At Box of Crayons our goal is to help organizations do less Good Work and more Great Work. So our focus is on the people and teams within these organizations. But sometimes, Great Work isn’t to be found for you with the walls of a company. If you’re one of those people, if you need to get out – then Pam Slim is the woman for you. Her book Escape from Cubicle Nation had its roots in an impassioned plea to organizations to let people do Great Work – or let them go free. Guy Kawasaki liked it so much he re-blogged it, and Pam’s path became clear. In our interview we talk about:
- What Jack Welch sees as the biggest trend in corporations now – and why that matters
- The story of John the baseball player (and his parents), and how his journey is one we can all learn from
- The role of evangelism in finding your Great Work
- Why prototyping can be the difference between success and failure
You can follow Pam on Twitter at @PamSlim and download the first chapter of her book at www.EscapeFromCubicleNation.com
If you enjoyed this interview, you’ll also enjoy my conversations with:
- Jonathan Fields, author of Career Renegade
- Naomi Dunford, IttyBiz blogger
- Guy Kawasaki, creator of Alltop and author of ‘The Art of the Start’
Posted on January 12, 2010
Marcia Wieder is a force to be reckoned with. She is America’s Dream Coach, and is one of the on-going pioneers of the coaching profession. Her work is entirely focused on helping people connect to their passion – that’s Great Work right there – and to bring their dreams to life. She’s been a frequent Oprah visitor, has run a PBS special and written a number of books, the best-known of which is Making Your Dreams Come True. And just in case you were doubting her bona fides, she is Jack Canfield’s coach too. Not bad.
In this interview Marcia talks about
- The moment of truth when the seed for the Dream Coach University was planted
- How to find the right balance between strategies and possibilities
- Why intention is nothing without integrity
- Why uncertainty is such a powerful force to connect with Great Work
You can also pick up 10 free eBooks from DreamUniversity.com, courtesy of Marcia (and worth $150). Just click here to go to her web page [dreamcoach.com/gifts] to pick up your free resources.
If you enjoyed this interview, you’ll also enjoy my conversations with
Posted on January 11, 2010
I’m Australian, and Australians seem to be wanderers. Maybe it’s because we suffer from a “tyranny of distance” – which means that when we do travel, we don’t just do it for a week or two, we do it for years. That’s why about 70% of bar staff in the UK are Aussies, with a similar percentage for ski instructors in Europe and Canada.
I’ve done my own share of living in different countries, but I’m put to shame by Grahame Maher, currently CEO of Vodafone Qatar. In his time with the company he’s lead the Australian, New Zealand, Swedish, Czech and now Qatar organizations.
So he brings to this conversation a unique mix of loyalty to one company, but the perspective of living and working in many countries. Even better, he is (in his own words) “a small business guy who never wanted to work for a big organization” and a baker by trade. Intrigued? You should be.
In this conversation, we look at:
- The tactics he used to move the Vodafone brand in New Zealand from 2% recognition to 96%
- The power of mission and values to drive Great Work
- What happened when an engineer accidentally turned off the network for 600,000 people’s phones
- How stories can carry the DNA of success (and why the right words matter)
The interviews are all between 25 and 30 minutes long.
You can either download them here as mp3s, or go to iTunes, type in “Great Work Interviews” and you’ll see them all there.
Posted on September 30, 2009
Before becoming the Chief Strategy Officer for Accenture National Security Services, Keith Lippert spent thirty-eight years in the US Navy and rose to the rank of Vice Admiral. In his final posting, he was the Director of the Defense Logistics Agency, a role he assumed just two months before the events of 9/11 and at a time when there was some discussion about doing away with the DLA.
Just to set some context, leading the DLA is no small thing. It manages 5.2 million items and the twenty-three thousand civilian and military personnel deal with fifty-eight thousand requests for material a day.
In this conversation with Keith we talk about what had to happen to focus on more Great Work, how the burning platform of 9/11 was important but not sufficient to drive change, and the role of communication is driving success. Here are two gems from the interview. Keith’s perspective on changing a legacy system, and the degree of maturity required to do that. And that in an organization focused on moving and managing material, the need to better focus on and engage the people of the DLA became critical.
The interviews are all between 25 and 30 minutes long.
You can either download them here as mp3s, or go to iTunes, type in “Great Work Interviews” and you’ll see them all there.
Posted on September 25, 2009
