How to Be a Star at Work: 9 Breakthrough Strategies You Need to Succeed

When I review a book, I consider a number of different factors. Among my considerations is the suitability of the book to what appears to be the intended market-the intended reader.Looking at a title like "How to be a Star at Work," I assume that the book is designed to inspire and instruct people who are not stars at work. Perhaps I'm being a bit pedantic here, but I question how many non-stars would gleefully pick up a 300+ page book to learn the Secrets of Business Life. OK, I've got that out of my system. Let's dig a little deeper. The book is based on research, written by a college professor. Kelley teaches at Carneigie Mellon University's business school and, as may be expected, does a lot of research and publishing. Goes with the territory. This book reports on ten years of research at major companies, revealing nine factors for success: initiative, networking, self-management, perspective, followership, leadership, teamwork, street smarts, and show-and-tell (to the right audience). As you read that list, you may be thinking, "no-brainer; should I waste my time with this book?" On a shallow level, that's a fair assessment. As you read deeper through these pages, however, you'll discover many subtle innuendos in each of these categories. You'll learn from the thought-provoking anecdotes-all with the names changed, of course. The experiences of the employees described are somewhat interwoven with political issues that are more prevalent in large companies than smaller enterprises. This environment-resident factor may taint your sense of relevance if you don't work for a big organization, but don't be fooled. The advice is solid for all sizes of employers. This book may not be read heavily by its assumed primary target, but will still be quite valuable to supervisors, managers, leaders, and mentors who coach and guide others to improve their effectiveness and strategic career development.

The title sounds overpromising, but is not. I personaly dislike books that promotes the one-size-fits-all type of models. Instead, the author has demonstrated that cognitive, personality and interpersonal factors are not the ones that separates the stars from average performers. While these factors are important they do not create a critical advantage once you pass a certain level. The core of the book is focused on the 9 strategies that separates the star from the average. As a great consultant, Robert Kelley leads a process of self-discovery, with you being able to recognize tactics and discover new ones as you read the book.I am lucky to read this book, early in my career.

Although a fast and easy read, this is not a quick-fix recipe book. You can't just read the book, put it down and then wait for the "star thing" to happen. The strategies espoused are based on common-sense and well-researched principles -- but practicing them requires... well... practice.The most uplifting message of this book -- and one that I stress with my employees -- is that *anyone* can be a star. It's not about how good you look, being a genius, or having great political or social skills -- it's about *how* you go about working. These aren't strategies you are born with -- these are strategies you can be *taught*. Nothing replaces old fashion perserverance -- this book is the inspiration and the rest is, as they say, perspiration. But if you consistently apply these principles you *will* succeed.

How to Be a Star at Work is excellent for attacking misconceptions that retard almost all careers. Everyone I know who had a fast rising career used the principles in this book: But they usually had to figure out some of the principles for themselves. As a young person, many lack the experience and judgment to derive these principles. For example, many will see conforming to the views of co-workers (many of whose careers are going nowhere) as the way to get ahead. Not true!As your first step toward becoming a star at work, read this book and apply its principles. If you want to go further and be a Superstar at work, read on for more instructions you will need.Careers are also plagued by other flawed thinking habits not explored in this book including poor communications (assuming the message is received and understood without checking), disbelief in promising new ideas and technologies (check these new perspectives out carefully before you dismiss them), tradition (habits that have outlived their usefulness), bureaucracy (having people involved unnecessarily), harmful procrastination (delaying when the situation is deteriorating), and avoiding ugliness (everyone else avoids it also, so the best opportunities are often in the most unattractive aspects of your operations).To be most successful, you need to be able to create better solutions.The way to do this is to (1) learn the value of measurements (nothing improves that is not measured) (2) measure everything you can about important processes in your key activities (each measurement will teach you something you need to know) (3) identify the best practices anyone has ever done in these areas (especially by looking outside your industry), and anticipate where these best practices will be in 5 years (4) assemble best practices together in new ways that no one has ever done before to exceed the future best practice (5) identify the ideal best practice (the best people will ever be able to do -- for communications this will be having everyone get the message in one second, like shouting "fire" in a crowded theater where smoke and flames are evident) (6) find ways to approach the ideal best practice by applying the analogy of where humans do it almost perfectly now to your situation (7) assemble the right people, resources and incentives to get the job done and (8) repeat the process (you will get better at it and find better ideas, each you time you do this again). Further, a lot of people are oblivious to the powerful trends around them. The most effective people will find ways to turn these trends to their advantage, regardless of how the trend shifts. If you teach someone else these ideas, you will learn them even better, and proven yourself as a leader.Now you have everything you need to be a superstar at work, except for the proper goals. Write them down! Review them frequently! You will outperform 97 percent of everyone else with just this focus . . . before you apply this book.Don't forget

When the gold-collar professionals (knowledge workers with hi-tech skills in our financial services business) ask me how to be more successful at work, I now refer them to this book. There is no magic here, just solid social science. This book documents what Kelley and his team observed at Bell Labs. They identified behaviors that are exhibited by those perceived as stars, and that are not exhibited by others. This book describes those behaviors, calling them "breakthrough strategies". The strategies can be taught, can be learned, and can be put into practice. But they aren't easy to do and one must work at developing proficiency and effectiveness.For those who want a terse prescriptive cookbook, with specific instructions, or a book with a magic one-shot one size fits all solution, this book may disappoint. Kelley describes the star strategies with examples and stories, as well as specifics. Those who learn best from examples and narrative will find this book very accessible and useful.If you are serious about working on your "game", and don't believe your failures are the result of everyone else's incompetence and ineffectiveness, this book will be most helpful. But if you believe the world is an cut-throat win or lose place, you'd probably be better off spending your time and money with a counselor or analyst or a coach in knife-wielding politics.If you believe you can get better at what you do, and that what you do is valuable and worthwhile, this book offers some insights on how to improve your "game" and increase your value to those who depend on what you do.You can't learn how to play golf or how to be a star at work just from reading a book. But if you and others read this book together, and coach one another on how you are doing, your "game" will most certainly improve and your value, because you are a star, will most certainly increase.