The series adaptation of ‘The Peripheral’ will be available on Amazon Prime Video starting October 21, 2022. Photo: Amazon
William Gibsonis credited with having coined the term “cyberspace” and having envisioned both the Internet and virtual reality before either existed. His first novel, “Neuromancer,” won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Philip K. Dick Award. He is also the New York Times bestselling author of “Count Zero,” “Burning Chrome,” “Mona Lisa Overdrive,” “Virtual Light,” “Idoru,” “All Tomorrow’s Parties,” “Pattern Recognition,” “Spook Country,” “Zero History,” “Distrust That Particular Flavor,” “The Peripheral,” and “Agency.” “The Peripheral,” a fast-paced sci-fi thriller that takes a terrifying look into the future, has been adapted into a series and will air on Amazon Prime Video beginning on October 21, 2022. The first season consists of eight episodes and stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Gary Carr, and Jack Reynor. (Amazon, 2022)
“The Peripheral” – Flynne Fisher lives down a country road, in a rural America where jobs are scarce, unless you count illegal drug manufacture, which she is trying to avoid. Her brother Burton lives on money from the Veterans Administration, for neurological damage suffered in the Marines’ elite Haptic Recon unit. Flynne earns what she can by assembling product at the local 3D printshop. She made more as a combat scout in an online game, playing for a rich man, but she has had to let the shooter games go.
Wilf Netherton lives in London, seventy-some years later, on the far side of decades of slow-motion apocalypse. Things are pretty good now, for the haves, and there are a few have-nots left. Wilf, a high-powered publicist and celebrity-minder, fancies himself a romantic misfit, in a society where reaching into the past is just another hobby.
Burton’s been moonlighting online, secretly working security in some game prototype, a virtual world that looks vaguely like London, but a lot weirder. He has got Flynne taking over shifts, promised her the game is not a shooter. Still, the crime she witnesses there is plenty bad. Flynne and Wilf are about to meet one another. Her world will be altered utterly, irrevocably, and Wilf’s, for all its decadence and power, will learn that some of these third-world types from the past can be badass.
‘Promotions Are SO Yesterday’ is Julie Winkle Giulioni’s new book on redefining career development. Photo: Amazon
Julie Winkle Giulioni is a champion for workplace growth and development and helps leaders optimize talent and potential within their organizations with consulting, keynote speeches, and training. She is the co-author of the international bestseller “Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Organizations Need and Employees Want.” She is a regular columnist for Training Industry magazine and SmartBrief and contributes articles on leadership, career development, and workplace trends to publications including The Economist. Julie’s in-person and virtual keynotes and presentations offer fresh, inspiring, yet actionable strategies for leaders who are interested in their own growth as well as supporting the growth of others. In her new book, “Promotions are SO Yesterday: Redefine Career Development. Help Employees Thrive,” Julie Winkle Giulioni offers readers a new approach for developing their employees’ careers and helping them thrive in a company when promotions are not readily available. (Amazon, 2022)
“Promotions Are SO Yesterday” – The time-honored tradition of defining career development exclusively in terms of promotions, moves, and title changes may be dead, but there are many other ways that employees can, and want to, grow. Many organizations still operate under the idea that promotions are the only option for career development, leaving employees disengaged, managers frustrated, and the business disadvantaged in its efforts to retain talent. The good news is that career development is so much more than promotions alone, and managers are in a powerful position to redefine career development and create positive results for their employees and their organizations in this area. In the Introduction, the author states that the goal of the book is to offer answers that will enable managers to deliver greater employee engagement, satisfaction, and results. It is divided into nine chapters: Chapter 1: Promotions Are Overrated, Chapter 2: Contribution, Chapter 3: Competence, Chapter 4: Connection, Chapter 5: Confidence, Chapter 6: Challenge, Chapter 7: Contentment, Chapter 8: Choice, and Chapter 9:Possibilities Are the New Promotion. Chapters 2 through 8 examine the different frameworks that make up career development and how to use each to help employees grow. Each chapter contains tools, exercises and pro tips and ends with ‘The Final Word’ to summarize topic discussed. There are additional resources for employers to learn more, dig deeper, and get employees engaged in career development.
Career development is and always will be a major component of businesses and organizations. How employers tackle this issue is always changing, especially in a post-COVID environment, where priorities have shifted. “Promotions Are SO Yesterday” contains practical advice, questions to spark reflection and productive dialogue, and tools that managers can use to help employees thrive at work while supporting their organization. Highlights include Chapter 2: Contributions,Make Extracurriculars Go the Extra Mile – which suggests that managers should encourage employees to get involved outside of work as a volunteer in a charity, a non profit, or at a child’s school. This will not only help them give back to the community, but they will bring back to the workplace some valuable lessons and skills. Transferrable skills benefit the organization as a whole. As well as Chapter 4: Connection – it emphasizes the importance of connecting with others at work because this represents “a significant source of professional growth and career development.” Much of what we learn we pick up from others whether it is through coaching apprenticeships, mentoring, or role models. Despite the business subject matter, it is far from dull and long winded. The language is easy to understand and this makes it accessible to anyone. Even though this book is geared towards managers, employees can also benefit from the tools, guidelines, and exercises. “Promotions Are SO Yesterday” is an excellent business guide for management and employees and is recommended for readers who appreciate books on business mentoring, human resources, and business management.
“Helping others enhance their competence may simultaneously be your most selfish and selfless act as a manager. It’s selfless because you’re enabling the development of portable skills that make your employees more marketable. And it’s selfish because of the profound benefits that you and your organization can reap in terms of job satisfaction, engagement, performance, and results.”
*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.
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