HarperCollins India presents REBOOT: How to Manage Career Breaks and Return with Greater Success by Issac John

October 27, 2022 adhigo

NEW DELHI, Oct. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — When Issac quit his dream job of Head of Marketing at PUMA in 2015 and took a career break to study screenwriting in New York, little did he know what he had signed up for. Over the past two years, Issac spoke to more than fifty working professionals, all of whom went through a break in their career for various reasons.

Reboot is an intimate, honest and rich compendium of all those experiences, mistakes, lows and highs that people confronted with a career break go through.

Author, Issac John says, “Career breaks, whether voluntary or involuntary, dent the confidence of working professionals and make it harder for them to rejoin a mainstream career. I struggled with it up close when after my second sabbatical, it took me 18 months to make a comeback. It’s high time we normalise career breaks and Reboot is a step towards that. Reboot covers myriad experiences of people at different levels who not just survived to tell the tale of similar journeys but went on to accomplish amazing things after their career break.”

Executive Editor, Sachin Sharma says, “Taking a break and then getting back into the job market is akin to getting off a treadmill and then getting back on it while it’s moving. Issac John took not one but three breaks during the course of his corporate career to pursue various interests. Every time, making a comeback was riddled with challenges. Not only did he successfully manage comebacks, he ensured he made notes of all the learnings enroute. Reboot is a book that should be in every working professional’s bookshelf.”

ABOUT THE BOOK

When Issac quit his dream job of Head of Marketing at PUMA in 2015 and took a career break to study screenwriting in New York, little did he know what he had signed up for.

Over the next eighteen months, he would face over a hundred rejections from famed brands, headhunters, publishers, talent agencies and producers. After being rejected in the final interview rounds of brands like Uber, Netflix and Airbnb, he slowly and steadily clawed his way back into a mainstream career. Issac went on to lead a team of over a hundred people at Discovery, having built their direct-to-consumer OTT business in Asia-Pacific (discovery+), and has authored two books – all in a span of five years since that career break.

Over the past two years, Issac spoke to more than fifty working professionals, all of whom went through a break in their career for various reasons. Reboot is an intimate, honest and rich compendium of all those experiences, mistakes, lows and highs that people confronted with a career break go through. It shares the message that no matter the odds you are up against, a career break is always temporary, and, in many cases, it can even prove to be life-changing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Issac John has led large direct-to-consumer teams spanning marketing, product, design and tech functions, with stellar consumer brands such as Discovery and PUMA. A big believer in re-shaping careers, he has taken two breaks over the course of his career of sixteen years, one of which took him back to school at the New York Film Academy at the age of thirty-three. Both his breaks, while leading to short-term pain, turned out to be game-changing for his personal and professional growth.

Issac is currently building his own company as an entrepreneur-in-residence with Antler India, an early stage VC firm.

ADVANCE PRAISE

‘When Issac told me about his decision to quit PUMA, I knew he was leaving a very large mandate. However, he told me he wanted to explore alternate paths, as he never wanted to regret later that he didn’t look beyond a linear journey. Reboot is as much about Issac’s challenges, uncertainties, despair as it is about the eclectic nature of his experiences in the road to finding his new craft. Reading the narration of others with similar career pivots—I am convinced a reboot often leads to finding one’s new destiny. Like Steve Jobs said, ‘You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.’ So, trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” — Abhishek Ganguly, MD, PUMA India and SEA

“A really well written and easy-to-read book by the brilliantly articulate Issac. I am certain this book will take away the stigma of career breaks—both for employees and recruiters. It comes from the personal experience of somebody who has gone through this himself (apart from the interviews). This book highlights it is okay to have this break, do something constructive during the time and how one could handle the situation practically. I wish Issac had written this much earlier; a lot of us would have taken a break, confidently!”

—Anil Jayaraj, CEO, Sports, Viacom18

“An honest, refreshing read, Reboot is the first structured approach to normalize the growing phenomenon of sabbaticals and career breaks. Issac John’s deeply personal stories and examples will inspire you to dust off your backpack and put on your wandering shoes to conquer the world! Highly recommended.”

—Karan Bajaj, Founder, WhiteHat Jr, bestselling novelist

“We all go through setbacks in life. This book gives many inspiring insights on knowing that when life gives us the boot, we can reboot with purpose and clarity.”

—Megha Tata, former MD, Discovery India

“In a world getting younger and restless, Issac’s book is a lighthouse for all those who want to break away from conformity, for those who want to pursue their passions and even for those who have found themselves lost. With real stories of successful professionals, the book truly lives up to its expectations.”

—Rajiv Mehta, CEO, Stovekraft Limited

“I have taken three breaks in my career—the first one was scary mostly for the fear of ‘log kya kahenge’. But the changed perspective, clarity of thought and support I received convinces me that, at certain junctures, it is a hugely powerful thing to do and Reboot gives you a playbook to take that leap.”

—Sachindra Rudra, Founder, Caha Capital, former global CIO, Acumen

“Everyone thinks that exiting a job either voluntarily or because of corporate action can derail one’s personal and professional growth. Having gone through an entrepreneurial journey before coming back into the corporate world was an enriching experience for me and I can confidently say I became a much better manager and leader because of that stint. Never be afraid to reboot. I found this to be such an insightful read.”

—Shariq Patel, CEO, Zee Studios

“Anne Lamont once said, ‘Almost everything will work again, if you unplug it for a few minutes. Including you.’ How long will the minutes be and how you use them is up to you and this book gives plenty of ideas, experiences that I found very relevant and insightful.”

—Vidhya Srinivasan, CFO, Bata India Limited

About HarperCollins Publishers India

HarperCollins India publishes some of the finest writers from the Indian Subcontinent and around the world, publishing approximately 200 new books every year, with a print and digital catalogue of more than 2,000 titles across 10 imprints. Its authors have won almost every major literary award including the Man Booker Prize, JCB Prize, DSC Prize, New India Foundation Award, Atta Galatta Prize, Shakti Bhatt Prize, Gourmand Cookbook Award, Publishing Next Award, Tata Literature Live Award, Gaja Capital Business Book Prize, BICW Award, Sushila Devi Award, Prabha Khaitan Woman’s Voice Award, Sahitya Akademi Award and the Crossword Book Award. HarperCollins India has been awarded the Publisher of the Year Award four times: at Publishing Next in 2015, and at Tata Literature Live! in 2016, 2018 and 2021. HarperCollins India also represents some of the finest publishers in the world including Egmont, Oneworld, Harvard University Press, Bonnier Zaffre, Usborne, Dover and Lonely Planet.

For reviews, excerpts, interviews, and more information, please contact Vandana Rathore at vandana.rathore@harpercollins.co.in

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