The ghost of Albert Einstein occasionally hovers somewhere in upstate New York.
Michael Bungay Stanier, the founder and senior Partner of Box of Crayons, was vacationing at a cabin that Einstein had frequented. The ramshackle cabin was a disappointment to Stanier and his family, but the vacation wasn’t.
In the harsh glow of 75-watt bulb and dodging squadrons of ravenous mosquitoes, Bungay Stanier wrote over half of the book that would become Do More Great Work.
Born in Australia, Bungay Stanier was Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and holds a Master’s Degree in Philosophy. He worked in London at What If! — now the world’s largest independent innovation company.
Bungay Stanier and his wife moved to Toronto the day before 9/11 and created Box of Crayons – a coaching and creative facilitation company that works with such companies as AstraZeneca, Merck, Nestle, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Pfizer, and Campbell’s.
The spark that began in Einstein’s cabin was a question. “How do you do more of the work that makes a difference and makes you happy and less of all that other stuff that fills your working day?
It is a philosopher’s question. But in the deft hands of Bungay Stanier, the answer is a superbly-crafted and inspirational roadmap to creating better, more meaningful work.
The premise of the book is that many of us do far too much good work — treading water or bad work –energy sapping activities and not enough great work — true sustainable satisfaction.
The core of Do More Great Work is a series of 15 interactive “maps” – a way to visualize how you’re working now what you’d like to do differently. Like an mental GPS, the maps are designed to illuminate possibilities by asking critical questions like Where am I? How did I get here? Where am I going? Is there a better route? Could there be a different destination?
You could probably invest thousands of dollars on an executive coach and not get a fraction of the powerful insights you’ll discover in this $11.95 book. ($8.60 on Amazon).
Bungay Stanier does what all great coaches do, he prods, pokes, teaches, motivates and inspires people to find smarter, more fulfilling ways to work. Do More Great Work is engaging from first page to last. It invites you into a process of discovery and guides you into action.
Bungay Stanier’s book has already earned the praise of such people as Marshall Goldsmith (What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There) David Allen (Getting Things Done) and Seth Godin. (Permission Marketing and The Dip).
So this book doesn’t need another elevator speech. But I will give it one anyway. Imagine if you could take your current work situation – warts and all – to a top executive coach and innovation guru and discover how you could make the leap into a smarter way of working?
That’s the greatness of Do More Great Work.
It’s a book that doesn’t just belong on your shelf, it belongs in your thinking.
http://www.amazon.com/Do-More-Great-Work-Busywork/dp/0761156445
Michael’s website is:
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