I just finished reading The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need
The story’s protagonist Johny Bunko is in a dead-end job. His boss sucks, his work is uninspiring, and his talents are not being utilized. Diana, a modern-day genie, appears after rubbing some chopsticks and sets Johnny straight with six quick lessons. If you are not into fun books and don’t have an hour to spare, just turn to the last page for a list of the lessons. But It’s a quick read, so I recommend investing the hour or so to read from the beginning.
This is not a book about how to find a new job or even how to determine the optimal job for you. It is a book about how to approach your career. The first lesson, "There is no plan" helps frame the context for the rest of the lessons. Basically, career plans are too simplistic and rarely stand up to the twists and turns of a career. Accentuating one of the main premises of A Whole New Mind, Diana the Genie explains that the idea that we can plan out a career with any smidgen of accuracy is
…a fantasy. The world changes. Ten Years from now your job might be in India. Your industry might not even exist.
The other five lessons are equally insightful and fun. Although I presume that this book was written for those at the beginning of their career, the six lessons are very useful for those of us closer to the middle of our careers as well.
Thanks for another insightful and useful book Daniel Pink!
