authentic Career
Maggie Craddock
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2004 New World Library
ISBN: 1577314387

Finding Professional Fulfillment Through the Path of Self-Discovery.

Many professionals experience some degree of job dissatisfaction. Figuring out whether they should change themselves - or their jobs - isn't easy. Drawing on her business background, her training as a social worker, & her years as an executive coach, Maggie Craddock outlines a therapeutic process that carefully separates what the reader wants & needs from the often-frustrating demands of family & work.

The Authentic Career: Finding Professional Fulfillment Through the Path of Self-Discovery offers the author's four stage process to identifying your authentic career goals & strategies, & she avers this requires a careful examination of your inner life:
• Awareness Stage
• Emotional Ownership
• Interaction
• Integration Stage
including exercises, examples, & inspirational quotes.

Maggie Craddock elegantly guides us through the process, illustrating each stage with real-life examples, including stories from Fortune 500 CEOs & professional women returning to the workforce after having children. The Authentic Career is a welcome companion on anyone's career path, especially for those looking to change their lives.

The Authentic Career for less than the price of a good meal or a decent pair of shoes, offers a seminar in how to look at your life, & what to do to make the shift from a perennial spectator at the mercy of the game to a lifelong participant in the workplace.

For the most part, I found Maggie Craddock's information worthwhile & some was even quite new, however, The Authentic Career does go on a bit, delving deep in an effort to transform the reader -- offering everything anyone “ought” to know, except, perhaps, for the kitchen sink.
(04/25/04)

Rebecca