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What People Are Saying

What People Are Saying

“For anyone, at any level, that really wants to understand and traverse the "leadership journey" (including the inevitable ups and downs), Carter Cast delivers it in his first book in an honest, transparent manner. He is one of a very few practitioners and professors that can truly change your life. Knowing him has changed my life.”
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Harry Kraemer, Jr Former Chairman and CEO of Baxter, Intl
“What about you could hurt your career? A blind spot? A skill gap? Carter Cast helps you to answer this in The Right and Wrong Stuff. He's a refreshingly original voice on a tough topic. His book will make you think differently about managing your career.”
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Marshall Goldsmith The Thinkers 50 #1 Leadership Thinker in the World
“This insightful and lively book is a pragmatic “must-read” for all those aspiring to the C-suite. Carter brilliantly translates his grounded wisdom and classroom mastery onto the written page”
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Sally Blount Dean, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
“I worked with and then inevitably under Carter as his gift for business insight, genuine heart for people and quick wit vaulted him up the career ladder until my neck hurt from watching. This book is a pair of glasses that lets you now clearly see what never quite made sense about why some get ahead and why some great potential leaders fall away.
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Jon Mills Partner, SafePoint Group
“As a mentor, Carter's ability to be real and vulnerable lets others get to the heart of the issue faster. Whether the medium is a leadership seminar, a course on entrepreneurship - and, now through a book - Carter's drive to help people along their own paths is unequivocal.”
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Rebecca Sholiton Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Eat Pak’d, a TechStars Chicago company
“People tend to assume that careers are just about trajectory. They're really about knowing your strengths and weaknesses, then finding environments where you can adapt and flourish. Carter's insights are based on real-world experiences. This book will help so many people to have the right career conversations to build their own Right Stuff.”
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Gary Briggs Chief Marketing Officer, Facebook
Carter
Cast
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Order "The Right and Wrong Stuff: How Brilliant Careers are Made and Unmade" on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

The Archetypes

The Archetypes

Archetypes are characterizations that demonstrate, in a microcosm, how and why talented people experience career derailment. Do any of these archetypes sound like you?

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Captain Fantastic

Suffers from interpersonal issues, often due to an inflated ego, resulting in poor working relationships.

Solo Flier

Has difficulty building and leading teams; often reverts either to over-managing or to going it alone.

Version 1.0

Resists learning new skills and has difficulty adapting to changing circumstances.

One Trick Pony

Relies too much on a single skill; gets mired in the details and has trouble seeing the big picture.

The Whirling Dervish

Lacks planning and organizational skills; over-commits and under-delivers.

Do any of these archetypes sound like you?

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The Right Stuff

The Right Stuff

What is the “Right Stuff?” It’s the characteristics and behaviors that allow some people to have satisfying and successful careers.


Three-fourths of performance is accounted for by factors besides that of raw intelligence. People with the right stuff tend to do three things well:
1) They act on their own initiative—they are learners who pursue a variety of self-starting methods to foster their continued professional and personal development and they seek out challenging assignments that will accelerate their skill development and allow them to realize career advancement opportunities.
2) They have emotional intelligence, which allows them to build positive relationships with others. In doing so, they avoid the interpersonal problems of a Captain Fantastic.
3) They have tremendous perseverance and drive for results. They establish stretch goals, focus on the work that provides the greatest return on investment and take personal responsibility for the outcomes of the group. In doing so, they avoid becoming an unfocused Whirling Dervish.

Job skills
Industry Knowledge
Operational Ability
3 Distinctive Strengths
Derailers