Blitz the Ladder: A team-based approach to getting ahead in business (PDF)

'Blitz the Ladder' provides an in-depth view at a unique approach to improving your career. This involves developing your own team of supporters who focus on managing the team's perception to managers and the organization. It's a simple active technique that doesn't require one to learn complicated concepts or figure out how to apply the typical academic advice to their situation.

The book is presented from the viewpoint that the reader has hit the preverbal glass ceiling, rendering their career mobility totally stagnant or wandering aimlessly. It is designed to put the "mobile" back into mobility without the need to totally reinvent yourself to overcome your flaws. The book starts out painting a rather stark portrait of the average organization and the resources within it which employees consider to be critical in developing their careers. While most books seek to motivate more than educate, Rhoad explains how in most companies these resources aren't very useful and are quite often misguided. He analyzes the employee, immediate manager, human resources, and informal networks in terms of both their pro's and con's.

In spite of the normal complications in moving up in a company, the book provides a new method, termed the "Blitz," which is designed to easily overcome many of the barriers to upward mobility. This group-based technique is compared to the common individual method of career progression. Rhoad guides the reader in determining the team size, selecting team members, developing career strategy, avoiding Plateauing and maintaining sufficient team and individual motivation.