Gratitude List - Day 13

             

 I am still riding high from securing my book PR lady yesterday. My life is going in the right direction. I am grateful for being able to sit and be still. I will listen and learn. I know my limits which is why I have hired her. I have a clear pathway towards becoming a bestseller. My PR lady is a 4-time international Amazon bestseller. She has given me homework such as emailing the business conference for half-page ad and vending prices.

                Another note: It is Star Wars’ ‘May the Fourth’ and I will tap into my Inner Trekker because I love math, science and space. Star Wars came out the same year I was born. People don’t understand the importance of space exploration and discovery. Star Trek and Star Wars show that anything is possible. Here is today’s gratitude list:

Gratitude List - Day 13

1. To be open to learning more opportunities
2. My phone interview company has emailed me its health benefits. That’s a good omen.

It is limited because my energy is limited at 2am. I have a career luncheon to attend and must be out of the door to Kinko’s by 10:45am to copy my resumes and board the silver line for Tysons Corner.

                I am happy to go because so many people have taken my resume and thought I have given a strong elevator pitch. I have emailed recruiters interested in me. My goal is to obtain a Senior Project Manager or Senior Scrum Master position. I would love to have a full-time consulting opportunity especially with my LLC because I can now do corp to corp.

                Finally, I have submitted my bibliography and thank you page to my publisher for my book. It is like a load has been lifted off of my shoulders. Now I can focus on promoting my book. The publisher says that I should receive it by tomorrow.  This file will allow me to upload it to Amazon KDP. Here is my updated gratitude list:

Updated Gratitude List

1. I have the health and energy to travel to the career luncheon
2. I have met people whom are interested in me.
3. I’ve finished my book by submitting my bibliography and thank you page.
4. I have the money to get my clothes out of dry clean
5. I have people taking my resumes.
6. I am chronicling my self-publishing so that I can help others.
7. Creating another radio episode.
8. I have the money to afford the career luncheon.

Scrum Journal : Day 5

Thursday, March 24, 2016, I awoke at 6am because I had the routine down pat. I nearly forgot my laptop so I had to return after getting to the basement level. At least I wasn’t on the metro. I still managed to board the earlier orange line train to Vienna station. Creating a buffer was essential since this was the metro. I transferred to the 2B and this time remembered to pull the bell in the right spot to avoid walking over the bridge. I was the fourth person there. I just prayed that there was over with so that I could take the test and pass it.

                The instructor started discussing technical debt which was because of my questions. I was validated because I did not think that I was learning a whole lot the day before. However, I did admit that doing the user stories, spring and product backlog activities taught me something. I would give the training that. During the morning break, I crossed the bridge to the PNC to get Uber driver tip money. During lunch, I dined on Uncle Julio’s patio (I fell for the trip of eating all of the chips and salsa. I filled up so much that I couldn’t finish the fajitas. Hey, I was starving. That chocolate bar wasn’t enough.).

                I returned to training still nursing a headache with no Aleve. I managed to survive more tangents and rumblings. I went to use the bathroom and boom I was shut out of the ScrumAlliance CSM exam page. That poor website said that it was busy. I packed my stuff, ordered an Uber and went on my way. Or so I thought…The Uber driver missed the Vienna exit. He asked me. I told her that I lived in DC. I did not know anything about Virginia. We managed to get to Dunn Loring metro. I did not recognize this Dunn Loring. I stopped going there ever since the silver line opened because it had Tysons Corner stops. A Smashburger franchise was built where the old parking lot was. It looked like all of those other planning communities for middle-middle class people (You would not find a Smashburger or other franchises in DuPont so that was a couple rungs below but still). I boarded the orange line returning home. I dropped my bags, reconfigured my laptop and took the test.

                My test was harder than the questions that my classmates received. Immediately I started surfing the Internet for scrum help. I found two sites which helped. Also I grabbed the Scrum Guide. It was written by scrum’s cofounders so I knew that I was good. I scored 94.3% (33/35) passing the exam. Immediately I photographed my certificate posting it on Instagram. I tried uploading it to LinkedIn, but the photo was upside down. Therefore, I found my digital camera in my black oversized Kate Spade purse and re-photographed it. LinkedIn liked that one. Afterward, I typed my CSM announcement posting it on my site. I then copied that to Medium.

