No Fears, No Excuses: What You Need to Do to Have a Great Career

by Larry Smith Narrated by Tom Taylorson

Overview

“Larry Smith has hit on the new millennium's major career issue.” -Booklist

“Have you ever had a conversation with someone about your life that leaves you feeling so elated that you have goosebumps? This is a typical result of how I feel after chatting with Larry.” -M. Azam Javed, Tesla

“Had it not been for the time I was able to spend with Professor Smith during my university years gaining his advice on career success, I would not be where I am today.” -Mike McCauley, Google

Over the past three decades, Professor Larry Smith has become something of a “career whisperer” for his students at the University of Waterloo. His stunning TEDx talk on finding your calling has been viewed by more than six million people and counting.

This book captures the best of his advice in a one-stop roadmap for your future. Showcasing his particular mix of tough love and bracing clarity, Smith itemizes all the excuses and worries that are holding you back-and deconstructs them brilliantly. After dismantling your hidden mental obstacles, he provides practical, step-by-step guidance on how to go about identifying and then pursuing your true passion. There's no promising it will be easy, but the straight-talking, irrepressible Professor Smith buoys you with the inspiration necessary to stay the course.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

02/29/2016
Smith, a consultant and adjunct professor of economics at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, believes that everyone can feel a sense of passion about work. He uses the book as a platform to address the many questions that have arisen from his much-watched TEDx video, “Why You Will Fail to Have a Great Career.” His advice, distilled from around 30,000 career statements collected through the years, centers on discovering one’s passion. This can be difficult, but Smith offers up a series of steps to help, such as recognizing the distinction between passions and interests and initiating the “great sampling”—a process that includes reading widely, talking with people with varied interests, and thinking rigorously. Smith also shows how to draw up a career plan, prepare for the job market, and “sell yourself by selling your ideas.” He concludes with a transformative section on confronting the titular fears and excuses that is challenging and highly valuable. Smith convincingly shows how individuals of any age and in any industry can chart a course to a great career by drawing on prior success stories. Agent: Carly Watters, P.S. Literary Agency. (Apr.)

From the Publisher

Smith, a consultant and adjunct professor of economics at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, believes that everyone can feel a sense of passion about work. He uses the book as a platform to address the many questions that have arisen from his much-watched TEDx video, “Why You Will Fail to Have a Great Career.” His advice, distilled from around 30,000 career statements collected through the years, centers on discovering one’s passion. This can be difficult, but Smith offers up a series of steps to help, such as recognizing the distinction between passions and interests and initiating the “great sampling”—a process that includes reading widely, talking with people with varied interests, and thinking rigorously. Smith also shows how to draw up a career plan, prepare for the job market, and “sell yourself by selling your ideas.” He concludes with a transformative section on confronting the titular fears and excuses that is challenging and highly valuable. Smith convincingly shows how individuals of any age and in any industry can chart a course to a great career by drawing on prior success stories.” —Publishers Weekly   “Most people know Larry Smith via his renowned economics lectures, or via his immensely popular TEDx talk. There are a lucky few of us to whom Larry has provided personal career guidance; earth-shattering conversations that make you look at the working world anew. I am overjoyed that Larry is now sharing his incredible insight with all who aspire to make their mark.” —Mike Jutan, Disney/Lucasfilm   “When I was in engineering school, Larry’s advice to me was to do work that I love. If you choose to do work that you think you “should” do—and you are competing with people who love what they do—you will fail.” —Barbara Adey, Hewlett Packard Enterprise   “Have you ever had a conversation with someone about your life that leaves you feeling so elated that you have goosebumps? This is a typical result of how I feel after chatting with Larry.” —M. Azam Javed, Tesla   “Larry inspires us to take action against a formula for failure. His perspective on the competitive nature of the modern economy will drive you to create your own success.” —Hiro Dozono, Facebook   “The conversations I had with Professor Smith helped me prioritize my career ambitions in a way that was dramatically effective for my self-development.” —Ryan Westlake, Amazon   “It is perhaps all too easy to make wrong turns in one’s career and to never experience the thrill of realizing your boldest dreams. My conversations with Larry Smith were instrumental in avoiding such a fate.” —Dimitriy Tomilovskiy, Bloomberg   “Had it not been for the time I was able to spend with Professor Smith during my university years gaining his advice on career success, I would not be where I am today. Capturing this in a book is a gift to all.” —Mike McCauley, Google —

