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Backing U!: A Business-Oriented Guide to Backing Your Passion and Achieving Career Success
Are you satisfied in your job or business? 50% of employees are not. If you are one of them, are you at risk of losing out to those who are satisfied? Would you back U in your current job? What are the chances of your job being hit by market downturn? Are there too many people with your skills? Do you have what it takes to compete? Is your attitude right? If you are backable, how can you make yourself more so? Or perhaps it is time to look elsewhere. But where? How do you find a job that really inspires you? And where you will be backable? Backing U! answers all these questions. It shows you how to back the hwyl in you, the passion, fervor, spirit that can lift you to extremes of success!
333 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
5 people want to read
About the author
Vaughan Evans
47 books7 followersVAUGHAN EVANS is an independent strategy consultant and has specialised in strategy and business planning for business clients and strategic due diligence for private equity over four decades. He is also a prolific writer and dynamic speaker - see www.vaughanevansandpartners.com for further info.
He is the author of the best-selling THE FT ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO WRITING A BUSINESS PLAN: HOW TO WIN BACKING TO START UP OR GROW YOUR BUSINESS (2nd edition, 2015), a book that views business planning distinctively from the perspective of the backer. It guides the entrepreneur or manager on how to address each of the key concerns of the backer, whether banker, investor or board member. Its North American version, THE STANDOUT BUSINESS PLAN: MAKE IT IRRESISTIBLE - AND GET THE FUNDS YOU NEED FOR YOUR STARTUP OR GROWING BUSINESS (2014), was co-authored with success guru Brian Tracy.
THE FT ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO DEVELOPING A BUSINESS STRATEGY: HOW TO USE STRATEGIC PLANNING TO START UP OR GROW YOUR BUSINESS (2013) is a companion to the guide on business planning. It has been exceptionally well reviewed by peers, who view it as a succinct, practical and highly readable guide to drawing up a business strategy - ideal for busy managers and entrepreneurs, intent on lifting their business to the next level.
KISSTRATEGY: A KEEP-IT-SIMPLE GUIDE ON HOW TO BUILD A WINNING STRATEGY FOR YOUR STARTUP OR SMALL BUSINESS (2016), Vaughan's latest book, does what it says on the tin. It keeps business strategy simple. It is concise (100 pages or so), jargon-free and purpose-built for small businesspeople to read on a one hour journey.
KEY STRATEGY TOOLS: THE 80+ TOOLS FOR EVERY MANAGER TO BUILD A WINNING STRATEGY was one of the top three selling business books in the UK in the first quarter of 2013. The selection of tools, rated as either useful or essential and slotted uniquely into a no-nonsense strategy development process, is innovative, instructive and practically applicable. A more succinct version of this book, 25 NEED-TO-KNOW STRATEGY TOOLS (2014), pulls out the most important tools and adds an insightful case study to each.
LET THE SUN SHINE! HOW STRATEGIC DUE DILIGENCE IS KEY TO ACQUISITION SUCCESS (2015) could well have been Vaughan's first book - he has been highly active in this field since LBOs first wafted across the Atlantic in the mid-1980s. This book "pours sunlight onto the complex challenges of getting strategic due diligence right".
He also writes on career development, on how thinking of yourself as a one person business can advance or transform your career. He deploys the very tools he has developed in business strategy for the analysis of an individual's career prospects. Hence his BACKING YOU! range of books (www.backingu.com), regarded by peers as innovative, insightful and win-win.
Vaughan Evans is a charismatic, humorous and inspirational speaker (see www.vaughanevansandpartners.com/speaking). His lively keynote speech KISSTRATEGY urges the audience to keep business strategy simple, focusing on its three key components of Market, Advantage and Risk. He is also the author of the instructive yet entertaining STAND, SPEAK, DELIVER! HOW TO SURVIVE - AND THRIVE- IN PUBLIC SPEAKING AND PRESENTING (2015).
An economics graduate of Cambridge University and an Alfred P. Sloan fellow with distinction of London Business School, he worked for many years at management consultants Arthur D. Little and investment bankers Bankers Trust. A former resident of exotic lands such as the British Virgin Islands, Borneo, Fiji and Thailand, he hails from West Wales and lives alongside London's Richmond Park.
He is the author of the best-selling THE FT ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO WRITING A BUSINESS PLAN: HOW TO WIN BACKING TO START UP OR GROW YOUR BUSINESS (2nd edition, 2015), a book that views business planning distinctively from the perspective of the backer. It guides the entrepreneur or manager on how to address each of the key concerns of the backer, whether banker, investor or board member. Its North American version, THE STANDOUT BUSINESS PLAN: MAKE IT IRRESISTIBLE - AND GET THE FUNDS YOU NEED FOR YOUR STARTUP OR GROWING BUSINESS (2014), was co-authored with success guru Brian Tracy.