                I thought that passing the CSM would be different, at least dinner. In my mind, I thought I would be dining at Bourbon Steak at the Four Seasons. I dined at Morton’s steakhouse right after passing the PMP. Nope! Combined the headache, the misfit Uber driver and the ScrumAlliance’s crashed website, I settled for a frozen macaroni and cheese dinner from CVS. Hey, at least I was certified! No one can take CSM away from me! My biggest epiphany was my emotional intelligence. I did not flip out against the Uber driver. I just got home and carried on. I did not let that affect my certification exam performance. Now that was maturity!

I fulfilled this week’s goal of earning my CSM because I was sick and tired of being sick and tired in my job search. Immediately after passing, I created a scrum job alert. There were no less than 20-25 jobs. Also I emailed the three LinkedIn connections who helped me privately and highlighted their names publicly on my LinkedIn status. Giving credit and being gracious were essential. I changed my LinkedIn profile uploading my certificate and adding it to my certifications list. It was like Christmas and I was opening up a present. After 5 days, I was finally certified! Next I told my career coach because we had to start working on integrating this new certification into my personal brand. We had work to do. I had to write a new story.

Finally, I email someone who had impacted me. I was telling him that dipping into a specific fund felt like lack. He said to view this as a business investment since I filed my LLC. That CC Pace training cost $1295. I viewed it as an investment instead of a cost. I started this Sunday sick and tired of being sick and tired. Five days later, I was now a certified Scrum Master. That was an investment indeed!

Scrum Journal : Day 3

Okay so I awoke on time but fell back asleep. I need to get myself in gear in order to be up and Adam by Wednesday 8:30am’s training. My future certification depends upon it. This means that I will be going to sleep at 10pm. I need to awake at 6am to catch that orange line train.

                I am at Cove DuPont, a work sharing space this morning and afternoon, because my apartment is getting cleaned. This also provides me with the great opportunity to use its printers and read up on Scrum. I have read and printed the Scrum Guide authored by the discipline’s cofounders Jeff Sutherland and Kenneth Schwaber. These 16 pages crystallize a lot for me. I can absorb all of the information because it is written in plain English. It is not so jargon-filled and esoteric that it flies over my head. As I mentioned in yesterday’s journal entry, I am reading up on Scrum because I refuse to waltz into my certification training without any prior knowledge. It is the Type A in me. I just always have to know what I am walking into before it happens. I always need a contingency plan just in case something does happen. I will have a back-up for it. Furthermore, I like being able to come up with a solution as soon as possible.  Reading the Scrum guide gives me this because it is from the cofounders. Furthermore, while at Cove, I get to print more practice exams because I need to have as many CSM exam ‘looks’ as possible. I will interrupt reading Scrum for Dummies in order to read the Scrum Guide because I am learning from the masters! Finally, my ultimate goals are to master scrum, to use it as a tool applying it to my personal and professional lives, and to earn CSM by successfully passing the exam (I do want to score 80% although 68% is the minimum. I just cannot be average. That’s a dreadful habit!).

                Another yesterday update: I wrote my website announcement detailing the resources that I have used to pass the certified scrum master exam. Just a little bit of positive creative visualization to get me through today. I have printed 3 copies: one I will plaster on my wall and the other two will accompany me while I get into training. I am very dogged in my CSM pursuit because it is tech-related. I am such techie. Ever since I was little, tech and space inspired me. My mother had my brother and I watch the original StarTrek with William Shatner on WUAB-43. I still feel like I can become an astronaut even with my epilepsy. All that’s standing in my way is my getting a statistics degree and then boom I qualify! By then I not only will have my CSM certification but probably also my PMI-ACP and ITIL certifications. 

Scrum Journal: Day 2

                I have decided to pursue my certified scrum master license. Telvin has okayed it and I have learned that the Fairfax CSM training class has 8 more slots. Furthermore, I have learned from Peter that I can write this sucker off on my taxes (which is cool but my ultimate goal is earning my certification to increase my competitive advantage). After all of this, I have bought Scrum for Dummies reading all the way to page 57. I must admit that I have learned so much more from this than I previously thought. I was skeptical because yesterday I read a scrum book from the master! Jeff Sutherland was the discipline’s cofounder. I thought that I knew everything; but, Scrum for Dummies is teaching so much more about the discipline. Although I am resting my finger, I know that I will surpass 75 pages even the first 100 pages by the end of tonight. I am very hungry to walk into Wednesday’s workshop with working scrum knowledge. I refuse to be half-cocked rolling in there even if it is 8:30am!

