I'm the Boss of Me

If you're like most people, you've had good bosses and bad bosses. Some bosses have inspired you. Others have caused you to scratch your head and think, "How did this person get to be in charge?" But you might not realize that you have one amazing boss, someone who's capable of incredible accomplishment and legendary leadership, probably the best boss you'll ever have...YOU! Yes, you. There will always be bosses, teachers, parents, and others to whom you are accountable. All those people will influence and guide you. But only you can choose your ultimate course-and I'm the Boss of Me will show you how.

Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn left childhood behind when she became fatherless at age 12. From this financially unstable starting point, which she calls contrast, Jeanne developed a philosophy of life based on love and meeting life's challenges with resilience and a deep willingness to learn. Now with more than 20 years of executive-level experience in the technology industry and having founded the Internet of Things Talent Consortium, Jeanne shares career-building lessons, strategies, and tactics, interspersed with stories about how she and others have used contrast, courage, resilience, and persistence to propel themselves forward into stellar careers in music, sports, real estate, technology, and many other fields.

With a passion for mentoring others, Jeanne offers this guide to developing a self-empowered approach to work, career, and life. The book delivers easy-to-follow instruction on how to

• Build a Vision-Strategy-Execution plan
• Develop a personal brand statement

• Use networking to develop a bench of supporters who will help you bring your career dreams to reality
  Visit Jeanne at jeannedunn.com and https://www.facebook.com/jbeliveaudunn

Autorentext

Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn is a recognized thought leader on the workforce of the future and an expert in education, the social enterprise, and knowledge systems. As an expert in the workforce of the future, she consults and presents to business and government leaders across the globe. She was recognized as one of "The 2015 Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology" by the National Diversity Council, which features the most influential female executive leadership across America's leading corporations.

During her more than 20-year career with Cisco, Jeanne brought the first social education system in the industry (The Cisco Leaning Network) to market in 2008. In 2015, while finishing this book, she founded The Internet of Things Talent Consortium to empower and accelerate a more agile workforce in the digital economy.

At Cisco, Jeanne's work is best described as helping customers and partners be successful, creating capabilities and innovative new services and solutions, moving through disruptive changes in technology, identifying new market opportunities, and helping others to disrupt business models and create growth opportunities. In other words, she's on a crusade to move the entire technology industry forward.

But she doesn't want to stop with the industry. Jeanne has a passion for mentoring people. This book is her way of doing that at scale. Her philosophy of self-empowerment and love fuels her professional and personal calling to help people develop themselves and their careers, work together, collaborate, innovate, and be better together.

Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn is Vice President and GM at Cisco Systems, where she leads several businesses including education. She is president and chairman of the Internet of Things Talent Consortium. She also serves on a number of advisory boards for organizations committed to continuous learning and talent. She lives in Northern California with her husband, Larry, and their four-legged furry child, Hunter.

Inhalt

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv

Chapter 1 You Are Who You Are Because of Your Choices . . . . .1

A Challenged Beginning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Building Resilience and Strength. . . . . . . . . 3

Empower Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

How Successful People Create Their Success. . . . . . 7

Contrast Shows You What You Want . . . . . . . 8

Contrast Doesn't Need to Be Big to Work for You. . . . . . . . 9

Push toward Change or Shrink from It,

It's Your Choice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Choose Love When Fear Calls. . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Two Operating Models: Love and Fear . . . . . . 13

Stay Out of the Bubble, Stay Off Autopilot . . . . 15

A Bucket List for Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Build the Self-Empowered Road to Success . . . . . . 17

Happiness First. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Getting Down to Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Chapter 2 You Are a Work in Progress-Challenge

Yourself to Get Better . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Give Up the Idea That the Way You Are Now

Is the Way You Will Always Be. . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Practice Self-Control Because It Doesn't Come Naturally. . . . . . . . 26

Use Self-Talk Plus Self-Control to Choose Your Operating Model. . . . . 28

Using Emotional Intelligence Helps You

Connect with Yourself and Others . . . . . . . . 29

Don't Check Your Feelings at the Door . . . . . . . . 33

Build Self-Awareness So You Can See Where You're Going . . . . . . . . 35

Avoid Artificial Limits So You Don't Get Lost. . . . . . 39

Courage and Resilience Will Support You When Things Get Tough . . . . . . . 41

Focus and Discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Using Discipline to Make Progress . . . . . . . . . . 49

Getting Down to Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Chapter 3 Do You Know What You Want from Your Career and Life? . . . . . . . .53

Let Curiosity Lead You. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Discovering Your Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

If You Don't Know, Experiment! . . . . . . . . 57

Exposure Is the Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

How Parents Can Help Their Kids and

Students Can Help Themselves . . . . . . . . . 62

Understanding the Work Environment . . . . . . . . 65

Outside: The World of Work and

Where It Is Headed . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Inside: Your Strengths and Interests . . . . . . . 74

Finding Your Strengths. . . . . . . . . . . . 77

There Are a Few Archetypal Jobs . . . . . . . . 83

The Need for Both Soft Skills and Technology Skills. . . . . . . . 84

The Future Is Uncertain, But You Don't Need to Be. . . 86

Creating a Blue Ocean Career Strategy. . . . . . . . 90

What's Next? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Chapter 4 Vision Strategy Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . .95

Vision, Strategy, Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Map Your Career to Make the Most of Your Desires . . 122

How Do You Keep Momentum in a Career? . . . . . 124

Build Next-Generation Skills . . . . . . . . . 126

Driving Awareness and Your Personal Brand . . . 129

Chapter 5 Becoming Your Vision: Aligning Your Behavior . . . .131

Use Contrast to Drive Learning. . . . . . . . . . . 134

The Learner's Mindset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Learner's Mindset and Growth Mindset . . . . . 139

Be a Learner to Stay Engaged in Your Work. . . 142

Many Ways to Learn and Work . . . . . . . . . . . 143

How You Hold Yourself Back . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Blind Spots: Overconfident and Under Sighted . . 148

Blind Spots: Under Confident and Over Sighted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Blind Spots: Ego Nurturer . . . . . . . . . . 150

Learning as a Core Skill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Love, Emotional Intelligence, and Mindsets. . . . . . 154

Chapter 6 Becoming Your Vision II: Arti…