Great Work How To Make A Difference People Love

Using insight from a study of award-winning work, provides five skills for innovating and creating work that is noticed and appreciated.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Great work lives inside all of us. The question is: Do we make the contributions we're capable of? Is our best work getting out there? Breaking through? Creating a difference the world loves? We've long been told our ability to succeed depends on our IQ, talent, education level, gender, job title, or when and where we were born. Great Work turns that conventional thinking on its head to reveal that innovation can come from anyone, anywhere. Especially you. With insights from the largest-ever study of award-winning work, Great Work reveals five practical skills that will help you ideate, innovate, and deliver work that gets noticed and appreciated. Great Work is filled with stories of real people in real jobs who did what was asked and then added something extra--a personal touch all their own--to deliver better-than-asked-for results. Their stories will inspire you to write your own page in the book of human progress. PRAISE FOR GREAT WORK "Great Work has me believing anyone can deliver a difference. I predict that 'making a difference people love' will embed itself in our lexicon for decades to come. -- STEPHEN M. R. COVEY, AUTHOR OF THE BESTSELLER THE SPEED OF TRUST "I recommend it to everyone, from every background, who has dreams of accomplishing great work." -- BARBARA CORCORAN, REAL ESTATE MOGUL, "SHARK" ON ABC'S SHARK TANK "We all know difference makers who, in small ways, make a profound impact on how we work and live. This book helps us celebrate them." -- TOM POST, MANAGING EDITOR, FORBES MEDIA "Great Work is a great work. It educates, inspires, and offers specific tools any employee or leader can use." -- DAVE ULRICH, PROFESSOR, ROSS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN; PARTNER, THE RBL GROUP "It takes passion, risk, and foresight to think beyond the status quo and see problems as opportunities. This book is inspiration for doing exactly that." -- KARIM RASHID, INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED DESIGNER "Outstanding! A must read. Great Work will give you a whole new toolkit for success." -- LARRY KING, LEGENDARY INTERNATIONAL RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTER

You work hard. You put in the hours. Yet you feel like you are constantly treading water with "Good Work" that keeps you going but never quite moves you ahead. Or worse, you are mired in "Bad Work"—endless meetings and energy-draining bureaucratic traps. Do More Great Work gets to the heart of the problem: Even the best performers are spending less than a fraction of their time doing "Great Work"—the kind of innovative work that pushes us forward, stretches our creativity, and truly satisfies us. Michael Bungay Stanier, Canadian Coach of the Year in 2006, is a business consultant who’s found a way to move us away from bad work (and even good work), and toward more time spent doing great work. When you’re up to your eyeballs answering e-mail, returning phone calls, attending meetings and scrambling to get that project done, you can turn to this inspirational, motivating, and at times playful book for invaluable guidance. In fifteen exercises, Do More Great Work shows how you can finally do more of the work that engages and challenges you, that has a real impact, that plays to your strengths—and that matters. The exercises are "maps"—brilliantly simple visual tools that help you find, start and sustain Great Work, revealing how to: Find clues to your own Great Work—they’re all around you Locate the sweet spot between what you want to do and what your organization wants you to do Generate new ideas and possibilities quickly Best manage your overwhelming workload Double the likelihood that you’ll do what you want to do All it takes is ten minutes a day, a pencil and a willingness to change. Do More Great Work will not only help you identify what the Great Work of your life is, it will tell you how to do it.

One of the New York Post's Top 10 Career Books of 2012 and a Booklist Top 10 Business Book DO YOU WORK WITH A MEAN GIRL? A woman’s field guide to the new frontier of professional development—working with other women Women-to-women relationships in the workplace are . . . complicated. When they’re good, they’re great. But when they’re bad, they can ruin your day, your week—even your year. Packed with proven advice from two of today’s leading experts in workplace relationships, this one-of-a-kind guide gives women the tools they need to navigate difficult situations unique to women-to-women relationships—whether with a boss, a colleague, a client, or an employee. Have you dealt with a woman in the workplace who: “Accidentally” excludes you from important meetings? Seems intent on taking you down professionally? Gossips about you with other coworkers? Makes you look bad by missing deadlines? Forms a “pack” of mean girls to make your life miserable? Mean Girls at Work isn’t just about surviving difficult situations. It’s about transforming a toxic relationship into one that benefits and supports both of you. This book is also for women who engage in mean behavior . . . but don’t know it. After all, who hasn’t gossiped about a female coworker? Who hasn’t rolled her eyes in the presence of a woman she doesn’t like? Who hasn’t scanned another woman head to toe—which is just a nonverbal way of saying, “You’ve just been judged”? The authors provide invaluable advice to the more subtle ways of being mean—even if they’re not intended. With a workforce composed of a higher percentage of women than ever, workplace dynamics have changed. Crowley and Elster cover every conceivable scenario, providing critical advice on how to rise above the fray and move forward professionally. Mean Girls at Work is your map to dodging the mines and moving forward in today’s transformed workplace. Praise for Mean Girls at Work “An invaluable suit of armor for surviving nine to five!” —Leil Lowndes, bestselling author of How to Talk to Anyone “If you think the emotional cruelty of comedies like Mean Girls and Heathers doesn’t exist in the real world workplace, think again. In Mean Girls at Work, Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster valuably chronicle female vs. female predators and offer solid defensive strategies.” —Ann Kreamer, author of It’s Always Personal: Navigating Emotion in the New Workplace “Whether you are in your twenties and just starting your professional career, your midcareer forties, when you are supposed to have figured it out already, or a woman in her fifties or sixties who’s seen it all—this book is a must-read. . . . The authors have finally given women the tools and the sound advice necessary to deal with . . . conflicts that keep us all from succeeding. . . . Carry this book with you to work every day!” —Carolyn Cassin, President, Michigan Women’s Foundation “A must-read for women of all ages in today’s workforce. This book offers what we all need to develop the capacities to endure this ever-changing workplace. We know it is all about relationships and you need the skills outlined in this book to survive and thrive when the Mean Girls attack.” —Kim Harrington, Coordinator, Professional Development and Training, Office of Human Resources, California State University, Sacramento