                I have started developing a new morning routine. My normal routine is to work from 10am to 3:30am so when I learn that the CSM workshop starting time is 8:30am, I know that I have to change. I make my cell phone’s clock alarm goes off at 6am and 6:30am ( I have awakened at 6:20am). This course costs over $1000 which is too much money to mess up oversleeping! This is the rest of my life. I must admit that I am quite amazed that I am still fully functioning during the evening.

                I have plunked down the money for the CSM training. There is no going back. I will stick to my schedule because I truly believe that come Friday, I will be certified and my life will change. CSM will help solidify my being a techie. I always love tinkering and learning about new trends. Scrum is a framework about doing things rapidly in many iterations. In a way, Scrum resembles my life. Having been in DC for nearly 10 years, my life Monday couldn’t mirror my life Friday of the same week. I have had situations where my life has completely changed (for the better) in one year. I vividly remembered the difference before and after my Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). One day I was struggling to get by, the next day, I had more than enough income. The same with my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. After obtaining my PMP, employers just start coming out of the woodwork. Many told me that they would only interview me because I had the MBA/PMP combination. I feel the same way with the CSM. I love being a techie and an ardent advocate of continuous improvement; and, scrum is all about continuous improvement. Scrum is starting to be my sweet spot because I love continuous improvement and using my intuition to hack myself. This looks like it is going to work out well.

Scrum Journal : Day 1

Early Sunday morning at 12:45am, I emailed four of my LinkedIn connections who had both PMP and (CSM) certified scrum master certifications asking them about CSM. I have done this instead of sleep, because I have had things swirling in my head. I am also fed up of potential employers asking me if my PMP certification the only certification; or, if I am considering ITIL certification. This morning I got sick and tired of being sick and tired! I was in a rut and had to get out of it.

                When I reawaked, three of the four connections responded. All three mentioned that scrum was hot. Also one person recommended a book by scrum cofounder Jeff Sutherland. After one sample chapter, I was enthralled finding the Crown publishing larger sample chapters. Although I bought the paper book, I decided not to wait until after 8pm in order to receive the information. That was the best decision I made today because my paper book arrived at 8:30pm and I finished reading and outlining the book at 9:30pm. Jeff Sutherland’s book took you through Scrum’s past, present and future. The appendix was a goldmine taking the reader through ten steps. Upon completing the book, I decide to take the CSM exam. My business analysis background and IT project management helped so much with this decision.

Once I decided to earn CSM certification, I went to ScrumAlliance to check out the local courses. Now although there was no eligibility criteria (like 4500 project management hours for PMP with college degrees), those 2-day workshop prices were sky high. $993 was the cheapest. Yikes! I just thanked God that I had the money on my credit card. Another problem was timing. I got this CSM epiphany on a Sunday. Three workshops started Monday so of course they were full. In addition, another CSM workshop was filled for Thursday and Friday. My research skills went into overdrive because I would not be denied this opportunity to advance my career! I found some other courses but these companies straight up lied about their locations. One in particular, had the unmitigated gall to say Washington, DC but its workshop was happening in Sterling, Virginia at the Dulles Spring Hill Suites. Look Dulles airport was far away in Virginia. Washington, DC had National Airport. That company was trying to capture the unsuspecting non-natives. It would not get me though! I did manage to find another CSM workshop in Fairfax; but, I checked the map and saw it was near George Mason University (or the boonies as a downtown Washingtonian would say). I checked the address learning that it was off of the Vienna, Virginia metro stop. Okay, cool. The orange line was manageable. The price was lower than the $1300, $1650 and $1950 that I saw. I emailed the vendor for more accurate address and information. And, with that, I was well on my way towards becoming a certified scrum master.

Closing the Door

                I have always been great at closing the door on things, persons and processes that no longer serve me. Today I have decided that I am closing the door on working in the federal government. I have had an 8-year career there but after receiving 2 $80/hour jobs from recruiters. This is $160,000 per year. One of the 2 will offer me $90/hour or $180,000. That’s more than GS-15 step 10 income which is $155,000; and, the process takes 15 years to go from step 1 to step 10. Right now I stand to earn more than 15 years. Knowing myself I will be way farther along than $180,000 by year 2031.

