My Business Soul Mate: Rework

Sorry potential future business partner, my heart’s already taken. Like they say, it happens when you’re not looking. A sporadic visit to a bookstore, and there it is: Rework.

Immediately, I am taken aback by the cover: simple, sleek, and in my color scheme. Looks like a good match so far. I don’t pick it up at first. I walk around to see if anything else catches my eye, but no, I keep glancing back at that black cover. Nervously, I take a copy down from the shelf and run my hands across the thick pages. The book even smells heavenly.

I don’t usually do this.

I’m a digital girl living in a digital world, but something propelled me to the register. “Do you need a bag?” Oh no. I’ll be cracking this one open very quickly, I might not even make it outside.

As I start reading, it feels like this book already knows me. It gets it. Business books bounce around from tradition to innovation, from inside to outside the box, and from boring reality to impossible dreams. No, Rework isn’t teasing me with promises of a better life that would force me to sell myself to get there. Rework is common sense.

Within a few hours, I’ve not only made it through the whole book, but I’ve begun imprinting myself upon the pages. Furiously, I’m making sure that I’m holding up my end of the conversation, writing in all the margins. A book hasn’t made me feel like this for a long time.

Pouring through the chapters and pictures, I think of how so many who need this book could miss it. It’s not a fad book, all glitter and no substance…or even worse, the wrong substance. But the simplicity of the cover could make you miss it.

Don’t.

If you’ve ever banged your head against a wall (or done a mental head slap) after a meeting, you need this book. If you’re wondering why people seem to become idiots in the face of power, read this book. If you just need to know you’re not alone in this giant working world, you need to get this book.

You can read content reviews anywhere, but they’re probably not going to tell you how reading this book is going to make you feel. That you’re going to start wanting to bring it with you. You’re going to probably return to pages when you need a reminder you’re not speaking gibberish in meetings. Hopefully, this book will become a partner, a way to look at the world around you in simpler (more sane) terms.

Maybe it will become your soul mate.

You can pick up a copy of Rework at Amazon.com or any bookstore with a business section. If you get a chance to read this, please share your own experience with how this book makes you feel. Is it your soul mate? Your Business Bible?

Tagged as: book review, business, Rework