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How to Be a Star at Work: 9 Breakthrough Strategies You Need to Succeed (Paperback)
by Robert E. Kelley
| Category:
Career advancement, Career guide, Workplace excellence, Personal success |
| Market price: ¥ 170.00
MSL price:
¥ 138.00
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Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Highlighting emotional intelligence in the workplace including initiative-taking, networking and broadening your perspective, this inspiring work will greatly help you excel in your career. |
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Author: Robert E. Kelley
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Pub. in: June, 1999
ISBN: 0812931696
Pages: 352
Measurements: 8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA01004
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0812931693
Language: American English
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- Awards & Credential -
One of the famed books on career success and a great companion to How to Become CEO - The Rules for Rising to Top in Any Organization. |
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- MSL Picks -
OK, with all of the efforts of Human Resources these days to hire the right people, still about one out of every ten recruits run circles around the others. These recruits are solid gold. Were they born that way? Can they be made? Can they be recognized? The author attempts to answer this question from insights derived from a study conducted at Bell Labs. Everyone was interviewed and surveyed. The top producers were found by survey of both management and staff. The discoveries are very interesting. The statement is made that to become a star performer you don't need super IQ, great self-confidence, or silky smooth social skills. You just need to change your strategies. We have all seen people succeed without these characteristics - here's why.
All participants in the study were asked to rank nine work strategies in their order of importance. Now, here is the crux of the book... everyone thought that these items were important, but not only did they have them in reverse orders, they gave different meaning to the terms. So how do winners think and what order do they rank for importance in business strategy?
1. Initiative - going beyond the job - adding bold ideas - efforts to better it for everyone - tenacity - some personal risk - goes far beyond taking on projects for personal publicity
2. Networking - developing pathways to knowledge - sharing knowledge - establishing networks before they need them - goes far beyond just knowing people to get ahead for yourself
3. Self-Management - increase your value by increasing your skill - experiment with better habits - goes far beyond just mananging time
4. Perspective - seeing from a variety of views and opinions of the five Cs - the customer - the colleagues - the competitors - the company's - and creative views possibly involving other industires - this is far from just personally making your perspective thought well of
5. Followership - cooperating with a leader for goal achievement - can disagree with a leader by adding facts and seeking advice - this goes far beyond just doing as you are told
6. Leadership - using your influence to convince a group to accomplish - qualities of knowledge, caring, push-through - not just giving commands
7. Teamwork - taking joint ownership - everyone agreeing on a mission - it's not just doing your own job
8. Organizational Savvy - knowing how to navigate the organization to get things done - not just who to kiss up to
9. Show and Tell - persuading the right audience with the right message to deliver valuable information effectively - it is much more than showing off for personal gain
The author speaks of staying aligned with the critical path. That is the most direct value-added route that can be plotted from the work of an employee to a delighted customer to an improved bottome line.
Your heart must be large to understand this book and the meaning of the survey.
(From quoting Peter Valentine, USA)
Target readers:
Aspiring and success-bound managers, professionals, MBAs and recent graduates on their way up.
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Robert E. Kelley. Ph.D., teaches at Carnegie Mellon University and spent ten years "in the trenches" researching the personal and professional characteristics of star performers.
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From Publisher
Whenever people hear about Robert Kelley's star performer work, they invariably want the 30-second sound-bite answer to ten years of research. "So, what's the big secret, Kelley?" they ask. "What really separates star workers from average performers?"
Kelley, who consults for major corporations and teaches at Carnegie Mellon University, has found that most people have their own preconceived ideas about success. They believe instinctively that the most productive white-collar workers are the ones with the highest IQ... or the most self-confidence... or the smoothest social skills. But surprisingly, none of these answers is true - as Kelley and his colleague Janet Caplan have proven through ten years of productivity research and training at real-world organizations like AT&T's Bell Labs, 3M and Hewlett-Packard.
As Kelley explains in HOW TO BE A STAR AT WORK (Times Books/May 1998), being a star performer has little to do with your intelligence, creativity, sociability, or ambition. Once you exceed the minimum levels of these qualities needed for a particular job, there's no correlation between how smart or creative or social you are and how effective you are at work. Being a brain may land you on Jeopardy; being a schmoozer may get you invited to great parties; being a workaholic may earn you the sympathy of the overnight security guard. But none of these, even when combined into one human dynamo, necessarily create a star performer.
What distinguishes stars are the strategies they use to do their own work and to work effectively with others - strategies that allow them to double their productivity improvement rates while working less. The fact that stars are made, not born, is great news for anyone looking to boost his or her productivity, which translates directly into better jobs, higher salaries, and a wider range of career opportunities. Through his consulting practice and through the Breakthrough training program that he and Caplan customized for Development Dimensions International, Kelley has helped hundreds of workers. He notes that his strategies have proven to be particularly valuable to women and minorities, who tend not to have as many chances to learn these strategies on the job. Members of these groups have seen their productivity improvements rates soar as much as 400% after being taught more effective work strategies.
