Heather Kernahan
Unstuckable
ISBN: 978-1-77458-418-7
Many of the books I have reviewed over the years are vanity projects for CEOs in the middle of their careers. Put yourself in that position – maybe you’ve started a couple of companies, held C-suite positions at one or two more, and have over two decades of knowledge in your field that you want to share with the general public. Publishing is easier than ever with the rise of Amazon and e-books. Why wouldn’t you consider writing a business book – 200 pages, short paragraphs and chapters, and easy to read on a transcontinental flight?
Vanity project books usually aren’t terrible, but many of them don’t tend to have a lot of new information between the covers. These books are an opportunity for storytelling and discussing lessons learned. Honestly, the narrative posts on this blog could be converted into a book – not ruling this out in the future for maximum profit potential. Unstuckable was author Heather Kernahan’s opportunity to tell her story and share lessons that she has learned over the course of her career as a tech industry executive. I had a chance to attend her session at SXSW this past March and learn more about her and the book.
Unfortunately, the session at SXSW basically covered the entire book. The term “unstuck” was used as an acronym in the book – as you who read this blog frequently know, I’m a fan of a good acronym. The author shared that soul-searching is the best way to become “unstuck” in one’s career or in one’s work. Understanding yourself, setting goals, and shaking things up personally and professionally were the ways Kernahan found to become “unstuck” personally and professionally.
Most of the tactics she discussed were the sorts of things I’ve been teaching students and mentees for years – the ability to identify when you are failing and pivot away from those failures, working together with others toward common goals, and the all-important soft launches through minimum viable products are startup tactics that can work both in your company as well as for your own personal brand. To top things off, making sure that you are taking care of yourself is critical, and identifying when you are starting to burn out in order to make positive changes can spell the difference between survival and failure.
At about 170 pages, there’s not too much to review. The language of the book was incredibly straightforward, and the book was an easy read on the way back home from SXSW. Like many other vanity projects and as was demonstrated by the talk in March, this book should probably have just stayed in the form of a breakout session presentation. It worked well in that format – better, in my opinion, than as a book.
Overall, 6/10, would slightly recommend to people feeling stuck in a rut with seemingly no way out. The author offers a handful of tips and tricks that have helped her become “unstuck” during different points of her career. I would have liked to see more depth in some of the discussion in the book, however. If you feel like your career is starting to stagnate or your personal brand could use a refresh, this book could help.