FIND THE FIRE

Find The Fire, Ignite your Inspiration - and Make Work Exciting Again, by Scott Mautz, Amacom 2017

What is it about your job that you love?  And what if it is a complete drag, can anything done to make it better than just bearable again?  Scott Mautz answers both these questions, and offers the antidote.  You see, Mautz is a motivational speaker who just naturally dwells on the possibilities.  In fact his "fix-it" solutions take up more than 50% of this title, so you know this is a positive read.

But rather than starting from scratch to rediscover excitement and inspiration, Mautz tells us to remove the negative factors, what he calls the nine notorious kills of inspiration: - 

1.  Overcome FEAR - of failure, of change, and of criticism

2.  Reject SETTLING AND BOREDOM and become emboldened to take risks, make their own opportunities, and start learning and growing again

3.  Relieve INUNDATION by breaking the procrastination habit, letting go of perfectionism, and mastering the art of pushback

4.  Revert LOSS OF CONTROL to take back a sense of power

5.  Revitalize DWINDLING SELF-BELIEF and boost self-confidence, persevere in the face of challenges, and earn respect

6.  Reverse DISCONNECTEDNESS and re-energize interactions with coworkers by going beyond collaboration to camaraderie

7.  Reconstitute DEARTH OF CREATING and start producing unique output

8.  Reformulate INSIGNIFICANCE and bring meaning back to work

9  Rediscover LACK OF EVOCATION and convert an inspiration-draining boss into an inspiration-evoking one.

The author sets the table with these grim statistics:  A Gallup poll says 70 of workers are disengaged and studies by Microsoft and AOL show that up to 40 percent of time spent at work is wasted.  Arg.  That's a lot of lifetimes.  The answer?  Mautz says change the tune, get unstuck, take some risks!  What,  take some risks, in this economy?  Are you kidding, I've got credit cards and a mortage to pay!

Not that far he says.  The idea is to get fired up, not fired.  if you find yourself in a very conservation or rigid heirarchy, realistically any big deviation could draw the wrong kind of attention.  But what if you start a brushfire, start slow and fan the flames.  And in fact he uses the example of Amazon to illustration a culture learning to say "yes" and take reasonable risks.  Any manager wanting to say no to a subordinate's great idea must write a two page document explaining why he or she is against the idea.  

But it is Mautz' colorful stories that make this book shine.  Examples drawn from IBM, Apple, Facebook, IDEO, and Procter & Gamble illustrate the author's points about a culture of well-considered risk taking.  Use this book to explore the possibilities, the concept that an environment of creativity, innovation, and growth requires a bit of risk-taking.