Do More Great Work - by Michael Bungay Stanier
Michael Bungay Stganier's Do More Great Work
Do More Great Work - by Michael Bungay Stanier
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Tara Hunt

I’ve just returned from the TED conference in Palm Springs. One of the most fun bits was spending time with Tara Hunt. I have high regard for Tara, not just because she’s a fellow Canadian, but because she hangs out on the edge of what’s happening with business and stirs things up. She’s a social media star – but not just as a “I know about the technology” but from the point of view of “How does this matter to us as humans?” and “How does this help us build and shape community?” She is the author of The Whuffle Factor about how social media impacts the way business is done now, and plans to call her next book “Happiness as Your Business Model.”

In our conversation, we discuss:

  • Why business seems to operate in a way antithetical to how we are wired to live and operate as human being
  • The deeper roots of happiness – and why that matters in business
  • The balance between numbers and community
  • How to start building your community around you and your business

You can follow Tara on Twitter at @missrogue and check out her (brilliantly named) website www.horsepigcow.com

Listen to my interview with Tara Hunt

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Posted on March 19, 2010

Todd Kashdan

Todd Kashdan, a clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychology at George Mason University  is also the author of a new book, a fantastic book called Curious?: Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life. And when you check it out, you’ll see that it has got one of the best cover designs ever. It’s just a yellow cover with a single word on it, “curious” in big black bold typed with a question mark. I love it when the medium is the message, because you can’t help but look at that book and go, “Okay, I am curious. What is this book about?” And then when you flip it over to the back, it says simply again, “embrace uncertainty, attract love and abundance, master your life.” What a wonderful call to do more Great Work.

In our conversation we chat about:

  • Why the quest for happiness is overrated
  • how Todd ended up where he is today, having been a Wall Street trader and a clerk in a law firm
  • How the shift in focus from scary to curious changed everything
  • The link between anxiety and curiosity
  • The importance of sadness, worry and anger in a well-lived life.

You can follow Todd at Twitter at @toddkashdan and learn more about his work at www.ToddKashdan.com

Listen to my interview with Todd Kashdan

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Posted on March 17, 2010

Kevin Carroll

Kevin Carroll has an amazingly cool background. Raised by his grandparents in Philadelphia, his first job really was with the U.S. Air Force where he served as a language interpreter and translator. And in those ten years he became fluent in Croatian and Czech and Russian and German. But while being fantastic at languages, he was also an athlete and soon an athletic trainer. Leaving the Air Force, he worked his way up to be the head athletic trainer for the Philadelpha 76ers. So he’s already cool. But then he was tapped on the shoulder by Nike. He spent a number of years at Nike helping to deepen their understanding of athletic performance and team dynamics and interpersonal connection, basically helping Nike become one of the forces it is today.

And then things shifted again, and he put his experience and wisdom into a terrific series of books, starting with the Rules of the Red Rubber Ball. In this interview we talk about:

  • How it was a ball that saved and changed Kevin’s life.
  • Why ‘encouragers’ are so crucial to sustaining success
  • The role of curiosity and play in connecting with your great purpose and Great Work
  • The role of “lonely work” is setting up for success.

You can follow Kevin on Twitter at @KCKatalyst and find him on the web at www.Kevincarrollkatalyst.com.

Listen to my interview with Kevin Carroll

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Posted on March 10, 2010

Jason Fried

Jason Fried’s new book Rework comes out today, and I’m delighted that we managed to talk just a week ago in the lead up to its launch. Now here’s a quote to kick us off. It’s from Seth Godin, and he says (and I’m paraphrasing), “Make everything a project – and run it through 37Signals’ Basecamp.” Jason is the one of the founders of 37Signals. They design useful software to help people work better – connect with people, run projects, managing stuff. (I know, because I use it!)

And what’s cool is they haven’t done it by practising business as usual, but by practising business as unusual. In this interview Jason shares some of his successful and counter-intutive approaches to how to get stuff done. We talk about:

  • The evolution of 37Signals – and why where you start is not where you finish
  • The value of introducing “done enough” as a measure of success
  • The problem with meetings – and what to do about it
  • Why planning is highly overrated
  • And a bunch more…

You can pick up the new book on Amazon , follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonFried, and learn more about 37 Signals’ products at their website.

Listen to my interview with Jason Fried

(And by the way, Jason’s surname is pronounced “Freed” – Apologies to Jason, and please ignore my mistake at the start of the interview!)

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Posted on March 9, 2010
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