                This isn’t the first time that I have closed the door on something. I have done this with two federal agencies, Constellation and now the federal sector. I am happy to leave and never return to my first federal agency because this year this agency is moving from DC to Maryland. I have a choice in this matter. There are so many miserable people relocating but I am still here in DC.

Closing the door is liberating because I can focus on the future. The past is not competing with my future. I can devote time towards creating a new system that serves me now instead of being torn. Indecisiveness kills many people’s dreams; but, not mine. Yes, I admit that the federal sector has been good and has taught me a lot; but, I am very happy that I can move on towards something good. If I stay applying for federal jobs than I am limiting my income and personal growth; therefore, I am closing the door.

My 1% Improvement: Reading What Color Is Your Parachute 2016

I am reading, ‘What Color is Your Parachute for 2016’. Honestly, I was just perusing Amazon just to look at any new career books that I can read and I discovered that this book was just published this past Tuesday, August 11, 2015. It’s a classic. I honestly never read a previous edition. I know it's been around for over 20 years but I said why not go ahead read it? Give it a chance, give it a shot and more importantly from a personal career perspective I wanted to get into my second gear for the rest of 2015. As you know this is August 2015 and I believe we have in between 33 to 40% of the year remaining so why should I wait until 2016 to do something when I can get started in August 2015? Get a head start and do something productive for the remaining three and a half months. Furthermore, this time also coincides with the children's back to school. I know that a lot of my friends have children. Since this is back-to-school for them, I decided to read this book as my own personal back-to-school for personal enrichment. I will update everyone on periscope to see what I currently think of the book.

Employing the Three Cs to Improve Your Personal Career Brand

Now more than ever it is imperative that any professional has a personal career brand. It is no longer, just do your job and update your resume. The average person will have in between 7-10 jobs in his lifetime. You must actively manage your career to find the next job; hence, the importance of creating and maintaining a stellar personal career brand. The three Cs necessary towards creating your best personal brand are clarity, consistency, and constancy. The combination of these three guarantees that you’ll attract the people and employers in your target market.

Dictionary.com defines clarity as ‘clearness or lucidity as to perception or understanding; freedom from indistinctness or ambiguity.’ It is essential that you get clear about who you are, but, more importantly, who you ARE NOT.  Clarity provides you with an opportunity to thrive as a specialist rather than merely survive as a generalist. It is better to know what you are not because you create clear boundaries. You don’t want to transmit mixed messages, thereby, diluting your brand. Clarity communicates a clear message of what you do. For example, if you are in HR, you don’t want people coming to you about sales & marketing. The next step is to identify your competitors.

Scanning the professional landscape to see what your competitors are doing, and more importantly, are not doing is critical towards how you’ll position yourself to stand out. Learn from your competitors’ mistakes and capitalize upon the areas that they aren’t already in. Being the first mover in an unsaturated area, lets you become an expert. For instance, if you’re in HR but there aren’t as many people working with newly returned war veterans, then this is a niche where you can employ your transferable skills and become an expert. Once you’ve used clarity to identify your competitors, you can then you can focus on marketing your competitive advantage to the world.

Your competitive advantage is the one thing that you do better than anyone else. Having a clear definition of this advantage will attract more people and opportunities. In HR, you do compile benefits packages in a way that new employee understand? Your ability to translate industry-specific jargon into layman’s terms without diluting its content is your competitive advantage. You can convert this into a special niche being seen as an expert. Once you’re seen as an expert, more people will come to you. The next C is consistency.

The word consistency is defined as ‘steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc.’ In order to keep current in this increasingly global and competitive landscape, you must be consistent. This means consistently communicating the same message offline and online. Take some time to review how your professional brand comes across these two sectors because it’s imperative that you are consistent in both areas.

Make sure that your resume and LinkedIn profile are the same. If you’ve attained a new certification or a promotion, list them on both your resume and LinkedIn. An outdated LinkedIn profile creates inconsistent messaging. If you’ve been promoted from HR Specialist to Senior HR Specialist, you must list this change on both documents. Recruiters who might be interested in you for one job, may not know that you have a new job or certification. It would be bad for your professional reputation if a recruiter contacts you about a specific position but learns that you’re in another position. Recruiters talk with other recruiters who work at the company that interests you. You don’t want this kind of mistake to precede you before applying for a job. Putting the most recent information on your LinkedIn page guarantees that recruiters can see if you are the best fit for a potential job. The next C is constancy.

