This just in: Caroline Latterman (of Linguistic Consulting) one of the career linguists who appears in the book will join us to tell a story about telling her story for the book!

On Wed April 25 from 6:30-8:30 pm join Career Linguist and storyteller, Dr. Anna Marie Trester, at her alma mater, NYU as she celebrates the release of Bringing Linguistics to Work  and shares her approach to career (improvisational, linguistic, and story) as part of the NYC launch of Bringing Linguistics to Work.

RSVP for the event here

Learn more about the book and get your copy here

The event will be interactive, there will be prizes (and snacks) and lots and lots of stories!!

As professional challenges increasingly demand creativity in problem-solving, systems-thinking, perspective-taking, listening, and cross-cultural understanding, the world of work needs linguists now more than ever! And the ability to convey the transferability of the skills cultivated by the study of linguistics becomes increasingly critical. Stories are powerful tools for doing so, but how do we identify which stories will be the most effective in job-seeking texts and interactions like resumes and informational interviews? And what is it about these stories that makes them work? As linguists, there is no reason why our stories shouldn’t be the very best ones out there!!

Although this will be of particular interest to linguists, anyone interested in learning actionable steps to bringing a storytelling approach to their professional path should plan to attend.

Can’t make it to this one?
Check out a recording of the virtual book party here. If you would like for Career Linguist to come to your town to talk about the book, reach out!!  Contact Career Linguist

On the occasion of my visit to UC Santa Barbara to participate in the Beyond Academia conference, and to help get the word out about the CL (Mighty) Network I am convening a networking meet-up in Goleta (near UCSB campus), CA next Sunday, March 4th from 1-2:30pm

Jane at the Marketplace
6940 Market Pl Dr, Goleta, CA 93117 janeatthemarketplace.com
(805) 770-5388

This Meetup is a professional get-together for linguists currently based in Santa Barbara, CA.

Whether you’re currently using your linguistics training in an academic or professional setting, or want to learn more about how you might do that, this group is for those who want to connect with other local linguists!

Feel free to share with any linguist friends, very much looking forward to meeting up!

Look for me with a sign that says “Career Linguist” on my table.  RSVP here so I know to expect you and I will also send contact information as well as details about location within the restaurant on the day!

Over on the CL (Mighty) Network, we have been reading and discussing Adam Grant’s Give and Take, a book that explores how to create work environments that support a culture of giving. What follows is a summary of our first discussion and a plan for the next one.

To join in, head on over to the CL (Mighty) Network.

We started with an appreciation for Adam Grant’s suspenseful way of beginning things off, which is apparently also the way that he begins his classes at Wharton.  To introduce the subject of reciprocity styles in the workplace, he explains that people operate as givers, takers, or matchers and that his research exploring such diverse domains as engineers’ productivity, medical students’ grades and salespeople’s revenue has revealed that the people who consistently show up at the bottom of the success metrics are givers.  He then invites you to guess who might be at the top (spoiler alert if you have not read the book – I am about to give it away!!!!).  We suspect that it might be matchers, and we fear that it might be takers, but …..drumroll!  no, to our surprise and delight the research reveals it to be the givers  – again!

The rest of the book explores why it is that givers are overrepresented both at the top and the bottom, which is even more surprising when you learn that they comprise only 25% of the 30,000 people he surveyed.  Most people interact as matchers in the workplace. He also notes that many who operate as takers are former givers who got burned just one time too many!!

(ha! And as you can see, I grabbed these images from his TED talk on the subject)

So, as it turns out, there are many reasons why we want to promote a giving culture, including that “The greatest untapped source of motivation is a sense of service to others” and that “Focusing on the contribution of our work to other people’s lives has the potential to make us more productive than thinking about helping ourselves.”  Also, we get to live in a world where more people are generous, and I for one want to be a part of making that happen!!!

Some of the group’s favorite ideas from the book:

• ways to catch a taker (or make them reveal themselves)
• the concept of the “five minute favor”
• Fortune magazine’s best networker – Adam Rifkin
• Pronoia!! The delusional belief that other people are plotting your well-being (this idea is my favorite from the book!!!)

Some concepts that we thought would lend themselves to a future discussion:

• applications in various work contexts (Katie gave some ideas about higher ed.)
• Reciprocity Circles
• Following up with Dormant Ties
• being an “otherish” giver

The last chapter of the book, which discusses how giving benefits the group and helps you succeed, is going to be our next discussion. I hope you will join us, even if you can only read this chapter, or have not yet read any of it – folks joined last time who hadn’t read the book and were still able to contribute / get something out of the discussion. Hopefully you can tell that it is really densely packed with ideas, so even just chewing on these is a lot of fun!!

We will meet this Friday, Feb 23^rd at 3pm PDT / 6pm EDT (if you are on the east coast, think of this as a happy hour to kick off the weekend)

If you have not yet checked out the CL (Mighty) Network, you are able to try it out for free for a week. And this coming week we have a work session (on Tuesday), a storytelling workshop (on Thursday), and this book club discussion event on Friday!