THE FT ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO DEVELOPING A BUSINESS STRATEGY: HOW TO USE STRATEGIC PLANNING TO START UP OR GROW YOUR BUSINESS (2013) is a companion to the guide on business planning. It has been exceptionally well reviewed by peers, who view it as a succinct, practical and highly readable guide to drawing up a business strategy - ideal for busy managers and entrepreneurs, intent on lifting their business to the next level.
KISSTRATEGY: A KEEP-IT-SIMPLE GUIDE ON HOW TO BUILD A WINNING STRATEGY FOR YOUR STARTUP OR SMALL BUSINESS (2016), Vaughan's latest book, does what it says on the tin. It keeps business strategy simple. It is concise (100 pages or so), jargon-free and purpose-built for small businesspeople to read on a one hour journey.
KEY STRATEGY TOOLS: THE 80+ TOOLS FOR EVERY MANAGER TO BUILD A WINNING STRATEGY was one of the top three selling business books in the UK in the first quarter of 2013. The selection of tools, rated as either useful or essential and slotted uniquely into a no-nonsense strategy development process, is innovative, instructive and practically applicable. A more succinct version of this book, 25 NEED-TO-KNOW STRATEGY TOOLS (2014), pulls out the most important tools and adds an insightful case study to each.
LET THE SUN SHINE! HOW STRATEGIC DUE DILIGENCE IS KEY TO ACQUISITION SUCCESS (2015) could well have been Vaughan's first book - he has been highly active in this field since LBOs first wafted across the Atlantic in the mid-1980s. This book "pours sunlight onto the complex challenges of getting strategic due diligence right".
He also writes on career development, on how thinking of yourself as a one person business can advance or transform your career. He deploys the very tools he has developed in business strategy for the analysis of an individual's career prospects. Hence his BACKING YOU! range of books (www.backingu.com), regarded by peers as innovative, insightful and win-win.
Vaughan Evans is a charismatic, humorous and inspirational speaker (see www.vaughanevansandpartners.com/speaking). His lively keynote speech KISSTRATEGY urges the audience to keep business strategy simple, focusing on its three key components of Market, Advantage and Risk. He is also the author of the instructive yet entertaining STAND, SPEAK, DELIVER! HOW TO SURVIVE - AND THRIVE- IN PUBLIC SPEAKING AND PRESENTING (2015).
An economics graduate of Cambridge University and an Alfred P. Sloan fellow with distinction of London Business School, he worked for many years at management consultants Arthur D. Little and investment bankers Bankers Trust. A former resident of exotic lands such as the British Virgin Islands, Borneo, Fiji and Thailand, he hails from West Wales and lives alongside London's Richmond Park.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 15, 2015
“Backing U! will start your career search with passion,
then guide you step by step with rigorous screening
tools Vaughan Evans developed during his extensive
business experience. You’ll end up with a career option
that not only inspires you but gives you every chance of
success. This is a terrific, original addition to
career guidance books.”
—Barbara Sher, author of Wishcraft: How to Get What
You Really Want and I Could Do Anything
If I Only Knew What It Was
“Uncertain that you’re in the right job or career?
Backing U! is a fresh, lively, in-depth guide on how to
assess your work situation and shift to work you’ll feel
passionate about. What makes it stand out from so many
other career books is its business perspective. It guides
the reader through original tools and realistic case studies
on the route to achieving career happiness and success.”—
Julie Jansen, author of I Don’t Know What I
Want, But I Know It’s Not This
“If you are wondering whether you are in the right
job or business, Vaughan Evans’s Backing U! will re-ignite
your passion. Rich, detailed examples bring his innovative
ideas to life. As you apply his time-tested business
tools to your career, you’ll gain insight, clarity, and the
motivation to succeed!”—Carol L. McClelland, author of
Your Dream Career for Dummies
“This is a thorough work on achieving career success,
full of innovative tools and charts, which I love!
Readers will appreciate how they clarify the issues that
are key to career development.”—Daniel Porot, author
of The PIE Method for Career Success and summer workshop
co-leader with Richard N. Bolles, author of
What Color Is Your Parachute?
“A novel, engaging and high-energy way of getting
the most out of your working life!”—John Lees, author of
How to Get a Job You’ll Love
“Backing U! is great, especially for someone like me
that loves logical processes. It has some fantastic exercises
for helping people to find and land a job with passion,
fervor and spirit, what Vaughan Evans calls your hwyl.
