In a follow-up to my earlier post about Do More Great Work, author Michael Bungay Stanier has kindly agreed to answer a few questions and share some advice on how to make your work work for you.

Why am I finding this subject so captivating? My workplace philosophy so far has been “when in doubt, work harder.” It is slowly (yes yes, too slowly)  dawning on me that this is perhaps not always the answer and doesn’t produce the best results – for me personally or professionally, or for the work or my employer. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it can even be – gasp – frustrating  when you feel like you’re working flat-out and not getting stellar results.

So, if I can beat myself up less while getting better results and improving my job satisfaction and the satisfaction of my job with me? That sounds pretty awesome.

Michael Bungay Stanier offers a strategy to focusing your efforts,

• Do More Great Work, the blog post
• Do More Great Work, the Web site

You’ve included 15 “maps” or hands-on exercises to help people identify their strengths and goals. Was there one really good one that didn’t make the cut?

Well, there’s a 16th map people can find at www.DoMoreGreatWork.com which is about “Who Really Matters?” and it helps you decide which relationships are most important for you to nourish

You mention in the book that you transitioned from a career in marketing to one in personal development and executive coaching. What was your “ah ha” moment, when you first saw your new path?

It was more an experience of whittling away what wasn’t right until I was left with what was. In some ways, I’ve been involved in coach-like activities for most of my life. One of the key tipping points was when I lost my job as an internal change agent within a big company, and I started Box of Crayons. Suddenly, the question of “what are you doing?” was more apparent.

In one of the exercises, you suggest making a list of people (real and fictional) we admire. I love your idea of thinking of them as a virtual board of advisers, helping us to chart our own best path. Care to tell us about one or two people on your board?

Sure thing. Buzz Lightyear – love his “to infinity and beyond” sense of anything is possible. Peter Block, who’s a brilliant writer about taking responsibilitiy for your choices. Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil who combines creativity and joy with business savvy.

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve ever received?

“Don’t take any advice.” I’m only half in jest when I say that. The most recent piece of wisdom that I find helpful is “make everything a project” – that makes the start and finish of things much clearer, rather than getting sucked into “business as usual”

And what’s the best piece of other advice? (cooking, home maintenance, school… whatever)

Last week Marshall Goldsmith said, you have a choice to be happy or not be happy. Chose to be happy.

Is it really that easy? Can the secret to professional fulfillment be found between these covers? Can Michael Bungay Stanier help me tweak my career? And recapture some of the glitter and shine that has – and this is totally my own fault – worn off over the millennia?

Should I even be talking about career enhancement in a public forum while I’m on maternity leave, or will this raise eyebrows at a workplace I haven’t been to in weeks? Er… let’s get back to the book.

Right off the bat I dig his style. The first page follows principles of good content delivery – it uses numbers to draw you in instantly and gives you a road map for what to expect:”…share four tips… suggest three things you can do… and finally I’ll share the first of fifteen maps…” You know what’s coming and that it’s been thoughtfully organized. This is not going to be a meandering journey, which is great because you’re probably reading this in the first place because you are in a state of general frustration. I like this guy.

The thesis is that there are three kinds of work:

Bad Work: Stupid meetings, outdated procedures, busywork that doesn’t help anyone. It’s soul-sucking, demoralizing and hugely frustrating. It wastes time, money and energy.

Good Work: Work that you can do happily enough, but that doesn’t really light your fire or move your professional ball forward. We all do a bunch of this – it’s necessary, it can be comforting in a habit-y kind of a way and it’s a big part of what keeps the doors open at your company. If you’re reasonably lucky, you’ll spend most of your time doing Good Work.

Great Work: This is the exciting, meaningful stuff that makes a difference to you, to your colleagues and your field. This is where innovation happens. We could all use more of this.

This is a pretty exciting concept, and is an interesting way to categorize all of the elements of your workday. We spend a lot of time on the job, and who wants to just trudge through large swaths of your waking life? Great Work, however, comes with risks. When you’re pushing the envelope and taking things to the next level, not all of them will be successful. Successful Great Work will come from people who have developed their expertise. In other words, Great Work is built on a foundation of Good Work.

The Secret to Meetings

In particular, his position on meetings is alluring. It’s revolutionary. It’s enticing. It’s: Don’t. Meetings, he posits, are a waste of time and energy. While we almost certainly can’t just do away with them categorically, I do agree that we have too many meetings generally – many of which are inefficient and some of which are downright coma-inducing.

