According to the book description of Stuck in the Middle: A Generation X View of Talent Management, “Part of making things happen in your career, as a company or as an individual, is taking a hard look at things and saying, "These are my flaws. These are my shortcomings. These are my self-defeating actions where I've shot my success in the foot." Any person or company who says they've never done those things is hindering their success, ruining their achievement, and unwittingly keeping themselves stuck in the middle. The unwillingness to do a hard current state assessment is a barrier between getting what you want and continuing to lack what you need. Finding that progress gap is the secret ingredient in the magic formula for understanding what it is that you need (not necessarily what you want) and then taking the steps to get that result (which leads to what you want).

According to the book description of Generation X Approved - Top 20 Keys to Effective Leadership, "Leaders aren't born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal. -Vince Lombardi As Generation X managers and executives are now tasked with running companies, there is a fundamental and critical component of business that they cannot push off or delegate and expect that someone else will have it covered-LEADERSHIP. And at its core, leadership is about one thing and one thing only-connecting with people. In corporate America, executives often forget that their objective is not only to manage the company processes, or to supervise the production of widgets or services. Equally important (if not more so), they must lead, hire and retain the people all organizations need to become or remain a successful enterprise. Another challenge for emerging Generation X leaders is to do more with less, which often means developing a more productive workforce. Complicating this is that as leaders they must direct and inspire people that have different generational values. A successful 21st century leader must be able to guide not only their Generation X peers but also the newly emerging Generation Y employees through difficult business challenges."

Talent management is indeed a business imperative to build and grow a successful organization ... but more importantly it is also a personal imperative for professionals to build successful careers. When people don't employ personal talent management in the way of owning their own succession plan; when companies and organizations don't build and sustain an integrated talent management strategy; they remain stuck in the middle; somewhere between who they are and who they want to be. How to get unstuck, how to break free from the middle is what individuals and organizations often don't understand. That critical understanding (and ability to take action on it to improve your situation) is what you'll find in this book as told through the eyes of a member of Generation X.”