I actually don’t remember how I got to want to read this book. I think it must have been when I was listening to one of the live programs on ABC Radio National.

Well, I found this book quite enlightening and read it at the time when I was nursing a newly operated right foot. It certainly helped with the pain management. Books are definitely drugs. Who needs the illegal and expensive stuff, hey?

I couldn’t put this book down, for a couple of reasons:

1.The author, Marcus Buckingham had written it in a very conversational way so pace of reading is flowing because it feels like he’s chatting with you. Right from the very start – his first line was:

Hi, I’m Marcus Buckingham and it’s lovely to meet you.

2. A lot of the ideas he’s outlined in the book about work and career resonated with me.

• Career – not as a ladder to climb but a scavenger hunt for love
• Leaders – should check in with their team members every week for 15 minutes – a ritual on frequent individualised attention
• Performance review – waste of time, vague and infrequent
• Feedback – is damaging

Towards the end though, he kinda steered away from work and into the schooling system and used the example of his 18 year old son’s SAT test. His son’s mother was arrested by the FBI for paying someone to sit for their son’s test. Gawd knows how she managed to do that without the son not knowing or let alone the whole school not knowing unless he was in it too? Reminded me of the book I read How To Kidnap the Rich last year. The way the author described the situation though sounded like the son suffered tremendously as a result of the cheating. Really? It wasn’t a life threatening event was it?

Also, I was a little sceptical on some of his suggestions for changing the school system. Although, I very much agreed with his suggestions, I wasn’t sure it was going to happen any sooner or if at all. For example, making college (University here for Australians) free for all. Really, in the USA? I don’t think so. The powers that be are not going to let that happen. And I’m sure he believed in them but was he actively advocating for them?

Anyway, have you heard of Myshel Romans? Well, neither have I until I read this book. She is currently the author’s fiancee. I just find that this book had a slight promotional tinge on her – she is watermarked all over the pages. Read the book and you’d know what I mean.

Even though this book was inspirational and I really did feel good reading it, I found that some of his ideas were not really that new. Things like being in flow, losing time and being creative have been written by people before. Think of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Ken Robinson. Of course his main premise here was refreshing – combining love and work and how to find that Red Thread (activity that you love) so that you could discover your true Wyrd (daemon, spirit, that something within you that makes you, you). And the current work/job you have now doesn’t have to be perfect. You just need to find ways of thriving at work by taking the Red Threads and weave them as a contribution to your work. Simple!

And yes of course I highly recommend this book.