The Road to Spiffy

The section on innovation also speaks to me – namely the concept that you can’t innovate on a dime. Often, we work away, trudging more or less effectively through the day, churning out great piles of Good Work, which we do well. And then, once in a while, we are summoned to come up with great ideas. In a group setting. Preferably before 3:00. This, he posits, is not a recipe for Great Work. Starting fast with a cold engine, and working in a committee can stifle the boldest, most creative ideas. Even if they’re functionally impossible, the fringe is where inspiration happens. You can always rein in something that’s just too crazy, and wind up in an awesome and viable position. It’s much harder to spiff up a dull idea. You have to start from your spiffiest position, you know?

Portable Context

Do More Great Work offers a framework to take you out of your usual Good Work thinkery – to see outside of the rut of the competent. It’s a tool to help you define Great Work, identify opportunities, chart your path, and even get back on track when challenges derail you. The inspiration, work and risk must be yours, of course, but career satisfaction is a tantalizing goal.

• Do More Great Work – The Web site
• Cute or HR – Bad work at work.
• BookGraf on Facebook: Good books? Great company? No effort? What’s not to like?

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve ever received?

Another random workday e-mail from Spouse:

“I came to the realization that an idiot is a very complex mechanism. That is why it is practically unpredictable and so difficult to interface with. You also cannot bargain with or threaten it. ”

Honestly, these make my day.

• Advice Project: Do you have a keen workplace observation, or advice for how to succeed?

Once in a while, Spouse will send me an e-mail during the workday outlining a new theory about the nuances or workplace or interpersonal behavior. They are usually pretty incredible because he is in many ways a smart, smart man. He has consented to let me share this theory, which I think is just delightful and gave me a lot to think about.

Spouse says:

I think that people’s overall “well-meaning” towards someone, their benign disposition towards them and willingness to do favors (or even move a muscle) in order to make that person’s life easier, rest at a set of predetermined “ceilings,” much like the energy levels of the orbits of electrons, and not along a continuous range.

Okay class, are we with him so far?

Therefore, if they are on a “benign quantum level” of 1 towards you (bystander), and it takes, say, 7 abstract arbitrary “favor units” (funits) to move them to level 2 (ally), and you’ve been nice to them on 6 different occasions, but in increments of only 5 “funits” each, they are still BQL 1 relative to you, and still won’t move too many muscles when you need help, but you’re 30 funits out-of-pocket, which just were wasted into the “office space” around you…

So, if you’d done one pretty nice thing – valued at 7 or more funits – while having been neutral or a mild jerk on 5 other occasions, you’d be ahead of the person who was consistently nice.

Of course, perhaps after releasing 30 funits into the surrounding environment one has decreased the overall “bitching entropy gradient” of the surrounding office space, and as a result now reduced the BQL-jump ceiling from 7 funits to, say, 4.37, and then somebody just comes along and with a simple expenditure of very few funits gets someone who is still BQL 1 toward you to become their best BQL 3 buddy. Now you’re still out 30 funits, and have not benefited at all, but others have, and at much lesser funit expense.

And now you’ve gone and improved the overall environment, reducing the alliance barrier for others, but still not generating any direct allies for yourself. Boo. Spouse closes by positing that we should use this theory to build a working model to maximize our ROI for funit expenditure.

Hands off ladies, he’s mine.

I worked for a nonprofit national media company a few years ago. At my first official meeting reviewing my performance, my boss – unshaven, in shorts and a torn t-shirt – said “I know that I can hand you any ungodly pile of shit and you’ll just dig in and work through it until it’s done.”

At the time, I was pretty proud of that. Now, [an unnamed number of] years later, I’ve got a different perspective.

Really digging into a task, wrestling it to the ground, beating it into submission and making it do my evil bidding is very satisfying. But it’s not the key to workplace success. That’s not what makes the powers that be give you that pony you’ve always wanted (I’m going to name mine Pickles). Look around – the hardest grinding workers who just put their heads down and burrow in, reliably delivering product – even great product – aren’t the stars. It’s more of a combo-platter of skills, politics, disposition, corporate priorities, “intangibles” (like palette of personalities and the weather), and – yes – work delivery. How that plays out specifically, and how to position oneself to greatest advantage varies, and is a skill set worth cultivating.

That, and dress for the job you want, not the job you have. Those years of wearing jeans and Phish t-shirts to the office probably didn’t do me any favors.

What do you know about succeeding in the workplace? Please. Tell me.

We all heart the planet, right? Keeps us warm, cool, lighted… er… protects us from the cold vacuum of space. It’s the only source of Skittles that I know of. Good stuff, all. So I wanted to highlight Bethesda Green, a local organization that’s doing some good and making some waves. Their roster of sponsors, members  and supporters is impressive, and I intend to harangue some of them for their thoughts here.

Dave Heffernan, Director of Communications at Bethesda Green, has a sweet gig, doing good work within walking distance of his home. These might be some of the perks you get from having 25 years of experience with nonprofits and consulting firms for the federal government (thanks, Dave’s official bio!), but it probably also helps that he’s super nice.

