Cambridge Business Association
Not Doing
Book

Not Doing

The Art of Effortless Action

Steven D'Souza and Diana Renner
LID Business Media, 2018
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Engaging
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

Leadership consultants Diana Renner and Steven D’Souza graphically demonstrate their premise that taking time to reflect and pause in life has value. Poems, quotations and inspiring accounts of executives, artists and adventurers help you relinquish control and ease your pressurized life. People wrongly believe that working harder helps them control their success.This book isn’t about being passive, but about actively choosing and working toward the life you want. 

Summary

Modern life’s overwork, need for control and identifying with your job can negatively affect you.

Landscape sculptor Andy Goldsworthy creates art outdoors using materials nature provides. He creates rock cairns on the seashore, integrating the ebb and flow of ocean tides into his creations. He does not control the environment. This inspires and energizes him.

In the business world, people often define themselves through work and accomplishments. For example, an Australian CEO’s relentless fear of being poor almost killed him. Though he appeared to be successful, his drive to overwork left his health and home life in shambles.

Physical burnout from defining your worth and identity by what you accomplish troubles people across the world. Being so busy reduces the time you need to generate new and innovative ideas.

In 1982, Tom Peters’s bestseller In Search of Excellence established the business principles of speed and action. Today, Amazon highlights the importance of speed in making decisions as the bedrock of sound leadership

Acting quickly can be a flaw when you don’t fully understand the ...

About the Authors

Organizational development expert Diana Renner and Steven D’Souza, an associate fellow of the University of Oxford business school, work with leaders through their individual consulting companies.

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