The books that got me to my dream job, again
By Megan Collins, Founder of @themanicuredshelf
Part of why I love reading so much is because of the perspective it’s given me. I once heard someone say there was a correlation between highly empathetic people and readers. I don't know if that’s because constantly immersing yourself in the words of others helps you see things from their perspective or because empathetic people crave to understand their fellow humans and are drawn to the bookworm life. Either way, I know that the thousands of hours I've spent inside the minds of hundreds of writers I've never met has been instrumental to who I am and how I move through the world.
As you can imagine, narrowing it down to just a few for this list was no easy task. Echoing Jamie's story of perspective and vulnerability in this month's editor’s letter, I was inspired to make this list very personal. As someone who prioritizes their career, I'm on the precipice of a big life change transitioning to a new role at YouTube where I hope to continue to champion the Gen Z perspective on the world.
For me, moments of transition are moments of reflection. So as I embark on this new chapter I want to share 3 books that shifted or challenged my perspective and got me to where I am today: about to start my dream job for the third time in a row.
The Female Persuasion
The book that gave me more empathy for lived experience
Meg Wolitzer is another favorite of mine. In April the book list inspired by the theme “grow,” I recommended The Wife. The Female Persuasion is a book that explores the modern generational tension in feminism. It’s a story of two women working at a non profit who agree in theory but have different ideas of HOW they should operate to achieve their goals. The book examines the complicated dynamic between 63-year-old established career feminist Faith, who has spent a lifetime working towards gender equality, and her protege Greer. Greer is young and idealistic (or naive depending on your perspective) about the nonprofit world and challenges Faith, who is jaded (or realistic depending on your perspective).
I read this in a time where the great derision in America was all anyone could talk about. Online it seemed like even people who agreed with one another were in conflict over who was more “right.” This book helped me to understand generational conflicts better and is why I’m passionate about bridging the divide for those who still don’t fully “get” Gen Z.
CULTURAL THEMES: Women, Feminism, Work, Millennials, Generational Conflict
Read Speed: Slow
Why Not Me by Mindy Kaling
The book that gave me permission to speak as confidently as I feel
I read Why Not Me in the fall of 2015. I had just started my first job as an assistant-slash-thought-worker (trend forecaster) and was struggling with how to quantify achievement sans grades. I could schedule meetings flawlessly and not mess up anyone’s lunch order no problem but the metric for success over whether or not the trends your spotting hit dominant culture felt pass/fail and intimidating. Reading this book in my sink or swim mindset helped me tap into my existing inner confidence. Mindy talks about how she was raised to have the confidence of a white man and I could relate to this more nuanced and comical take on Lean In (which I had found practically helpful if rooted in anti-feminism.) I decided to run with it and since the confidence with which I speak about my ideas has been called out to me as a key to my success. Thanks, Mindy!
CULTURAL THEMES: Women, Feminism, Celebrity, Race, Work, Comedy
READ SPEED: Very Fast
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
A book from the past that taught me how to look at the future
This was the first book I read for school that I liked. I was in 7th grade and My teacher at the time was named Mr. Maker and he was also a professor at the local community college. Looking back, I could see he was frustrated with the teaching to the (standardize) test style of teaching that was popular at the time in public schools and actually wanted us to fall in love with literature. (which most of the class actually did in that text-messaging became a thing that year.) I—already in love with literature if you count a fantasy series written by a woman who shall not be named—actually fell in love with speculating about the future of humanity through reading The Illustrated Man. The science-fiction book is a collection of short stories imagining a (at times very cynical) future where humans are being destroyed by the technology of their own creation. Think Black Mirror but written in 1951.
Despite being written so many years prior, his predictions about the future are insightful. Moreover, I knew while reading it that I had something to say in the same way he did about the questioning and challenging of progress, technology, and power. The Illustrated Man is a book that I return to sometimes one chapter at a time, sometimes front to back to remind me to question if where we’re headed is where we want to end up.
CULTURAL THEMES: Technology, future-casting, humanity
READ SPEED: Fast@themanicuredshelf
Megan Collins is a Cultural Insights Analyst & Founder of @themanicuredshelf and a regular contributor to the M.T. Deco Blog