Dave was kind enough to answer a few questions and offer some advice to the next generation.

What’s the biggest thing coming up on Bethesda Green’s calendar would you like to point out here?

We have a Shred and Recycle Event at the Walt Whitman High School parking lot, Sunday, Nov. 15, 1-5 pm.  This is being organized with Montgomery County as part of a number of America Recycles Day activities.  People can bring up to 5 boxes of old bank statements and other personal item for shredding.  We’re also collecting donations of clean clothing, household items and furniture.

The GreenerLiving program is a series of workshops promoting a community effort to reduce energy usage and save money.  We currently have sessions around different topics scheduled Saturdays, 10-11:30 am at Bethesda Green, Nov. 7, Nov. 21, and Dec. 5.  We plan to repeat and expand the offerings in 2010.

What’s the number one daily life tip you’d give someone who wanted to live more responsibly?

This is really a subjective question.  I say each person needs to examine their own behavior first and start taking small steps toward improvement.  Do simple things, make them a habit, and move on from there.  For example, plan your driving so you combine errands.  Then, consider walking, biking or using public transportation as an alternative to always driving.  Buy less is a good tip, and buy eco-friendly.  Biggest impact?  Not sure, but if we all start taking steps to improve behavior, there’s no question the impact will be significant.

More philosophically, what do you want the next generation to know about how to treat the environment?

The next generation is ahead of the curve on a lot of these issues, compared with the general population.  The environment is a living organism in which humans exist symbiotically. Globally, our health as a species is tied to how well we maintain a clean, healthy environment.  We’ll go a long way toward improving the environment if we think of it this way.

Bonus round: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received – not necessarily green-related?

Take every opportunity to expaned your network of contacts, friends, and colleagues.

Do you have tips for greener living? Or advice for real life in general?

It’s easy, it’s free and it’ll make you feel good.

I cannot believe it, but the brilliant authors of the incredible Go Fug Yourself blog have for some reason consented to respond to a couple of questions here. Quickly, before they come to their senses, let me tell you a little bit about their work and why I strongly recommend that you should read GFY every day.

Go Fug Yourself a fashion blog that dishes on what the stars are wearing, and provides some sideways commentary on celebrity culture through the filter of last season’s leggings. Ew. I kind of regret that metaphor. From fabulous shoes to highly unfortunate trousers, skirts that don’t always qualify for the title, and Bai Ling (enough said), you don’t have to know Louboutins from Levis to enjoy the melee.

I’ve been reading their blog daily for eons and find it to be simply amazing how they keep it fresh day after day, red carpet after red carpet, pantless starlet after shapeless muumuu. They’re snarky, smart and sometimes scathing but never cruel. In short, a strong recommend.

And without further ado, here is the interview:

What’s the single most important sartorial error to avoid at all costs?

JESSICA: We always say, make sure it fits and covers your bits. Everything else is negotiable as long as what you’re wearing fits you properly, and your nipple isn’t popping out.

HEATHER: Amen.

HEATHER: I’d say, a pair of shoes that makes you feel sexy as hell and
like your legs are ten feet long.

HEATHER: Someone once told me that if you’re trying to hide something, baggy clothes are your worst enemy because they’ll just make it look like you’re hiding MORE than you actually are. And it’s absolutely true. Let the clothes follow the contours and curves of your body and it will always be more flattering than trying to hide your tummy in a tent.

HEATHER: Yep, I agree. Scrap the roadmap. Be open to anything, because the best things are the ones you didn’t see coming.

See? Aren’t they awesome?? I think this is the start of a theme, and so I invite you to suggest someone for me to interview, or to give a piece of advice yourself.

If you’ve ever found yourself on the receiving end of an interview, you know that it can be disconcerting. At least. At most, it can be harrowing, leaving you wrung out and twisted into a knot of agonies that you’ve a) totally shot your message in the ass, b) ruined your own life and reputation beyond hope of redemption and c) had something hanging out of your nose. Rest assured, I have done all of these things so you don’t have to. But enough about me – time to pay attention to a very wise man who has shared some very nice advice on how to manage the media.

Nine times out of ten, the person interviewing you is not going to play their question when they edit together the interview. This frees you up to say what you came to say and ignore the question that’s being asked. It’s worth practicing by writing down your argument and having a friend pepper you with questions to which you may only respond with things you’ve already said.

I realize that Nutgraf’s background in journalism may dispose her to find this advice very irritating.

– Josh

Far from irritating, Josh, this is a fine pearl of wisdom that I am delighted to share. You also are very kind to describe my background as “in journalism.” I’d characterize it mostly as “in the same building as journalism.”

You can (and are encouraged to) read more from Josh here!