A burden or newfound power?

The new Godfather, Michael Corleone, looks as though he felt the enormous burden that fate had just put on his shoulders. At the same time, he has the look of a man who feels confident and quite capable of handling whatever comes his way.

To manage oneself and one's career may seem like as if a huge burden were suddenly placed on one's shoulders. But self-management is not an option. It is the only way to survive in the new economy, as Peter Drucker has repeatedly said.

The era of cushy permanent jobs is gone forever. Employers today not only do not offer lifetime employment, they actually expect workers to demonstrate lifetime employability ("move up or move out!").

This may seem callous on employers' part, but in fact, they really have no choice given the intensification of competition from countries such as India and China.

Every person's career will have to become a business, and since business is war, the best way to prepare for the career battles ahead is to build, slowly but surely, one's "private army" of social and business connections.