Anyone who’s crazy about business books knows Tom Peters, the management guru who foresees an Inescapable White Collar Revolution that will transform business in the next ten years! (And if you don’t, you should read him!)

Well, Tom is getting to be quite the old-timer. (Sorry, Tom.)

Penelope Trunk is his engaging, competent, young replacement. ‘Nuff said there. The Work Revolution Peters talks about is already transforming the office…and Penelope Trunk walks the walk. Penelope’s new book Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success picks up where Tom left off. The name not only describes Trunk’s bold approach to work, but it delivers on its promise to key readers in to the important ingredients in a recipe for delicious career success!

Big corporations hardly employ people long enough to stick around and climb the corporate ladder anymore. Instead, they hire strong individuals who lend their values and skills to the completion of the specific short-term goals at hand, and then move on to the next gig. Even when they’re called employees, these workers are really “consultants,” and Trunk says you better catch up because consulting will be the new norm. Businesses like and encourage consulting because it cuts salary costs; workers like it because it means more flexibility.

The fact is, job security is an artifact of another generation long past. In the workplace, generations X and Y must have a project focus rather than a job focus. There is no longer such thing as long-term loyalty to company brands–employees must have their own, personal brands (!) which they bring to the table for each project they work on.

This means you get to have more say in what you do. Younger people in the workforce are looking for work that they’re truly passionate about–not just a nine to five that will pay the bills. We want meaning, we want to learn marketable skills we can take with us to the next project, we want work-life balance, and we’re willing to trade a little purchasing power to have time at home to raise a family when the time comes! (Yes, even us guys want this!)

What does all of this mean? Penelope Trunk says it means the end of the stay-at-home parent, the end of the glass ceiling, the end of gender-based pay disparity. It makes office hierarchy irrelevant. Promotions are irrelevant. For young professionals wrestling with a boomer-dominated work world, Brazen Careerist is Trunk’s comprehensive manual for career success!

I recommend you read this primer early on, and keep it with you at ALL TIMES throughout your career as a quick-reference guide! Whatever you’re facing–resumes, interviews, the grad school question, starting your own business, your first management position–consult the index (Thank you, Penelope! That’s one thing too many biz books are missing!) and take her advice. Some of her most notable peices of wisdom:

• Relish the Path from Starter Job to Dream Job. Starting out, most of us have no idea what we really want in life! Trunk says that young professionals’ primary task is to figure out who they are and what they want. As she describes, the trick is to spend equal parts time discovering your goals as attaining them, and it’s alright to explore. “The good news is that this is what most people are doing in their twenties: wandering. Taking trips to Thailand, changing jobs every year, volunteering for unpaid work while living at their parents’ house, and starting businesses that fail. All these options are, surprisingly, right on track for making a good decision about what to do with yourself in adult life,” she says.
• Hunting for a Job Is Not a Task, It’s a Lifestyle. So get used to it. Research shows that Gen-X-ers and Y-ers will typically hold eight jobs before age 32! Career instability and holes in your work history are the new norm. And besides, you should always be on the lookout for what will make you happy–don’t settle if you’re in a job that’s a poor fit. “Concentrate your energy on finding the right manager as opposed to the right position. There is no reason to be limited by the job description–you can always pick up extra work that increases your experience and exposure. But a checked-out manager can limit you. So seek managers who will look out for you in the company and make sure you get on good projects … and develop new skills.”
• First-Time Managers Do Not Need to Suck. When you find yourself in a position to lead, don’t make the mistake of focusing on tasks. Your job is to work with people–to coach them. They’ll make sure the tasks get taken care of, as long as you coach them right. “…Show the people you manage how to see themselves differently so that they are able to produce at a higher level than they ever imagined. For one person, this will mean you need to teach organization skills. For another person, you will help her discover what she loves to do and then set her up doing it for you. Each person wants something, and you need to find out what that is. Then help them get it.”
• Authenticity Is the Buzzword of the New Millennium. Don’t be ashamed of your mistakes–be yourself. Many of the world’s most successful individuals have innumerable failures on their record, and like they say, if you wanna make a tasty office omelet you gotta break some eggs. The Harvard Business Review says that authenticity is what defines great leaders–so be real, be vulnerable, be sincerely passionate about your cause if you want others to give a damn. Trunk says to practice telling stories–”…If we get practice being our true self while telling a story, authenticity will come more naturally when talking about something more difficult.”
• You Only Need $40,000 a Year to Be Happy. Research is showing more and more that there is a limit to how much happiness money can buy (gasp!). That means many of us are chasing the wrong incentives! “The first $40,000 makes a big difference in a person’s level of happiness. Happiness is dependent on being able to meet basic needs for food, shelter, and clothing. After meeting those needs you have to turn to something other than consumerism, because additional money has negligible impact on how happy you are. Your level of happiness is instead largely dependent on your outlook.”

Penelope offers direction on dealing with office politics and improving your likability (pages 88 & 90), some controversial (but excellent!) thoughts on how to use an incident of sexual harassment to boost your career (121 & 125), and advice on some alternate incentives to seek instead of a promotion (hint: training and valuable experiences, 166).

Trunk gives her readers insightful, unconventional tips on how to build great, fulfilling careers for themselves. She’s got plenty of attention-grabbing ideas, and she relates interesting stories about her diverse career experience (among other things, she’s worked in technology AND journalism, started three of her own companies AND taken international corporations public, gone through bankruptcy, and played professional volleyball!).

Bravo, Penelope! If you’re a young professional in your 20s or 30s, you NEED this first book from up-and-coming career rockstar Penelope Trunk! Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success comes out May 25, and you can pre-order it on Amazon. Penelope is also a columnist for Yahoo! Finance and the Boston Globe, and I’d highly recommend you become a regular reader of her Brazen Careerist blog.