Booklist

Smith has hit on the new millennium’s major career issue—how to figure things out in these times of complexity, uncertainty, and change…His counsel spans the generations and is strong and flexible enough to counter objections.”

AudioFile

With a confident optimism that’s impossible not to like, narrator Tom Taylorson is notable for his appealing baritone voice and creative, authentic-sounding phrasing. He’s an excellent choice to deliver the author’s blunt message that, when choosing a career, what you’re passionate about is more important than economic security or stability…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”

author of Debt-Free Forever Gail Vaz-Oxlade

Larry Smith has created the road map young people need to not only follow their passion but do so sensibly and with integrity. If you’re wondering how you’re going to do life after school, start here.”

Library Journal

02/15/2016
Piggybacking off the success of his popular and provocatively titled 2014 TEDx Talk "Why You Will Fail To Have a Great Career," Smith (economics, Univ. of Waterloo, Canada) claims that career satisfaction requires identifying and pursuing one's "passion." Expressing sentiments reminiscent of those espoused by Marsha Sinetar's Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow, Smith also stresses the value of exhaustive career research paired with careful planning, preparation, skill attainment, and networking. Relying heavily upon anecdotal evidence derived from his "20,000 conversations" with college students, alumni, and TEDx Talk follow-up correspondents, Smith devotes considerable attention to the psychological and practical obstacles to the pursuit of career happiness. VERDICT This compelling book offers a highly readable blueprint for career success. Readers willing to invest the time and effort required to finding their true direction and achieving their goals will appreciate.—Alan Farber, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

APRIL 2016 - AudioFile

With a confident optimism that’s impossible not to like, narrator Tom Taylorson is notable for his appealing baritone voice and creative, authentic-sounding phrasing. He’s an excellent choice to deliver the author’s blunt message that, when choosing a career, what you’re passionate about is more important than economic security or stability. A shoot-from-the-hip academic and TED speaker, Smith says traditional professions are rapidly changing and that technological innovation can quickly make any skill set obsolete. The best job security is knowing what excites us and then doing the homework necessary to be successful in the real world of markets, finances, and social connections. More than follow-your-bliss advice, his repeated urging that we narrow our focus and balance our emotions with careful thinking is at once daunting and energizing. T.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940160648989
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/13/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

