The Father Factor: How Your Father's Legacy Impacts Your Career

by Stephan B. Poulter

Book Overview

The father factor is the conscious understanding, awareness, and appreciation of the critical influence that your father had, still has, or could have in your career development and future potential. Noting that the father-son or father-daughter relationship is one of the least understood relationships in adult life, Dr. Poulter helps you become acutely aware of the immeasurable impact (negative or positive) that your father has on your ability to...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591024102
• ISBN13: 9781591024101
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 239 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

excellent book!

I thouroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. I also read and studied "The Mother Factor". Both of these books should be used in conjunction with each other for the best results. This book will help you overcome the career problems instilled in you from the way your father raised you. The first step is to be aware of the things written in your father factor "rule book". The next step is to figure out a way to change these rules to ones that will help you in your career. If you go on denying that the problems encountered in your career have anything to do with the way your father raised you, then you will run into more problems changing the pattern than you would otherwise. The book points out that denial is a way of allowing your father factor rules to creep up on you and sabotage your career. Most of us try to solve our problems by cutting the "branches and stems" instead of the roots, hence allowing our problems to crop up all over the place. By studying this book and following the author's advice however, you will not likely be blind-sided by those unwritten father factor "rules".

Professional Help for a Steal

This book is written by an extremely knowledgable professional. In general, I tend to be skeptical about self-help books but this one was worth every dime and more. I felt that I was receiving quality phychotherapy, which I could partake of at my own rate of comprehension. While it's true that a portion of its content is clinical--maybe a tad dry--the bulk of it is engaging and illuminating. The advice, checklists and exercises are extremely valuable. If you are open to this man's message, able to think critically about your behavior and its influences, and motivated enough to change by doing the difficult work herein, then this book will help you. For me, it was validation. It was the first, and most important, step toward healing and reform. It took me several months to read it because I re-read a lot of material, using it more as a textbook. Not only did I recognize myself in its pages but also many other types of my coworkers. This book increased my awareness and understanding of why people do the dysfunctional things they do, thus increasing my empathy and sympathy and, inevitably, my productivity and progress.

father factor review

This is a very intense book requiring a lot of self honesty and much self reflection. However, I highly recommend it for any man or woman who experiences a lot of anger and frustration related to career and "father" issues that they just can't resolve.

A father is key to understanding choices and roadblocks in a career

The Father Factor: How Your Father's Legacy Impacts Your Career comes from a psychologist who maintains the influence of a father is key to understanding choices and roadblocks in a career. Both positive and negative impacts are surveyed, from a passive or absent father's influence to understanding how destructive messages translate into workforce action or inaction. The 'what you can do about it' section is critical for change and a successful career approach.

Daddy Dearest

This is a WOW of a book. Fathers are the stereotypical breadwinners in the household. How are father's careers evolve infuence how ours do as well. We become our parents patterns if we are not careful. For women, this is especially poignant, and for those of us whose fathers demanded results-oriented performance .... looking back ... it really was a blessing in disguise. Kudos to all the men who pushed their daughters to succeed and fobade them to date in childhood. This is further evidence that the phrase "the apple does not fall far from the tree" has truth to it. Although we can't blame our parents forever, being in denial is equally disempowering. By the time we are five years old a good 90% of our personalities are formed based on our observations of mom and dad, our genetic tendencies of temperament, and imprinted memories of childhood already experienced thus far. People are a product of their DNA and upbringing. While our DNA is beyond our control, the negative behavior patterns of our primary caregivers and their impact on us as adults is something we can address. Fathers teach children how to operate in the world of work, handle authority, and problem solve while managing emotions. If we are imprinted by a paternal role model that does not serve our career interests then we have the choice as adults to "overwrite" the program. It doesn't happen overnight but recovering from the effects will happen once the problem is isolated and then addressed properly. One key factor is to not do this alone. Friends are great but this kind of emotional disconnection requires professional assistance. One program that has been known to accomplish this is The Hoffman Process which calls such experiences of parental imprinting and modeling "the Negative Love Syndrome". And the way to disconnect does lie in empathy and forgiveness AFTER healing through the pain of a negative pattern legacy in the first place.