Finally, constancy is defined as ‘uniformity or regularity, as in qualities or conditions; invariableness.’ Being highly visible online & offline to your target market is indispensable in today’s marketplace. There are many ways to increase your visibility to ensure that the right people see your talents. Offline opportunities include joining meetups, alumni chapters, and professional organizations. In addition, you can be visible through business cards and stationery. Handing out your personal business cards is an effective marketing tool generating high visibility. Furthermore, you can send thank you letters using your own stationery. Regarding online visibility opportunities, you can register for LinkedIn professional groups, follow people on Twitter or like Facebook pages of companies of which you want to work. Moreover, you can also start a blog. For HR, you can write about interviewing new applicants, dispensing benefits information, handling attrition and completing retirement packages. A great way to merge the offline and online visibility tools to achieve constancy is by creating a communications plan.

Implement a communications plan where you consistently brand your message. Your plan manages how, what, why, when, and where to deploy your offline and online strategies. For instance, you decide to post one HR-related article in your LinkedIn feed. This daily task keeps your profile active attracting employers and recruiters.  The important thing here is to stay consistent. Your communications plan ensures that you regularly do something constructive towards promoting your personal career brand. Incorporating three Cs of clarity, consistency and constancy guarantee increased demand for your personal career brand.

Finding Light at the End of the Tunnel is Published on Careeranista

Today I am so proud that my very first article from the Careeranista website, www.careeranista.com. It’s entitled, Finding Light at the End of the Tunnel. This is also the same book which I proofread for January 2014 publication.

http://www.careeranista.com/index.php/blogs-and-advice/diaries-of-a-careeranista/entry/carla-jenkins-on-finding-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel?fb_action_ids=10152229298249194&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

Synergy!

Things are moving fast. Today while working on applying for jobs and enjoying my snow day, I receive an email congratulating me on becoming a Small Business Book Awards judge.  I am honored because there will probably a whole lot of applicants. It just feels good to be acknowledged. I’ve submitted my two topics (economics and technology). Possessing economics work experience, I am well-versed in the topics. Furthermore, I have over 10 years’ data mining experience and am a Trekker so technology is right up my alley. Most importantly, I love reading books because I can always learn something from them. With the Small Business Book Awards, I intend to read all of the cutting edge business topics to stay on top of my game.

                This announcement comes on the heels of receiving Chaz’s Careeranista book and being mentioned in the acknowledgements. I will build upon this momentum by considering freelance writing. I might even restart my fiverr.com page to earn more income. $5 is better than nothing. I think it’s even my 1% cost of living adjustment (COLA) from the federal government.  And it doesn’t just stop with this new book judge announcement. It gets better.

                While reading my graduate school’s alumni newsletter, the university says that it is looking for bloggers. Since the alumni department follows me on Twitter, I know that I am a frontrunner. Furthermore, I have stayed in the alumni notes page with my promotions and project management certification accomplishments. I will use my writing as my ticket to get out of this predicament.

Making Moves

                I helped proofread a friend’s book and she quoted me and wrote me in her acknowledgements. She also debuted a career website along with her book. I asked her about writing articles for the site and if freelancers wrote the majority of the material. She responded that though most freelancers wrote the website material, they did it for free. Well, I knew that I could at least get something since I helped her with the book.  Furthermore, I wanted to expand my career opportunity and writing is right up the alley.

                Writing will be my ticket out of a toxic workplace. With the government shut down, Friday being my off day and Monday being Presidents’ Day, I have 5 days towards working on my craft. Immediately I wrote her my biography (BA, MBA and PMP) and a photo to her copy editor to get started. Even in the midst of a snowstorm, I am making career moves.  I am using my pen to get out of this raggedy mess.  

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

I have a Wednesday interview but I know nothing about the industry. I need to get out of my current workplace because it is zapping my energy. There is too much toxicity and ego. I am very happy to humble myself pushing mine aside to ask someone more qualified for advice.

