Adam Markel, Wall Street Journal Best-selling author of PIVOT: the Art and Science of Reinventing Your Career and Life

“Packed with information, insight, and terrific advice, Golden Handcuffs gives you the kick-start you need to set yourself free. A must-read for both new and long-term public servants . ”

Fern Lebo, Co-author of The Talent Revolution

Eric Deschamps, Business Coach/Advisor

Use this book to take stock of your public sector career. While on vacation recently, I used this book to reflect inwardly on my job satisfaction and to let myself dream of the possibility of finding personal fulfillment at work. This book revealed many truths about public sector culture that are not easy to see when you are caught up in the machinery of government. Now back at work, I find myself more able to see the aspects of public service life that contribute to feelings of personal frustration and overwhelm. I’m also better able to pay attention to what I’m good at and what parts of my job make me happy. Now that I am aware, I may be subconsciously planning for a change? At any rate, this book is a must read for my public sector colleagues. Use it to help you gain insight and at the same practice a bit of self-care.

Great book, even if you’re not in the public service and thinking of leaving to pursue your dreams. It’s an easy and fun read, with light sarcastic humor. Lewis dispels some myths and opens your mind to thinking about career possibilities outside of public service.

This book is intended for a public servant who is reflecting on their career. It could serve to help explain a government culture many on the outside refer to as bureaucratic. But ,in all, this is the book that serves to begin a conversation about what it takes to be happy at work.

I very much enjoyed this premise Mr Eisen brings to how/why government creates the conditions that can shackle an employee into a mindset of either ‘I have arrived’ or ‘what am I doing here?’ Especially noteworthy, for me, are the identification of root causes. I.e. A system that has inherently a lack of delegation to it, such that managers are rendered with zero power and even less authority.

The reading is quick, The writing is straightforward and direct. The author makes it feel very much like in on a conversation. I looked up many times during my reading wanting to reach out and talk to someone about my own version of the examples he sites. And there are many examples that I can relate to. Check out the chapter on Delegation. There, key ideas like ‘the value of time’ and Managers ‘not seeing the big picture’, all work to leave someone evaluating their career that the government is about conforming vs creating.

While short, and perhaps too much so, the book still manages to dive deep enough into the topic of defining the term “golden handcuffs”, explaining the situation of the government world such that you are left wonder if you, yourself, emphasize the ‘golden’ or the ‘handcuffs’ part of your job.

In conclusion, I recommend this book as a great vacation book for a civil servant needing to reevaluate their work situation. Vacations are meant to unplug from work but don’t shy away from your time to self evaluate and using stories and examples from your work do get your thinking started. Lewis’s style and message gets you motivated to ask yourself the tough questions about surviving in this culture and work operations or deciding to leave.