Reimagine Your Work: Managing Your Career Like It’s Your Business

By Wendy Cocke

Do you wish you had more control over your own career development? It's time to take control back and decide where you want to go next.

Having a fulfilling and interesting career isn't always about moving up - it's a journey, not a ladder. Sometimes, a career move is about skill-building over promotion, but it's up to you to break free from the constraints of a traditional corporate system to figure out what's next.

The trick is to run your own career like it's a small business and you're the product. This allows you to give your career the attention to grow in ways that can increase your own cross-functional exposure and training while ensuring you're happy at work.

By running your career like a small business, Reimagine Your Work can help you:
• Understand and manage your personal brand
• Develop a career strategy that works for your specific needs
• Invest in yourself and those around you

When you work for yourself while you work for your company everyone wins.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Engineering Leadership Solutions LLC
• Release date: May 7, 2024
• ISBN: 9798986304939

Book preview

Reimagine Your Work

Managing Your Career

Like It’s Your Business

Wendy A. Cocke

Copyright © 2023, Wendy A. Cocke

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical (including any information storage retrieval system) without the express written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations for use in articles and reviews wherein appropriate attribution of the source is made.

Publishing support provided by

Ignite Press

5070 N. Sixth St. #189

Fresno, CA 93710

www.IgnitePress.us

ISBN: 979-8-9863049-2-2

ISBN: 979-8-9863049-3-9 (E-book)

For bulk purchases and for booking, contact:

Wendy Cocke

[e-mail]

www.reimagineyourwork.com

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, web addresses or links contained in this book may have been changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The content of this book and all expressed opinions are those of the author and do not reflect the publisher or the publishing team. The author is solely responsible for all content included herein.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023918324

Cover design by Annatto LLC

Edited by Lesly Gregory

Interior design by Jetlaunch

FIRST EDITION

This book is dedicated to my mom, whose decision to leave her corporate job and open her own business has forever warped my perspective of stay-at-home moms and provided me with the image of how a woman can, in fact, have it all.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to those unnamed contributors who provided me with experiences both good and bad that we can all learn from. You have helped to make me the leader, teacher, and mentor I am today.

Thank you to everyone who trusted me with your stories: John Rotella, Ruth Weaver, Courtney Rowe, Claire Couch, Christi Fiorentini, Jennifer Barrett, and Joe Weber. Each of you has had a part in shaping who I am and your willingness to be a part of this book is going to make an impact on countless lives. I am forever grateful for your friendship, passion, and courage.

Thank you to my family: Andy, AJ, Lily, Nana, and Mamaw. I can’t believe you let me write another book! Thank you for giving me the space to write, edit, and then write some more. I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without your love and support.

Thank you to Lindsay Boseman (Annatto LLC) for creating another amazing book cover. I didn’t give you much to go on, and you blew me away. I would just have a boring stack of papers without the love you wrap my message in.

Thank you to Lesly Gregory for being willing to edit my manuscript. Your attention to detail and recommendations for changes are always spot on. I am never going to get over double spacing after a period and you don’t ever complain about fixing it.

Thank you to my early readers: Casey Dusenbery, Kristeen Barth, Rhonda Gibby, Brian Nelson, Elizabeth Hartzog, Nick Damiani, Angela Mitchell, and Cathy Fyock. The thoughtful, strategic, and caring feedback that you provided took what I had created and raised it to the next level. My readers are so lucky to have had your suggestions and perspectives woven into the final product.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Don’t just play by the rules...change them

Chapter 1: Managing Your Career Like It’s Your Business

Chapter 2: Redefine Career Advancement

Chapter 3: Set Your Strategic Vision

Chapter 4: Create Your Marketing Plan

Chapter 5: You’re the Product

Chapter 6: Invest in Your Own R&D

Chapter 7: Your Team is Your Brand

Chapter 8: Final Thoughts

About the Author

Introduction: Don’t just play

by the rules...change them

I HAVE NEVER been one to blindly follow rules. This isn’t to say that I don’t like rules; I just only like the rules that make sense to me. It’s the ones that don’t make sense that I don’t feel obligated to follow. I was raised to think critically, and to merely follow rules without putting them to some sort of logic test seems silly. My parents encouraged me to challenge blind assumptions and the teachers who had the most influence on me encouraged push back and questions. As a result, throughout my career, I have consistently challenged the unwritten and sometimes written rules of the corporate world. I believe that rules are nothing more than a set of guardrails agreed upon to maintain order or facilitate delegated decision making.

Maybe you are like me and have been looking for an excuse (or better yet, a book) to push back against a system that isn’t working for you or maybe you read that first paragraph and are considering putting this book back down. Either way, you are going to be fine. For years, my mantra has been, I only cause necessary trouble, I don’t have time for unnecessary trouble. Although how I define necessary and unnecessary has shifted throughout my career, going from my own career satisfaction to the success of my team and eventually the overall organization, focusing on causing necessary trouble has never done me wrong. I’ve always pushed the envelope.

I realize that, in saying all this, I come from a place of privilege that allows me to do things that others may not be able to do, so I do not recommend that everyone just start challenging the norm. There are lots of people who are not insulated well enough to safely push boundaries like I have. I have been blessed with a partner in life that affords me the freedom to manage my career as I wish. I’ve also been afforded the luxury of working in psychologically safe, non-toxic work cultures, where although not strictly encouraged, there were very few punishments associated with testing boundaries.

