Customer Reviews

Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work That Matters.

5 star:		(93)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The author, Michael Bungay Stanier, was the Canadian executive coach of the year in 2006 and is a business consultant. Core message of the book is that many of us do far too much good work ("treading water") or bad work (energy draining activities) and not enough great work (offering true satisfaction). Stanier opens the book by defining Bad Work, Good Work and Great Work. And then rolls into the 15 short and snappy exercises supported by highly effective visual maps to help guide you through the process via brainstorming, reflection, analysis of actual observations.

1) Where are you now? (Map current mix of bad, good and great work. Assess)
2) What's Great? (Recall peak moments. Assess)
3) What are you like at your best? (Recall emotions at peak moments. Map "I am this...not that")
4) Who's great? (Think of role models that are inspiring and assess why. Choose characteristic. Emulate & Visualize)
5) What's Calling You? (Scan landscape for great opportunities. Analyze. What surprised you? Inspired you?)
6) What's Broken? (Map aggravations that "erode the quality of our lives." Assess. What can you change)
7) What's Required? (Map all the work you do on daily or weekly basis into one of 4 quadrants: a) They Care/You Care (Sweet spot/Do more-convert from good to great work) (b) They Care/I don't care. (Stop doing), (c) I Don't Care/They Care (Must do - delegate or be more efficient-embrace adequacy." (d) You Care/They Don't Care (Do it Elsewhere; do it undercover; re-label it)

8) What's the Best Choice? (Map your options. Rate/rank the options.
9) What's Possible? (Map creative new ideas and explore what can be converted to great work)
10) What's the Right Ending? (Explore different ways forward - What can be, what's changed, new outcome)
11)How Courageous are You? (Map safe to impossible methods to do more great work)
12)What Will you do? (Map (a) what is easiest to do, (b) what would have the greatest impact, (c) what do you want to do, (d) what Will you do)
13)What Support Do You Need? (Map people who have influence, skills, or love you)
14)What's the Next Step? (Map what you will do, by when, what's the first step, what accountability do you need - then analyze)
15)Lost Your Great Work Mojo? (Revert back to steps 1-14 and assess)

And the book concludes with 4 great work truths:
Great Work Truth #1: Things only get interesting when you take full responsibility for the choices you make.
Great Work Truth #2: To do more Great Work, you must both narrow and broaden your gaze.
Great Work Truth #3: Decide what to say no to.
Great Work Truth #4: Stop Making everyone happy.
Great Work Truth #5: Ask for Help.

This is an exercise workbook (more than a book) where Stanier allows reader to work their way forward to a solution to finding their own Great Work. The book also includes relevant and thoughtful quotes (Camus, Edmund Hillary) and passages from contemporary coaches (Seth Godin, Dave Ulrich, Penelope Trunk).

This is the second book that I purchased from Michael. Don't be deceived by the notion that this book is about being more innovative, energized, and productive in the workplace. By work, Michael is talking about living a life most worth living. He is talking about bringing the same enthusiasm that you have for Alaskan crab legs and flirtatious conversations with a loved one to every life domain.

I wonder where this book will appear in bookstores. Business book? Self-enhancement book? Psychology book? Do More Great Work transcends categories. I suspect that you are skeptical of these superlatives but I honestly do not take the time to write reviews unless an author inspired me. Michael does (again).

He prods, provokes, and challenges you to answer questions about your life that can often be uncomfortable. He gives you a playground of exercises to uncover values, strengths, and situations governing your behavior, and how to navigate with them to effectively emerge as a mindful, passionate leader.

I am purposely avoiding specific details about what is in the book because it is impossible to cover the broad terrain and I hesitate to emphasize small snippets out of context. There are dozens of questions and exercises that are useful on their own and even more powerfully together. None of these questions are silly, none of them are superfluous, and if you are receptive, this book has the potential to evoke meaningful change.

Are you content with mediocracy or do you want to do something profound with your limited time and stamina in the only life you will ever be given? If you want the latter, get this book. I stake my reputation on the line.