It is amazing how much help you can receive when you ask and have good energy.   I am a big believer on karma which is why I emit positive energy even on negative days. Why be down when I can be up? Also as a Type A, I employ my research skills to solve problems, however, this time, I don’t know anything about the consulting industry and since I know someone who works there, I’ve decided to ask.

 I am preparing for a consulting interview and I email a contractor who works at my current agency.  We’re LinkedIn connections so I drop her an email.  She supplies me with so much information and insights like pay structure, career track and proposal writing. I have googled the firm finding a contract and am considering taking some Foundation Center grant writing classes to improve my skills.  It is essential to think beyond the ground floor with me.  The phone interviewer tells me that not having a consulting background so it’s necessary to acquire these writing skills to make myself the best candidate. Also she tells me that it is okay to ask about the possible government shutdown coming in January (My life coach was against it but since the professional confirmed my original line of questioning, I will ask that question. I am disaster-funded so I’d still be working if not hired by the consulting firm).  

Taking PMP Preparation to the Next Level

            I have completely written down all of the project management process definitions to improve my PMP score.  Doing this has helped me learn what each process does.  It’s truly a learning experience because there are some things that I’ve forgotten.  I have seen these definitions while taking the practice tests.  Monday I will write down all of the project management subsidiary plans and baselines because I know that these will also improve my score.  Furthermore, I will create my own practice tests. I might even do something with the flashcards because I have not used them.  Even though tomorrow is Memorial Day, I will spend my holiday working on career improvement. No days off because June 27^th will be here before I know; and, I will be prepared.

Self-Investment on a Shoestring Budget

            I’ve enrolled in this regression analysis course and the instructor wants us to use either SAS, Stata, JMP or other commercial statistical software. Well. SAS wants $199 for a 6-month license so I check to see if StatCrunch processes the same and viola it does!  This move has saved me $199 and much needed time in learning how to do regression in SAS.  The great part is that I can use StatCrunch for the upcoming logistic regression next June. I truly want to improve my job performance and advance my career and thanks to StatCrunch, I don’t have to break the bank!

My final day at the old place

The only constant is change and my life is freer because I’ve accepted it.  I remembered being okay with passing the CAPM because it meant the very real possibility or not being here at my (now) former employer.  Well, today’s the day.  Monday morning I will work at the new agency, armed with my CAPM and working towards my PMP. I’m taking the same approach towards PMP.  I am very much okay with the reality that I will qualify for Lead Management Analyst next April.  My job is to keep pushing forward capturing all available opportunities. Since I’m starting at the new agency and view myself one year in advance, I do see myself getting my TV show aired by the Aspire TV by next April. Currently, I am taking classes, joined an organization and am writing my TV summaries (plus participating in ScriptFrenzy). I just know that I’ll be farther along.  That’s embracing change; and, really isn’t this what life is truly about?

Get Recruited! Book Review

            Ever wonder why you land many interviews but never a job offer? You haven’t seen the process from the recruiter’s perspective.  There’s a difference between job searching and recruiting.  The former is uploading your resume on Monster, CareerBuilder and Indeed.  The latter means cultivating relationships and developing a brand.  Get Recruited! supplies superior insight to increasing your visibility by tapping into the recruiter’s world, a hidden job market of unlisted positions. This book goes beyond burnishing your resume, by helping you network with recruiters, like-minded professionals, create a career advisory board, media kits, business cards and find mentors and sponsors. Mentors and sponsors are meaningful because you’ll need them at every career stage.  When change jobs or receive promotion, you must find new ones.  Graham also says that media kits, business cards and branding specialists aren’t only for Fortune 500 firms. Use them to create your own branding strategy to find the job that you want. Finally, the author shows you how to use various networking levels (friends and family, volunteering, social media, past jobs and organizational memberships) to expand your current network.  Ultimately, Get Recruited! succeeds where other texts don’t by getting you unstuck.  What more can you ask for in a career management book?

No, You Can't Pick My Brain: It Costs Too Much Book Review

            The global workforce is in flux.  Workers, used to staying at one job for 30 years, is vaporizing.  They need flexibility and portable because this is a knowledge based economy.  Brain not brawn is the order of today.  Workers must acquire the skills that’ll help them stay afloat in choppy career waters where the sharks circle them.  Adrienne Graham’s No You Can’t Pick My Brain serves as the blueprint for maneuvering in this new paradigm for retaining your knowledge for your benefit.