In todays hyper-competitive business world, workers who can prove their value to the bottom line enjoy a tremendous advantage. HOW TO BE A STAR AT WORK shows you step-by-step how to do it.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. The Productivity Secrets of the Star Performers
What Leads to Star Performers
Stars are Born, Not Made
Creating the Star Performer Model
II. The Nine Work Strategies of the Star Performers
Initiative: Blazing Trails in the Organization's White Spaces
Knowing Who Knows: Plugging In to the Knowledge Network
Managing Your Whole Life at Work: Self-Management
Getting the Big Picture: Learning How to Build Perspective
Followership: Checking Your Ego at the Door to Lead in Assists
Small-L Leadership in a Big-L World
Teamwork: Getting Real About Teams
Organizational Savvy: Street Smarts in the Corporate Power Zone
Show-and-Tell: Persuading the Right Audience with the Right Message
Become a Star Performer: Making the Program Work for You
III. Some Productive Last Words
A Message for Managers: Productivity in the Brainpowered Economy
The Rewards of Star Productivity
Appendix I. The Research Story Behind the Book: The Hunt for Higher Productivity
Appendix II. Resources for More Help |
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| View all 9 comments |
Howard Rothman (MSL quote), USA
<2007-10-18 00:00>
For over a dozen years, Carnegie Mellon University instructor and corporate consultant Robert Kelley has studied the difference between superior workplace performers and their average peers. After determining that such stars are made, not born, he identified the game plan many use to secure better jobs, higher pay, and top career opportunities. How to Be a Star at Work: Nine Breakthrough Strategies You Need to Succeed describes these tactics - which he dubs initiative, networking, self-management, perspective, followership, leadership, teamwork, organizational savvy, and show-and-tell - and explains how to incorporate them into real-life work situations. |
Library Journal (MSL quote), USA
<2007-10-18 00:00>
Contrary to popular belief, Kelley believes that star employees are made, not born. His nine new breakthrough strategies are "initiative, networking, self-management, perspective, followership, leadership, teamwork, organizational savvy and show-tell. |
Roger E. Herman (MSL quote), USA
<2007-10-18 00:00>
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. |
Roberta Hill (MSL quote), USA
<2007-10-18 00:00>
I don't like small print and although I am a great believer in the power of telling stories, I get tired of real live case studies, one after another. That said this is a solidly researched book that presents important ideas in a straightforward and comprehensive manner. You may not always agree with some of the points, but if you bear with the book (and read it all - don't skip) everything will hang together.
Remember, this book is about strategies - not a how to. For example, strategy eight, "Organizational Savvy" goes on to list a number of skill sets. One of these is managing conflict. This skill is awarded three pages in the book, but as we all know is a complex competency.
There is no right way for each and every one of us. I appreciated how differences and individual personalities are validated and reinforced in the book. Nor does the author downplay the potential pitfalls or possible negative consequences for adopting a strategy. Each one has its own risks.
I found two of the strategies presented particularly interesting. The first star performer strategy is initiative. "Initiative is the most widely misunderstood of all the star performer work strategies". The clarification between what is initiative versus what is just doing your job is an important concept for individuals to understand. The difference is well laid out in the material. Chapter 6 provides an insightful presentation on networking. In my experience, I find that individuals often misunderstand the importance of networking and what it really is. I am sure that each reader will find a particular chapter or two speaks to him or her.
Kelly states in his preface that "you should resist skipping around to chapters that seem more interesting... start at the beginning with the model and read through the work strategy chapter in the order presented." I suggest a couple of caveats. I skimmed the appendix first. I wanted to get a sense of the research behind the book. There on page 305 is a very important table. It is a list of seven factors that Kelly has discovered that create the perception or judgment by superiors that an individual shows high productivity and performance. After all aren't these strategies and underlying skill sets on how to be a star all about being perceived as one by others?
Read chapter 14 on "Becoming a Star Performer" either after chapter two or four. I thought that this section provided some perspective to the book as a whole. It is short so you can reread it again when you come to it. I liked chapter 4 which responses to questions from interested readers and motivated me to read on. It did sound a little like a sales pitch at times.
Which brings me to my last beef. Kelly stresses that this book is based on lengthy and extensive research, particularly at Bell Labs and I acknowledge the contribution that he has made. Kelly and his group, Consultant to Executives and Organizations Ltd. have developed a program based on his model. This too has been researched and evaluated for its effectiveness that appears impressive. Unfortunately, I often got the impression that the book is a ruse for selling this training package. That is unfortunate. The book stands alone on its own merits as having something important to say to individuals who want to improve their organizational impact. |
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