If you want guidance in shifting to a job you love, this
excellent book is for you.”—Catherine Roan,
managing director, www.careershifters.org
“Backing U! uses tools developed by the author over
many years to assess the viability of small businesses
and cleverly adapts these for individuals to assess themselves
as if they were a business. Applied to both the
employed and self-employed the reader is taken on a detailed
and challenging journey to discover whether they
should indeed be backing themselves. Vaughan Evans
introduces many techniques to help to achieve this, including
the wonderful Welsh concept of hwyl—your driving
passion—without which the journey could founder. It
is clear what his hwyl is and he does an excellent job of
conveying that to the rest of us.”
—Dr. Barrie Hopson, author of Build Your Own Rainbow:
A Workbook for Career and Life Management
“An innovative approach to getting your
career on the right track.”
—Nick Williams, author of The Work We Were Born to Do
“As with business, career change is not a one-stop
destination, more a continuing evolution. And underpinning
success in both is usually fundamental engagement
or passion. Backing U!’s very novel approach and tools
use exactly this principle, helping you re-inject vision
into an existing direction or to find a satisfying new one.
Backing U! brings business-like rigour into the career
transition process. Some may be put off by the charts,
the lists, and the rating. But for those who relish rigorous
analysis, and for those who really need it to enact
their career change, Vaughan Evans’s fresh, lucid and
lively approach is most welcome.”
—Sonia Lakshman, owner of career transition
consultancy, One Smart Step
then guide you step by step with rigorous screening
tools Vaughan Evans developed during his extensive
business experience. You’ll end up with a career option
that not only inspires you but gives you every chance of
success. This is a terrific, original addition to
career guidance books.”
—Barbara Sher, author of Wishcraft: How to Get What
You Really Want and I Could Do Anything
If I Only Knew What It Was
“Uncertain that you’re in the right job or career?
Backing U! is a fresh, lively, in-depth guide on how to
assess your work situation and shift to work you’ll feel
passionate about. What makes it stand out from so many
other career books is its business perspective. It guides
the reader through original tools and realistic case studies
on the route to achieving career happiness and success.”—
Julie Jansen, author of I Don’t Know What I
Want, But I Know It’s Not This
“If you are wondering whether you are in the right
job or business, Vaughan Evans’s Backing U! will re-ignite
your passion. Rich, detailed examples bring his innovative
ideas to life. As you apply his time-tested business
tools to your career, you’ll gain insight, clarity, and the
motivation to succeed!”—Carol L. McClelland, author of
Your Dream Career for Dummies
“This is a thorough work on achieving career success,
full of innovative tools and charts, which I love!
Readers will appreciate how they clarify the issues that
are key to career development.”—Daniel Porot, author
of The PIE Method for Career Success and summer workshop
co-leader with Richard N. Bolles, author of
What Color Is Your Parachute?
“A novel, engaging and high-energy way of getting
the most out of your working life!”—John Lees, author of
How to Get a Job You’ll Love
“Backing U! is great, especially for someone like me
that loves logical processes. It has some fantastic exercises
for helping people to find and land a job with passion,
fervor and spirit, what Vaughan Evans calls your hwyl.
If you want guidance in shifting to a job you love, this
excellent book is for you.”—Catherine Roan,
managing director, www.careershifters.org
“Backing U! uses tools developed by the author over
many years to assess the viability of small businesses
and cleverly adapts these for individuals to assess themselves
as if they were a business. Applied to both the
employed and self-employed the reader is taken on a detailed
and challenging journey to discover whether they
should indeed be backing themselves. Vaughan Evans
introduces many techniques to help to achieve this, including
the wonderful Welsh concept of hwyl—your driving
passion—without which the journey could founder. It
is clear what his hwyl is and he does an excellent job of
conveying that to the rest of us.”
—Dr. Barrie Hopson, author of Build Your Own Rainbow:
A Workbook for Career and Life Management
“An innovative approach to getting your
career on the right track.”
—Nick Williams, author of The Work We Were Born to Do
“As with business, career change is not a one-stop
destination, more a continuing evolution. And underpinning
success in both is usually fundamental engagement
or passion. Backing U!’s very novel approach and tools
use exactly this principle, helping you re-inject vision
into an existing direction or to find a satisfying new one.
Backing U! brings business-like rigour into the career
transition process. Some may be put off by the charts,
the lists, and the rating. But for those who relish rigorous
analysis, and for those who really need it to enact
their career change, Vaughan Evans’s fresh, lucid and
lively approach is most welcome.”
—Sonia Lakshman, owner of career transition
consultancy, One Smart Step
Displaying 1 of 1 review