PART I: FINDING YOUR PASSION
 
1
 
Why Good Work Is No Longer Good Enough
 
John was sure his life was on track. Upon graduation, a degree in computer science in hand, he had joined one of the world’s great and iconic IT firms. They paid well, with generous benefits, and after five years of good performance reviews, he had been promoted to team manager. John was married, lived in a large house in an upscale neighborhood, and he and his spouse were talking about children. John had even begun making contributions to a retirement account.
      Charlene’s life was in sharp contrast to John’s. Though she excelled in science and math in high school, she chose to study sociology because it was “about people” and math “bored” her. Upon her college graduation, the only job she was offered was at a call center. When she was told that if she worked there for five years, she might be promoted to be the team leader, she declined the position and went back to graduate school to continue her studies in sociology. “When in doubt, go to school,” had been her motto. Nearing her second graduation, Charlene found that her employment options included high school teacher, and little else. (Ideally she would have researched this much earlier on, but more on that later.) Charlene may not have been sure what she wanted, exactly, but she knew with certainty that she did not want to be a high school teacher. To buy time, Charlene took a clerical job, filing and fetching.
      One of these people has upward momentum, financial success, and security; the other is stalled, with few opportunities for improvement. One is confident; one is apprehensive. Perhaps you think you already know which is which. But you are wrong if you think Charlene is the one who is doomed to struggle.
Why John Struggled: Competition and the Demise of the 9-to-5er
If this had been 1980, John’s comfortable world would have been assured. But he was born too late. When his general manager asked to see him one day, John had no idea he was at risk. Indeed, it took a few minutes before John recognized he was being terminated.
      It made no sense. His company was growing and profitable; his performance reviews were favorable; he had done nothing wrong. The manager was vague, citing changing corporate priorities, and talked about severance. John was still numb when he read in the news media the following day that his employer had laid off hundreds of employees because their skills were deemed inadequate. Now John was mystified; he’d never failed at any task he was given, so how could he be judged to be deficient?
      Actually, there was little mystery about why John found himself in this difficult position. He’d been sucker-punched by outside competition and kicked in the head by technology. The warning signs had long been there, had John cared to notice them. For several years, the business media had covered his employer unfavorably. There was much commentary about the company missing recent new developments in IT, while other companies advanced on its markets. It was criticized for losing its competitive edge. In my conversation with John it was clear that he had paid no attention to these concerns and was barely aware of them. “We’re still profitable,” he noted, correctly. (And I noted he was still saying “we” when, in fact, he was no longer part of the team.) John went on to insist that since the company was profitable, the media criticism was unfair.
      “Could it be,” I suggested, “that the company has finally concluded that the critique is valid? That future profitability is at risk?”
      “Maybe,” he said. “But it still doesn’t make sense. If they’re concerned about competition, why fire me, when I have tons of experience and always get my work done, and hire newer, less-experienced people?”
      In the media coverage about the terminations, there had been references to the company getting rid of the “9-to-5ers.” I asked John if this description might have applied to him, and he said he didn’t even know what it meant. It was time to get blunt; only truth would serve John now. So I told him that the term was dismissive, implying that the 9-to-5er just puts in his time doing ordinary work, instead of aggressively using initiative to tackle whatever problem appears to be important.
      “The company doesn’t like that,” John said firmly, referring to the aggressive initiator. But maybe that had changed. Maybe some of the executives were 9-to-5ers, and they were gone, too.
      “John,” I said, “do you recognize that, by several measures, your former employer is losing to other, more nimble competitors?”
      John’s answer was “Maybe,” indicating that he didn’t see it. He had unfortunately taken his job for granted. He had chosen computing as a career because it was in such high demand. And having chosen computing, he’d figured there was nothing else to worry about. He would work as long as he chose. But look at all the evidence he had ignored. Is it evidence you are also ignoring?
      How could he — or you — discount the fact that, for much of the last sixty years, if you were a large and market-dominant company, you could expect to reign for decades? If you were General Motors, IBM, Sears, Kodak, U.S. Steel, Polaroid, or Xerox, it would have been suicidal for competitors to attack you. And then, more swiftly than might have been imagined, Japanese imports suddenly destabilized the auto market of the former Big Three. IBM was blindsided by Microsoft and Intel. Technological advances pushed Kodak, Xerox, and Polaroid to the sidelines. Apple disrupted the established music industry, even as Uber destabilized the taxi/limo business. And these examples barely skim the surface.
      Here’s what happened next: Microsoft suddenly faced competition from cloud computing and mobile devices. Google quickly found itself under pressure from Facebook, which was itself under pressure from Snapchat and WhatsApp. If you don’t grasp just how quickly this all happened, then you don’t understand how gentle the past was. Dominance was supposed to last many decades, not just a few decades or even sometimes just one. Most of this disruption happened in John’s lifetime, and even a superficial knowledge of the past would have helped him see the future.
      Please understand, I was not trying to make John feel badly about himself. He felt terrible enough already, and his self-confidence was seriously damaged. His confidence hadn’t collapsed yet, but I feared it would when he started his job search. The conversation with John was painful, and I have had more than one such conversation. Many more than one.
      You can see, I think, why I decided it would be wrong to tell him about Charlene’s success. He wasn’t yet ready to hear about it.

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