🏰 Author Interview Featuring Dr. Helen Ofosu, author of How To Be Resilient In Your Career

In good times and bad, resilience is one of the major keys to success – including career success. Dr. Helen Ofosu believes this applies to employees and entrepreneurs, individual contributors, subject matter experts, leaders, and executives.

That’s why her approach to career and executive coaching is to help people get ahead in a way that insulates them from future setbacks – or recover if things have gone sideways. This is also why, as a consultant, she helps organizations become stronger and more resilient, so they are ready for both the anticipated and the unexpected challenges that all organizations face at some point.

Part of what sets her apart from many career and executive coaches is her experience on the inside, as an HR and professional development professional, within large corporate workplaces and her intimate knowledge of typical HR processes and systems.

Clients come to her when the stakes are high. They can count on her to share insights and customized services that few others can deliver. They love that she has developed countless hiring tools and helped to resolve many HR problems over the years.

Her “insider” experience gives her clients an edge in getting hired and promoted in the public (and private) sector, and in managing their careers as they progress.

And as an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist (her field is more commonly known as Work and Business Psychology), she takes an evidence-based approach by using the latest research and best practices to increase the odds of her clients’ success.

Author Links  

Website | Brainz Magazine | Podcast Interviews | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram

 

🏰As a book bloggin’ and book luvin’ Princess, I’m always curious to find out how authors got the ideas for their books.  How did you come up with the idea for your book, How to Be Resilient in Your Career?

I had often heard that you should write about what you know. As an Organization Psychologist, coach and HR consultant, I know a lot about career coaching, executive coaching, and bouncing back from career-related setbacks. My main challenge was to figure out a compelling and succinct way to tie all of this together. 

I worked with a very skilled and experienced editor to write my manuscript named Todd. Todd helped me create the framework for organizing my ideas. He suggested/agreed it would make sense to organize the book in terms of the top ten career-related challenges I talk to clients about in our private, one-on-one interactions.

🏰Why do you believe resilience is one of the major keys to success?

Adequate resilience is one of the primary keys to success, in good times and bad. Even if we are lucky, at some point, the luck usually runs out. So, when things are good, it’s smart to put certain fundamentals in place so that we can recover from inevitable setbacks.

That’s why my approach to career coaching and executive coaching is to help people get ahead in a way that insulates them from future reversals. As a consultant, I aim to help organizations become stronger and more resilient, so they are ready for the predictable and unforeseen challenges that all organizations face at some point.

🏰What was the hardest part about writing your book?

One chapter, chapter seven, took me an extraordinary amount of time and effort. It’s the chapter called “Identity is Complex.” This chapter was hard because it was meant to help people who have an underrepresented identity (e.g., they are a religious minority, differently abled, racialized, Indigenous, or a member of an LGBTQ2S+ community, etc.) and who experience mistreatment or limited career progression because of their identity. But the chapter was also written so that leaders, HR professionals, and others who are not part of an underrepresented group start to understand challenges they had not noticed before. It’s meant to be affirming for some but informative for others who aspire to be well-intentioned and effective supporters, allies, colleagues, leaders, and good corporate citizens. Finding that balance was challenging. 

🏰Do you hear from your readers?  What do they say?

I am grateful for the questions, comments, and compliments I’ve received from my readers. Here are a few that have stood out to me:

• In this book, Helen Ofosu talks about many points that are not generally discussed in real life. I have felt this way many times at work. I often think that I can’t be the only one feeling like this. It’s been helpful to actually see the issues written out and those words reflect exactly how I feel when those incidents keep happening. I will be taking her advice.
• It's the sort of book that I wish I’d had at the start of my career. Not only does it provide thoughtful career and professional advice from a subject matter expert, but it does so by providing examples that center Black Canadians and our lived experiences as the focus. Many of us are not used to seeing ourselves as the focus of career development, psychology, and self-help books or frameworks.
• This audiobook was a great listen, offering practical advice and real-life examples. It is a book of encouragement for those experiencing challenges in the workplace. It also provides direction on how to avoid and reduce obstacles employees may face.
• An excellent read that brings insight and solutions to many common work experiences. Dr. Helen, your book is affirming and empowering and is a necessary resource for career navigation. This book is also an important reference for leaders who seek to retain staff and foster a positive, inclusive, and thriving work environment.
• I learned so much from the examples which were relatable and relevant to anyone working in a professional environment. The strategies found within will be useful now and going forward in my career.  I intend to purchase copies for those in my life just starting out in their careers, so they can also benefit from the helpful and realistic advice found in this book.

🏰If you could tell your younger self anything, what would that be?

I wish I’d known to work less and network more! There is so much to be gained from making genuine connections. 

🏰What has been the best accomplishment in your writing career?

I'm thrilled to share that I've been nominated by Routledge, the publisher of my 2023 book How to be Resilient in Your Career: Facing Up to Barriers at Work, for the Trillium Book Award!

Since its inception in 1987, the Trillium Book Award has been instrumental in celebrating and elevating the work of Ontario's authors, showcasing the exceptional quality and versatility of our literary landscape. With past winners like Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje, author of "The English Patient," this nomination is a significant honor in my professional journey.

🏰Do you have anything that you would like to say to your readers?

I would counsel anyone who is struggling with a workplace issue to reach out for help in some form before that issue takes its toll on his or her mental health. Whether it’s through a book a blog or a coach, don’t suffer indefinitely and hope the issue will resolve itself. So often clients come to me for help after months or even years of struggle. 

 

About How To Be Resilient In Your Career

How To Be Resilient in Your Career: Facing Up to Barriers at Work shares vital career advice to help professionals navigate common "internally disruptive" career experiences such as harassment and bullying, imposter syndrome, membership in an underrepresented group, toxic workplaces, discrimination, and more.

Dr. Helen Ofosu draws on twenty years of helping employers acquire talent and coaching professionals through difficult career choices to unpack these layered and complicated issues in an easy-to-follow way. Dealing with the dark side of management, the book outlines various issues that can occur in the workplace, or during a person's career journey, and offers practical advice on how to overcome these obstacles and setbacks. Using her considerable HR experience, Dr. Ofosu also offers coveted insights from the employer's point of view. For people who have already tried other options to resolve their complicated career issues, this book offers an essential guide that equips readers with a knowledge base to make informed decisions around building and sustaining a thriving and resilient career.

How to be Resilient in Your Career: Facing Up to Barriers at Work is a reliable resource presented with nuance, depth, and specificity. Psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, and HR professionals who are looking for effective advice when supporting people struggling with these issues, will greatly benefit from this book, as will early career professionals, and established earners looking to resolve their career issues.

You can purchase your copy at Amazon at https://t.ly/_rspc. 

Other Buy Links:

Audible | Barnes & Noble | Indigo