The Leap: Launching Your Full-Time Career in Our Part-Time Economy - Hardcover

In the past, the world of work was one of full-time jobs, long careers at the same company, and a steady paycheck for those in the system. Now, the economy has radically changed. We are living in a world of part-time jobs, many career switches, and instability in our work.

College graduates are facing large student loans and high unemployment rates. Older generations who have been a part of the previous economy are feeling the effects of the recession as they lose stable jobs and are forced to find new work. The old economy is fading away and a new economy is rising in its place. To succeed in the new economy, we must take a mental leap, rethinking our strategies for success.

Robert Dickie, president of Crown, knows what it means to take this leap. In 2009—just as the Great Recession was in full effect—he quit a full-time job in order to pursue an independent business opportunity. As a man with a wife and four kids, the stakes were high as he risked his stability for a new opportunity.

In taking this leap, Robert discovered seven strategies for success in this new economy. With real world experience and advice from a host of industry leaders, he outlines these strategies for operating in our new, ever-changing landscape. For both recent graduates new to the workforce and industry veterans facing changing times, these strategies will set workers up for success in the new economy.

From the book:

I’ve always done some of my best thinking on late-night flights. Although each location is very different once you set foot on the ground, the world has a quiet peace as you fly high above it at night and watch the lights of the cities below you. It is a uto­pian view of a world without borders, issues, and problems. I have always thought those cityscapes at night are some of the most beau­tiful scenes. As I fly over neighborhoods and cities, I often think about the families below and their stories, hopes, dreams, and chal­lenges. Everyone has unique challenges they are facing.

During one particular flight from Milwaukee to Flint, Michigan, on a night in October of 2009, I started thinking about the recent and crip­pling economic collapse and the pain most households were going through below me. Our soci­ety was struggling and there was a global shift taking place, even as I flew over the Midwest landscape.

The Great Recession was in full effect. Many people were losing jobs, but many others were leaving their safe and secure jobs to branch out on their own—pursuing new careers, creating start-ups, and buying out struggling companies. The writing was on the wall for me, but I was afraid.

Bob and his wife Brandi reside in Knoxville, TN with their six children and two dogs. They are both graduates of the University of Tennessee. Bob earned his Master's Degree from the University of Arkansas in Industrial Engineering and is currently in the Harvard Business School Executive Education Program.