Todd Kashdan, Ph.D.
Author of Curious?: Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life

"Find Your Great Work" is structured around a series of "maps" that can help you bring more "great" work into your life. The "maps" in this book seem at first glance to be quite simplistic, almost gimmicky. However, if you can get past the fact that they're "written" on a napkin, they seem quite powerful. This isn't the kind of book that you read once and put on a shelf. While the author might disagree, I would recommend reading the book from cover-to-cover once, without responding to the questions associated with each map, to help immerse yourself in the author's thinking. I believe this would be helpful in either returning to the beginning of the book to work with each map sequentially or before working with those maps that seem to speak to you. This book has the potential to affect your thinking in subtle as well as profound ways. In fact, in writing these comments, I realized that today I said something in a meeting of my direct reports that came straight from "Find Your Great Work" without my even realizing it. I look forward to continuing to work with the contents of this book to bring more great work into my life.

I finished the book really quick as I found nothing earth shattering about the book. Basically the author reminds us to stay out of the box by focusing on the things that are meaningful. In the meanwhile, it shares the strategy on how to deal with the job related routines. A lot of the themes are similar to the 7 good habits.

A friend recommended this book, and I got it to see what she was hyped about. I can't say I read it all, but I did play with the exercises. The best thing is that it makes you THINK about what work you really want to do. That is a major breakthrough for most of us. Usually we just rush from thing to thing trying to get stuff done. If that's your dilemma, this book will help.

I wish I would have had this resource 30 years ago when I was getting ready to graduate from college. I don't know how ready I would have been to actually apply what Michael Bungay Stanier leads people through in "Do More Great Work", but I do know that it would have been a process I would have turned to again and again. This isn't a book you just sit down and read in one day or a weekend. You need to plan to take it in chapters and really sit down and do the mapping exercises that are included. I wouldn't just call this a book or even a workbook. It would fit into the category of WORKBOOK(said in a voice similar to Animal on the Muppets). As a career coach, I'm constantly looking for the highest quality resources to recommend to my clients. This one will now be at the top of my list.

I'll also encourage potential readers to see Michael's [...] website and the Great Work book website. There are three very nicely done Flash videos that are engaging to watch and worth sending along to the people you know. Michael also provides an e-mail course called Seven Questions and another e-mail based support series to go along with the Do More Great Work Book. All told this is an extraordinary package.

One other encouraging word. I read this on Kindle. Of all the Kindle books I've read, this one has had the nicest, most useful design.

I heard the author (Stanier) in an interview recently and what he said stuck with me. The gist was that, while many books give readers inspiring advice about improving their lives, it turns out we're not all that good at taking advice. Stanier gets this and he's able to write a book that doesn't fall into this trap. It's a big reason that "Do More Great Work" succeeds where others fall short. The key is good, practical exercises.

As other reviewers have noted, there are a number of exercises (called "maps") to help personalize the book's content and make it work for readers. Some books try and fail at this, but the ones in Great Work are both accessible and useful. You do the ones that make sense for you. I also like the writer's tone, which mixes humor, thoughtfulness and a sense of caring. It's genuine without being preachy - a rarity among self-help books. Finally, I appreciate a book that is under 200 pages but still on target...it's not exhausting to read, so you'll have energy for your work! Just one caveat: if you're not ready for some self-reflection, the book may not be what you need right now, but if you're on the fence, I'd suggest giving it a try.

This is a good book and will give you some ideas on how to think about doing better work, consulting fears and negative thoughts, recruiting others to help you be more responsible, etc.
I have the book on Kindle. The charts are way too small and difficult to see but luckily the author has them available for download on his website.

Michael provides practical exercises that drives home the intent of the book. The exercises drives home the meaning of Bad Work, Good Work and Great Work. His use of maps to illustrate his methods is great for making the concepts stick. This is a must read if you want to improve your productivity, enjoy your work more, and play to your strengths.

I recently met Michael at a conference where I not only had the pleasure of hearing him speak, but also to speaking to him personally.

Not all authors walk their talk, Michael does. He really does want you to do great work. For me that matters. When I know the author is first motivated by his mission I am more motivated to use his teachings.

If I had any doubt about doing great work before reading Michael's work, I don't now.