Help Me Choose the Most Compelling Material
Thank you very much for the resources on authentic work that you suggested to me, in email and in the comments of my recent request. Now I have another favor to ask of you.
I’m planning on pulling together and submitting a proposal for this book soon. (And yes, I will post it all here first.) In addition to the outline, the market research (thank you) and so forth, one of the most important pieces of this proposal will be sample writing. You can help me select that writing by identifying the most compelling three to five posts in this blog.
To review the posts, you can just scroll back chronologically, if you want. Or you can use the site map. Or you can dive directly into the two categories that are likely to have the most promising material: You’ll find longer pieces that are already in the style that I intend to use for the book in the category entitled The Text. Shorter pieces that are not necessarily as well developed are usually in the category entitled The Ideas.
Can you do that for me? I’m too close to this material to tell and it’s quite clear to me that the core readers of this blog are a remarkably thoughtful and knowledgeable bunch. The three to five posts that you find most compelling would really give me something to work with.
Just feel free to submit your suggestions in the comments. You can just put in the titles, or you can add links, or you can even add your reasoning, if you feel like taking the time for that.
Thank you!
Posted: August 21st, 2008 under About Writing.
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Comments
Comment from Cindy Olnick
Time: August 28, 2008, 4:33 pm
This one’s short but very compelling to me:
Price Paying - http://authentic.gilbert.org/2006/12/09/price-paying/
These also:
The To Do Addiction - http://authentic.gilbert.org/2006/11/21/the-to-do-addiction-obsessing-on-the-unfinished/
Emotional Skills - http://authentic.gilbert.org/2006/12/22/five-organizational-influences-on-emotional-skills/
And this part of Good Fences - http://authentic.gilbert.org/2008/02/22/good-fences-on-boundaries-agency-and-wholeness-in-work-life/ - about control and empowerment:
“No, the barriers to self-expression in work are about much more than money. They are the result of (at least) three things:
First, we buy into the idea that work is owned by someone else, that thing we get paid for, separate from life itself. Second, we give up control over huge parts of our lives to other forces. Some of this time is to employment, because we see no other way to feed ourselves and our families. Some of this time is to family commitments, which we may or may not take ownership of or choose to see as creative. Some of this time is devoted to habits and addictions. Third, we withdraw our identity from what we produce and shift it to what we consume. Some of that is because of how we feel about what we call “work” and some of that is because we feel our culture facilitates the establishment of affiliation and identity through patterns of consumption.”
Thanks, and good luck!
Comment from Angela Winter
Time: August 31, 2008, 1:20 pm
Two of my top picks are also on Cindy’s list:
The To Do Addiction
http://authentic.gilbert.org/2006/11/21/the-to-do-addiction-obsessing-on-the-unfinished/
Price Paying
http://authentic.gilbert.org/2006/12/09/price-paying/
I’m also intrigued by the post about forbidden questions:
http://authentic.gilbert.org/2006/11/20/what-are-your-forbidden-questions/
I also found the Transparency About Salaries post intriguing and hope you develop the idea. How do you envision this playing out in practice? Salary transparency would clearly benefit employees negotiating for a raise, and it hopefully would encourage more consistency during the hiring process. But how would it affect relationships among peers in an organization? Example: Two colleagues work at the same job level but learn that they make different salaries. Clearly the question about why person X makes more than person Y would come up — either overtly or covertly. Demands for justification and questions of worth are likely to follow. What if person X simply has better negotiating skills? Or was hired away from a higher-paying job? Or demonstrated being more motivated by salary than person Y, who’s receiving other benefits (working at home, comp time, flexible hours, etc.)? Salary is just one aspect of the overall picture — very important, of course. Anyway, I’m just wondering what the relationship ramifications would be if everyone knew exactly what their colleagues make.
http://authentic.gilbert.org/2007/02/15/transparency-about-salaries/
Best of luck on your book proposal!
Angela
Comment from Tim Girvin
Time: October 5, 2008, 11:05 am
Michael — greetings.
Having been one to run organizations for my entire life, having never connected with a company as an employee, I find much of your thinking compelling — resonant, as you say. I’ve not had the chance to dig in deeper, since I’ve just come here. But, what you’re writing about is a potent expression to what I’m feeling is troubling this country right now — the ability to connect with the truth in defining messaging for how companies connect with consumers — or their relationships.
I’ve been exploring this space as well. As a strategist and designer, it’s something I’m looking for and trying to find in the relationships that I’m connected to — where’s the truth, what’s the story, who’s telling it — and finally: who cares?
More at the blogs, noted below.
Wishing well, good luck in your advancements —
Tim Girvin | girvin@girvin.com | Girvin | Strategic Brands — New York City + Seattle | Tokyo | http://www.girvin.com | http://www.tim.girvin.com/ | http://blog.girvin.com/ | http://tim.girvin.com/Entries/index.php
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