“Waiting is not an action. Accelerate Your Career Today & Formulate Your Future Plural Career”, by Andrew J. Walter, publication: 2022, 24 euros (hardcover) or 9 euros (digital version)
Note: All proceeds from the sale of books will go to a foundation in the health sector
What is a portfolio career? – For orientation, here is the definition from an issue of the Harvard Business Review: “Leave behind the strain, messiness, and day-in, day-out concerns of full-time corporate life for a curated and interesting medley of part-time roles – board seats, adjunct professorships, consulting roles, some lectures, some writing, maybe even a book contract – and you’ll still be in the career game, still earning money, but happier, more intellectually fulfilled, and with infinitely more flexibility … or so the thinking goes.”
Does that sound exciting to you? – If so, this book is the right one for you. I do highly recommend to read this book. As do others who have read it already: On Amazon the book achieves a rating of 4.9 (out of 5) stars. Here is an excerpt from the comments: “This book is like having years of personal executive coaching sessions recorded, transcribed, and annotated with important personal stories and notes!” or “Andy has created a unique framework for getting advice to Executives at all stages of their careers.”
Who is Andy? – Just take a look at the LinkedIn profile (click HERE), this gives you a quick overview. Here is the executive summary:
Andy Walter led the Commercial Services & Delivery Organization (over 1500 IT and multifunctional professionals) for Procter & Gamble’s Global Business Services (GBS). He was responsible for IT & Shared Services for all Global Business Units and Markets around the world. His team was accountable for developing cutting-edge digital capabilities for Procter & Gamble: eBusiness, Consumer Services, BI/Analytics, Sales Force Solutions, Project Delivery, Business Process Services, and A&D / Company restructuring efforts. He has over 20 years working on Boards and in Board level advisory roles.
The book is a career guide, however, with a clear focus on portfolio careers – as the subtitle suggests. A career is, unsurprisingly, not a coincidence, but requires a certain amount of careful planning and management. In Andy’s words: “One of the saddest things to see in life is that some people spend more time planning their vacation than they do their lives.” – this is what the title of the book alludes to.
“Waiting is not an action” is a very personal book, in which readers accompany some of the author’s ups and downs in his personal life; the book is absolutely not a dry textbook, but all career tips are linked to personal experiences of Andy J. Walter; this makes the book authentic in a special way.
The book follows the following structure:
If you visit Andy’s LinkedIn profile, you will immediately see: 22,000+ contacts / followers. “Eat your own dogfood” or “Pray what you preach”, compare chapter 1 of the book, which revolves around the establishment of an “advisory network”. Andy explains why this is so important: If you want to succeed in the highly dynamic and disruptive technology environment, you have to master a variety of skills: “The leader of this technology area now needs to be a Business Leader, Disruptive Innovator, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Digital Officer, Venture Capitalist, Strategic Partnership Leader, Data/Analytics/Cloud/Cybersecurity savant, and more! Finding the ‘Unicorn’ leader who can be all things is just unrealistic. Instead, what I have seen on the Plural Career Journey, and for current technology leaders, is the need to build and curate a personal Advisory Network.” … and it is precisely this network that is of the highest relevance, especially with regard to advisory mandates and mandates on advisory and supervisory boards. Of course, there are tips on how to develop the network in the book.
I don’t want to reveal much more at this point. Just one more thing: Since this is a book on career counseling and career planning, there are some appendices at the end of the book, namely book recommendations and also a “Personal Mission Statement Worksheet”: In this worksheet you can define important points of orientation and goals for yourself: Values, Passion, Motto (“What is your motto for life?”), Purpose and Objectives (in the areas: Physical, Mental, Family, Social, Financial, Career, Spiritual, Community).
Have fun reading!
By the way, I got to know Andy in his role as a strategic consultant, at the disruptive software company from Warsaw that developed the enterprise automation software “AutomateNOW!” (click here for the website: AutomateNOW!). The company supported by Andy is now part of the Beta Systems Group – I was instrumental in driving the M&A deal for the acquisition of the technical market leader from Poland as Director M&A at the time). And I am grateful that Andy will continue to accompany the company. “Andy, let’s play to win!”
