High-level technology has forever changed-and continues to change-the way we work and the skill sets we need to succeed in our careers. So whether you're growing your own business, looking for a promotion, or changing jobs, chances are you'll have to master a new skills along the way. For those of us who weren't born with a computer in our hands, keeping up with constant technological advances can seem overwhelming. But adjusting to the new world of work that technology has created is much easier than it appears. This book gives all of us the tools we need to thrive in the information age.
Beverly Goldberg sifts through the high-tech hyperbole and provides a context for understanding the new computer and communication
systems that connect us in so many intimidating and exciting ways. She then presents a six-step action plan for accepting the new state of constant change, coming to grips with the ways it has transformed the workplace, and mastering the skills we need for success.
By altering our attitudes about change and providing step-by-step guidelines for building our skills, she eases the anxiety many of us feel about the future. She shows how to gather the knowledge necessary to comprehend the new technologies critical to our specific jobs. She explains how to acquire the technical skills we need now and anticipate those we will need in the future. She demonstrates ways to use networks to connect with people who can give us help when we need it and to build trusting business relationships on-line. And she teaches us how to reinvent ourselves continually and prepare for twenty-first century careers.
With tip sheets that identify specific actions to take and aconcluding chapter that anticipates the road ahead, Overcoming High-Tech Anxiety provides the support, guidance, and practical advice we all need to stay up to speed.

Modern business firms face a complex array of problems that result from rapid changes in their competitive environment, and the exponential growth of new technologies. This book recognizes that reality and finds answers to these problems in the new science of complexity. The authors show how small changes in leadership, governance, and technology can have enormous consequences in an organization. They also argue that there is no quick fix to organizational problems -- that no one solution will work for all firms. Posing seven principles for organizational success, the authors explain how their ideas apply to a range of business challenges, including ethical conduct, management systems, new organizational forms, networks that are changing the way work gets done, the impact of new technologies, and the kinds of leaders who will be required to manage the new organizations.

We Americans have always thought of ourselves as a young country -- brash, innovative, full of vigor. However, the uncomfortable truth is that America is getting older. The nation's median age was twenty-five in the 1960s, but today more than half of us are over thirty-five. By the middle of the next century, there will be more Americans in their seventies than in their teens. This demographic shift will transform all aspects of our society, but nowhere will its effects be more evident than in America's workplaces. In ten years, the massive baby-boom generation will begin to reach retirement age, but few companies have paid attention to the fact that there are not enough younger workers to replace them. The challenge to corporate America, as Beverly Goldberg argues in "Age Works, " is to reinvent the workplace to make it better fit the needs of all employees, especially the older workers it must retain in order to thrive.

The task will not be easy. The waves of downsizing, outsourcing, and cost-cutting of the 1980s and 1990s created a generation of disillusioned employees, many of whom now eagerly look forward to retirement as a way to escape the anxieties of corporate life. More Americans than ever are retiring early, but what is most surprising about these early retirees is that they are not spending their days playing tennis, golf, or shuffleboard. Rather, they are starting businesses, doing volunteer work, and pursuing intellectual interests. They are "working, " just not within the corporate world.

The challenge to the business community, Goldberg argues, is to find ways to hold on to these talented individuals. "Age Works" shows how corporations such as Whirlpool, GTE, and Days Inns have changed their corporate cultures to be more receptive to the needs of older workers. Goldberg debunks the myths about older workers' capabilities, showing how forward-looking companies have successfully taught high-tech skills to a generation that was not brought up with computers. She also proposes innovative reforms for the way we think about the concept of retirement itself, offering new ways of thinking about pensions, Social Security, mentoring programs, flex-time, and flex jobs.

With effective tips for rebuilding company loyalty without making guarantees of lifetime employment, "Age Works" is an indispensable guide for employers who must respond to a rapidly changing workforce. It is also essential reading for all Americans who are concerned about our nation's economic vitality in the twenty-first century.