To best determine how much you can push boundaries, you need to understand your specific situation. You need to know your financial risk tolerance. You need to know the consequences of noncompliance within your current organization. Most importantly, you need to know what you are willing to concede and what your non-negotiables are.

Are you frustrated with your career direction?

Are you comfortable in your job but dream about doing something more?

Are you just starting out and don’t know where to start?

Are you leading a team and still unsure how to lead yourself?

Are you ready to help reshape the ways of the working world?

I hope this book will help you get what you are looking for and together we can change the game itself.

To drive real change, you can neither play by the rules nor break them; you have to change them, bend them, mold them. The first step is to know the rules themselves (both the written and the unwritten ones), the people who hold them the tightest, and the way they intertwine within the fabric of the business culture. Throughout my career, I have actively sought different approaches to the way work is done - from the time I was an entry-level engineer until I became a people leader and ultimately a leader of leaders...and I can show you how to do it.

If you’re ready to try something new, you must first really understand what you want and what you will have to do to get it. If you are a leader who is looking to energize a tired workforce, you will have to take a very raw look at what your team is dealing with. You must be willing to make tough choices in the name of real change if you want to retain your top talent. If you are a human resources professional, you will need to get comfortable challenging the beliefs your hiring managers hold closely and push back to do what is right to attract the talent you are looking for. And, if you are a member of the corporate world at large, you have to be willing to take risks to get the ball rolling. Someone has to be the first on the team to do it - it might as well be you!

I know this works because I’ve lived it. Growing up in a family business gave me a unique perspective. In a family business, there are no boundaries. The work needs to be done and anyone who is capable can do it. This means that you have to be creative. It also means how and when work happens is very flexible. Whether it is ensuring that bookkeeping is done after school or getting paid to make dinner for the family while everyone else is busy on the manufacturing floor, the ideas of hustle, branding, quality control and work-life integration were instilled at me from a very young age. It is this perspective that I brought with me to the corporate world every day and want to share with you now.

1

Managing Your Career

Like It’s Your Business

EVERY DECISION CAN start a chain reaction, but that doesn’t mean there is only one right answer to any question. Just like dominos can be arranged in a million different ways, so can the pieces of your career. But, unlike a winding domino design, when one piece falls, it doesn’t mean the whole thing has to come crashing down. What’s right today for you may be different from what’s right for you tomorrow because of your environment, family needs, location requirements, financial situation, or a number of other factors. Your design is dynamic so you can rearrange your dominoes as you go.

Nothing in your career is permanent. As you move throughout your career, you will collect new experiences, new perspectives and new insights that will help shape your ultimate future. I have a friend who says, create a plan, but create it in pencil so you can erase it when you change your mind. I love this analogy because you can’t always predict what opportunities may come to you or what technologies may evolve to make new things possible.

Many people can now work remotely because the tools exist to allow them to live in a different city from where their job is located. Online courses allow us to learn things that would have required in-person classes in the past. All of these open up possibilities that we would not have predicted. It’s imperative to stay open to these and not get trapped in a plan that you developed early on without considering new information, new needs you have identified, or new life situations that you hadn’t planned on.

You may be going through a change right now (maybe it’s a layoff, a leadership change, a change in work policy, or any other change that is important to you), but don’t forget that while you might not be in control of the situation, you do have control of how you respond. It’s okay to stay in a role you don’t love because you like the stability or you value what you are learning along the way, and it’s okay to leave a good job because you don’t agree with the policies. It’s okay to pivot your career, and it’s okay to just keep doing the job you’ve always done. It’s okay to do whatever makes sense for you.

Trying to figure out how to do all the right things to be successful in your career can be exhausting. Instead of stressing about a future so far away, focus on the next right thing for your journey. By freeing yourself from succeeding at the daunting task of some distant unknown, you can focus on being the best at your current job.

If you can answer yes to these questions, you are on your way to career success, so take a moment and enjoy where you are:

Are you continuously learning?

Are you growing in your technical or business acumen?

Are you getting exposure to new people, places, or processes?

Believe it or not, you are a business and you are the product that business sells. You might be smiling and nodding because this concept resonates with you, but you might be ready to close the book and walk away with a gross feeling in the pit of your stomach. Either way, let me assure you that this isn’t a ra-ra self-help cheerleading book. I promise that if you stick with me, I will give you new words to explain what you are already doing, new ideas to reinvigorate your career development, and practical tips and tools to help you along the way.

The parts of your business

All businesses are made up of people and yours is no different. While large companies may have hundreds or thousands of people doing a variety of job functions, it is likely that some of your roles will only be played by you, but that doesn’t mean you are in this business alone. I encourage you to think of yourself as the CEO, but just like any other business (even a solopreneur), the CEO isn’t alone. Maybe you already have a support team today or maybe this book will help you build yours. Let’s get started by identifying the key parts of the business of you:

Board of Directors: Even as a small business owner myself, I can’t do what I do alone, and neither can you. By seeking advice from a trusted network, you are able to leverage a bigger group of experiences and perspectives in your decision making than you could ever do on your own. I lean on my husband, friends, and former colleagues when I need to make important decisions. When I consider a new type of consulting client or role, I reach out for advice on how to approach the business development. When I need to make a decision about if I will work with a client onsite or virtually, I strategize with my extended family to understand the potential impact to those who I love the most. When I was struggling to name this book, I reached out to people across my network to solicit their opinions.

Marketing: Great slogans, perfect product placement, and memorable marketing campaigns