Fusing ancient Western spirituality, energy work, and psychology, The Great Work is a practical guide to personal transformation season by season. Learn to be truly holistic by incorporating key physical, emotional, and energetic practices into your life at times when the natural tides are in harmony with your process. The Great Work captures the core essence of each festival with eight key themes that span the annual cycle—a cycle that reflects human development and experience. Discover how Yule can alleviate a painful childhood, how Beltane can facilitate conscious relationships, and how Mabon can assist with determining your life's purpose. Find guidance through daily journal questions, elemental meditations, and the author's unique energy-healing technique of Hynni. With this invaluable resource for your journey of inner alchemy, you'll develop an intimate connection with the earth's impulse to create balance and harmony. Praise: "Tiffany Lazic weaves together psychology, myth, meditation and keen observation of the natural world, creating an invaluable and original resource for healing work of all kinds. Inviting and accessible to all readers."—Elizabeth Cunningham, author of The Maeve Chronicles "The Great Work presents inspiring insights and practical exercises that help unlock the alchemical mysteries at the heart of the Eightfold Path, and which facilitate a deep connection with the cycles of nature as they reveal their transformational powers in all of us."—Jhenah Telyndru, author of Avalon Within

The how-to guide to finding profitable, fulfilling work after 50 Aimed at workers aged 50+ looking for a new job—whether they have been laid off or taken early retirement, need supplemental income, or want to pursue an encore career—Great Jobs for Everyone 50+ is the definitive guide to finding lasting financial security and personal and professional fulfillment. Opportunities abound—the trick is knowing where to look and what to expect. Whether readers are interested in trying jobs they've long dreamed of doing, or just want something with flexible hours that brings in a little extra income, this book covers all the options. As Americans live longer and healthier lives, the desire to work longer—for the income, the mental engagement, or the chance to give back—has grown. But there is little guidance for the 50+ crowd looking for work and few role models who've blazed a path. In Great Jobs for Everyone 50+, author and personal finance, retirement, and career transitions expert Kerry Hannon shows the way, with compelling stories from people who've been there. Presenting the nitty-gritty details of available job opportunities, wages to expect, typical hours, and the qualifications and savvy needed to get hired, the book is loaded with practical advice on how to prepare both professionally and financially to start out on a new adventure. Shows where the best opportunities for new employment lie Helps readers find profitable and rewarding jobs to save for retirement Understands that different workers want different things from their jobs and shows how to cast a wide net to find an opportunity that fits Provides incredible insights into working after 50 from Kerry Hannon, a nationally renowned expert in personal finance, retirement, and career transitions Motivational, inspirational, and thoroughly practical, Great Jobs for Everyone 50+ explains how to find part-time, temporary, work-at-home, or seasonal employment in profitable, rewarding jobs.

In an unorthodox approach, Georgetown University professor Cal Newport debunks the long-held belief that "follow your passion" is good advice, and sets out on a quest to discover the reality of how people end up loving their careers. Not only are pre-existing passions rare and have little to do with how most people end up loving their work, but a focus on passion over skill can be dangerous, leading to anxiety and chronic job hopping. Spending time with organic farmers, venture capitalists, screenwriters, freelance computer programmers, and others who admitted to deriving great satisfaction from their work, Newport uncovers the strategies they used and the pitfalls they avoided in developing their compelling careers. Cal reveals that matching your job to a pre-existing passion does not matter. Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it. With a title taken from the comedian Steve Martin, who once said his advice for aspiring entertainers was to "be so good they can't ignore you," Cal Newport's clearly written manifesto is mandatory reading for anyone fretting about what to do with their life, or frustrated by their current job situation and eager to find a fresh new way to take control of their livelihood. He provides an evidence-based blueprint for creating work you love, and will change the way you think about careers, happiness, and the crafting of a remarkable life.