Mr. Fogel, a motivational speaker and former comic (more on that in a minute), creates a pastiche from the considerable literature of self-help, job search, motivation and entrepreneurial advice to argue that advancement is possible, even in this economy, if one acts as though one’s already promoted.
Right off the bat, I hugely dislike the typesetting in this book. The publisher (I suspect the publisher is also the author) uses a relatively small typeface. Then, each sentence is surrounded by a sea of white: double-spaced breaks. The effect is less than attractive, distracting, and difficult to read.
I understand why the author included the disclaimer “If You Still Have A Job”. For one thing, how-to books on getting a job abound. Yet I found parts of this applicable not only to improving one’s work situation, but to a job search and even (gasp) self-employment.
Some of Mr. Fogel’s tongue in cheek humor is anything but subtle. “Yes! I am giving YOU the authority to to change your situation! And I must be serious, because I just italicized that last sentence.” (p. 37). Often it reads as though he’s just re-writing his speech notes. I hope the lame humor works better in person than on the page.
Some of his assertions made me wince. “finding a mentor or Mastermind Group is a lot like dating the right girl” (p.89). Really? And in an anecdote where he describes a woman who is changing careers she is “a stunning woman who was a pediatrician” and “a stunning looking pediatrician” (p. 89) within three sentences. [I have erased five different descriptions of my reaction to that overt sexism. Let’s just say – speechless.]
Mr. Fogel occasionally lapses into circular arguments. My favorite was “One of the main reasons I reinvented myself was because I wanted to be in control of my destiny. To be in control of my destiny, I knew I had to soak in new specialized knowledge that would allow me to leap over my competition in the quest for clients. [white space redacted] It was my desire for specialized knowledge that allowed me to learn an in-demand, financially viable skill!” (p. 154)
Lapses in grammar (“Is your present situation, like that?” p. 162) also call into question Mr. Fogel’s career as a “editorialist, direct mail copywriter, information marketer”.
Most of the heavy-handed advice seems to be common sense to me, but there are pieces worth keeping, though I might start (and finish) elsewhere. And finally - how couldn’t I love a recommended reading list that *begins* with Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams?