Most of you heard about the book ‘What color is your parachute‘. You better! It’s been around for 40 years! I had seen the books in many cubicles back when I worked in the Silicon Valley and I hadn’t read the book. To prepare for this interview, I downloaded it and started to read it. Full disclosure: I expected something a bit stuffy – it’s been been around for so long! I was in for a surprise: It’s super contemporary and a treasure chest of resources and ideas. It’s an amazing resource for job seekers AND people who are uncertain about their career.
It’s a fast and great read and I highly recommend it. Mr. Bolles is sincere in his desire to make a difference and ease your suffering and confusion.
I had the privilege to interview him as part or my series to introduce speakers of this year’s Bonfire Heights. Here it goes:
You wrote 10 books, one of which is ‘What color is your parachute’. Do you remember when you first wrote ‘What color is your parachute’? What motivated you to write the book?
You know, actually I’ve written 50 books, forty of which are entitled What Color Is Your Parachute? A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers. The book is an annual, and I don’t just update it; I rewrite it, re-conceive it, re-invent it, every year. Compare, for example, the current edition (2012) with the previous (2011) and you will see a vast difference. I wrote the first annual edition back in 1970, self-published, and in 1972, commercially-published. My motivation for writing it was that I was an ordained Episcopal minister and my job was to help supervise all the campus ministers of ten different Protestant denominations in the nine Western states—on every university campus, college campus, community college campus, in those nine States. Those campus ministers were experiencing successive years of decreasing funding as individual chaplains, and consequently were losing their jobs. They had to either go back to seeking work in a parish church again, or go out and get a job in the secular, non-church world. They hadn’t a clue as to how to do this, so I volunteered to help them by doing the research and then pulling it together in the form of a book. It was 128 pages long, when my research was done. I typed the pages, got them copied at a nearby photo print shop, and then sold it to them at cost—$6.95 a copy, including postage.
The book thus far has sold over 10 Million copies and is in it’s 40th edition. What was your biggest vision for the book back then?
My biggest vision was the hope that my research would save these men and their families (they were all men at the time, mostly married, mostly with children ages 8-14) from a difficult transition, or even periods of unemployment. The book in its self-published form was directed specifically at ministers; that was December 1, 1970; two years later, when Ten Speed Press—a small publishing house in Berkeley, California—wanted to publish it commercially, I rewrote the book in its entirety, for a general audience, not just a church audience. I wrote the book to help people, not to make money.
Why do you still revise the book? Does it get boring to do so?
As I first mentioned, I don’t just revise the book; I rewrite it. Why? First of all, because jobs are mortal: they get born, grow, mature, flourish, decline, and then die. Job-hunting or career-changing methods share that same nature. I rewrite the book just in order to help the reader “keep up.” Secondly, my vision and understanding grow also. I know better how to explain things, as the years go by; I learn how to write more succinctly, more imaginatively, more right-brained, not just left-brained. I grow. The book grows with me. So of course, it’s never boring.
You say the number one job-hunting skill is ‘Attitude’. How can people keep a positive attitude when things don’t go their way?
No, actually I say that the number one job-hunting skill (oops!), in order of importance, is “Self-knowledge.” (Chapter 13 in the 2012 edition; Chapter 5 in the 2013).
But it is true that in the current 2012 edition (2013 will be in bookstores by the time of the Bonfire Heights Conference) I did mention five survival job-hunting skills, and the first one I listed there was attitude.
And so, to your question: how can people keep a positive attitude when things aren’t going their way? By “not going their way” I presume you mean, they can’t find a job. Or at least the kind of job they want. There is a satisfying answer to that question, but it is too lengthy to summarize here; afraid you’ll have to read the book (2012).
What are you passionate about?
Loving God, our Creator. Music. Beauty. Light. Helping people. Having as much time as possible with my enchanting wife. Love. Playfulness.
You speak about the importance on getting clear on what gift one has to offer to the world. You advise to do a thorough self-inventory of the transferable skills and knowledges that one enjoys using. What are your favorite ‘transferable skills and knowledges’?
My favorite knowledges are: I love knowing a lot about…….. job-hunting. Career-change. Theology. Computers. The Internet. How to write a book. Wisdom.
My favorite transferable skills are: I love to……. design, research, invent, write, listen, teach, synthesize, entertain.
What was the best job you ever had and why?
This one. Why? Read my answer to the previous question. I get to use all my favorite knowledges, and all my favorite transferable skills. In this job.
Do you know the secret to happiness at work?
Being hopelessly in love. Admiring someone other than yourself.
What should people do if they are not happy at work?
Fix their life outside of work. Do a self-inventory. Change careers.
The tag line for Bonfire Heights is: “Ordinary people doing extraordinary things”. What advice do you have for ‘ordinary’ people based on what you know?
Tag line aside, I don’t believe in the concept of “ordinary” people. I think everyone is extraordinary, in their own way. If you know anyone you think is just “ordinary,” then your problem is you don’t know them well enough.
Why did you say yes to speak at Bonfire Heights?
They said they wanted me. Ask them why.
Dick Bolles, more formally known as Richard Nelson Bolles, is a best-selling author, whose book, What Color Is Your Parachute?, was cited by TIME magazine last year as one of the top one hundred best non-fiction works to appear since the beginning of TIME (1923); and by the Library of Congress as one of 25 books that have shaped people’s lives, down through history.
If you want to meet Dick Bolles in person, sign up for Bonfire Heights here.