Category: Career

10 Books That Are as Valuable as an MBA

On By Christopher PierznikIn Books, Business, Career, Knowledge, Learning, LessonsLeave a comment

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You can’t learn everything in school.

In fact, many of the greatest lessons are found outside of the classroom. As someone that went to graduate school (twice) and did get an MBA, I will not diminish it by saying that reading some books is the equivalent of completing a postgraduate degree. It’s not. I learned a great deal from reading case studies, listening to lectures, and engaging with my fellow students.

However, there there were some gaps that business school did not address.

To fill in those gaps, I turned to books.

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Workaholism Is Overrated

On By Christopher PierznikIn Career, WorkLeave a comment

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“My old man worked hard. All they did was give him more work.”

— Larry Wilson, Weekend at Bernie’s

There are people that take pride in being the last one at work, their car always in the parking lot, their light the only one on in an otherwise pitch-black office. Their career is their life. They’re still at their desk while the cleaning crew vacuums around them.

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The Work Is What Matters

On By Christopher PierznikIn Career, Life, Work, WritingLeave a comment

“The world is divided into people who do things and people who get the credit. Try, if you can, to belong to the first class. There’s far less competition.”

— Dwight Morrow

As Ryan Holiday writes in Ego Is the Enemy, John Boyd is “one of the most influential strategists and practitioners in modern warfare,” yet he’s “someone most people have never heard of.”

The fact that Boyd is unknown is fitting, because his lasting legacy is a speech he gave to scores of young officers that has come to be known as the “To Do or To Be” speech:

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The Twitter Reckoning

On By Christopher PierznikIn Career, LifeLeave a comment

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For those of us that are old enough to remember rotary phones and Columbia House music for a penny, we remember a time when everything was slower. Television news was on once or twice a day and the Sunday newspaper was thick enough to use as a step stool. Back then, it took a long time for news to travel and for movements to pick up speed. Things like Watergate or Iran-Contra unraveled slowly, over a long period of time.

That’s no longer the case.

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Life Lessons I Learned While Working Manual Labor

On By Christopher PierznikIn Career, WorkLeave a comment

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I lead a sedentary lifestyle. I work in an office and I read and write in my spare time. The most non-sitting that occurs in my day is my nightly routine of doing the dishes, where my six-foot-three frame has to stoop just to reach the bottom of the sink.

This general lack of movement and exertion is the only thing I miss about working manual labor.

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The Hellishness of a Ridiculously Long Daily Commute

On By Christopher PierznikIn Business, Career, WorkLeave a comment

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This is the second entry in a three-part series on modern life in work and business – you can read part one here.

I recently accepted a new job and the first question everyone asks isn’t “What’s the position?” or “What is the organization?” or even “Is it a promotion?” The question is, “Is it a shorter commute?”

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What Could Have Been: Lessons and Regrets from My First Job

On By Christopher PierznikIn Career, Lessons, WorkLeave a comment

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Last night, I was reading a story online that mentioned the woman that was the CEO of the first organization in which I worked after college. As I fell down a rabbit hole of reading associated articles, it mentioned her successor, the woman that had been the VP of Finance when I was there – in other words, my boss’s boss.

The more I read, the more I found myself thinking about that job and that organization.

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