Book Titles: Thomas B. Dowd III is the award-winning author of three books. “The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World,” details Tom’s own professional growth based on lessons learned in his career, which received Honorable Mention at the 2012 New England Book Festival. “From Fear to Success: a Practical Public Speaking Guide” won the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in the Business Reference Category. His third book, derived from the unemployed stint, “Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job” was published in March 2014 and received Honorable Mention at the 2014 Paris and New York Book Festivals. Tom’s three most recent books “Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance,” “The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood,” and “Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success” were released in October 2014, April 2015, and March 2016 respectively.
Discussion Topics: transformation, confidence, communication effectiveness, learning from mistakes, and taking action to find success.
- You note two characteristics that have molded you—being introverted and gaining confidence—how do they contribute to where you are now?
- Your website and speaker/training identity is Transformation Tom. What meaning does this have for you?
- How did you know if was time to share your roller coaster professional experience in your first book “The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas”?
- The premise of your second book on public speaking seems to go beyond getting over your fear of standing in front of a lot of people. Tell us what you wanted to accomplish with the second book “From Fear to Success”?
- As an executive at one of the largest worldwide institutions, tell us what was going through your head immediately after you got the call about budget cuts and losing your job?
- Now that you’ve been through it, what would you do differently?
- In our discussions, you mentioned you traveled around the Northeast continuing speaking and training while you were seeking full-time employment by meeting with networking groups and career centers to discuss the job search process with other unemployed people. What were you hearing?
- What if you had to list out your lessons learned, what are the top three?
- How is your latest book different than other books on finding a job?