Grow Your Personal Capital: What You Know, Who You Know And How To Use It

by Hilarie Owen

Overview

Packed with illustrative examples and interactive exercises, this book shows you to maximize the value of your knowledge capital (what you know), social capital (whom you know), and emotional capital (how you interact with others)-and combine these components to make you a more successful, effective, balanced, and fulfilled person. Momentum books are for people who want to make things happen in their career and their life, who want to work at something they enjoy and that's worthy of their talent and their time. Momentum people have values and principles. They question who they are and what they do. Wherever they work, they want to feel that what they do has meaning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738206554
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	03/20/2003
Series:	Momentum
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.62(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Hilarie Owen is chief executive of the Institute of Leadership. An internationally sought-after guest lecturer and conference speaker, she lives in Gloucester, U.K.

Editorial Reviews

To the author of this overwrought business/self-help manifesto, augmenting one's human capital means unleashing the full range of psychic resources-creativity, sociability, emotion, "inner wisdom"-that are indispensable to modern "knowledge workers." Owen (Creating Top Flight Teams) draws on psychologists from Jung to Maslow (with a little quantum mechanics and chaos theory thrown in) to argue that human capital can only be tapped by nurturing "the whole human being" in a workplace where employees find "purpose, meaning and belonging," express "authentic emotion" and cultivate ecstatic "flow experiences." Although "rigid management processes" are an important obstacle, this is not a management program. Judging from the oral histories Owens recounts, the book is aimed at high-level managers with indefinable jobs ("my role is troubleshooter, with a large people aspect to it") who drift from company to company seeking self-actualization. The focus is therefore on individual rather than institutional change, to be achieved through self-exploratory "exercises" including meditation, dream-journaling, art projects ("[w]hen you have finished, sit cross-legged on the floor and tell yourself the collage is you") and vast, Proustian writing assignments ("starting with your earliest memories, describe all your experiences... up to today") with impossible deadlines ("[a]llow at least an hour"). Veering between mystical dilation ("we are all connected in a field of energy") and pop-psychology truisms "[w]hen we deny our feelings... we are at risk of losing control") this mish-mash of half-digested ideas will bring little return on investment. (Mar.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

The "Momentum" series, first published in the U.K. and introduced to U.S. audiences last September with Happy Mondays, Change Activist, Lead Yourself, and The Big Difference, is back with another round of attractive, oversized paperbacks. While its exterior remains bold and trendy, the content is less hip but for the most part frank and humorous. Written by professionals in the field (mostly business consultants), the books feature an accessible, user-friendly format; concise, pithy text; and a plethora of text boxes and diagrams. Their lucid writing and clear organization make them good purchases for large public and academic libraries, as well as school libraries. Arguing that one must root out antediluvian concepts of how business works to position oneself for success, Browning's Innervation focuses on self-improvement and how to reinvent oneself and sharpen creativity. Grant and Greene's more scientific Coach Yourself provides a mixture of grounded text, anecdotal evidence, some jargon, and clearly defined exercises to offer a breakdown of the often frightening process of change and to provide realistic advice on how to take initiative in business as well as one's personal life. In the less-focused Grow Your Personal Capital, Owen shows how to apply what we know and who we know to make the most of our "personal capital." A lot of ground is covered here, albeit a bit superficially, from optimizing self-knowledge and finding an appropriate learning style to integrating spirituality and values into everyday life. Finally, the well-structured and lucidly written Snap, Crackle or Stop, although defined by Quinn as inspirational, is nothing short of a self-help book. The argument here is that if you are unhappy with your career, you should take a serious look at the options and simply make up your mind. The key component of this process is a step-by-step evaluation of the alternatives. This book is rich with clear exercises and anecdotes. [The final four titles-Clued Up, Reinvent Yourself, Managing Brand Me, and Float You-will come out later this summer. For more information on the series visit www.yourmomentum.com.-Ed.] Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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