The Adventures of Johnny Bunko

Look­ing for a lit­tle inspi­ra­tion to move you for­ward in your career.  How about a comic book?  The Adven­tures of Johnny Bunko is the lat­est book by author Dan Pink, who also penned A Whole New Mind — another of my favorites.  The book is done entirely in the pop­u­lar style of Japan­ese ani­ma­tion known as Manga.  Who knew that manga could be so enlight­en­ing?  The char­ac­ters are par­tic­u­larly funny, with career coun­sel­ing com­ing from a fairy who appears when the main char­ac­ter breaks open carry out chop­sticks.  Not exactly the run of the mill career guide.

The book is an easy read, makes some very mean­ing­ful points about how to approach your pro­fes­sional career, and the comic book for­mat makes it par­tic­u­lar enjoy­able to read.

There are 6 key points out­lined in the book.  Here they are with a few extra notes to add context.

1. There Is No Plan — I know this one very well, hav­ing been involved in com­pa­nies that have gone through down­siz­ing, merg­ers, acqui­si­tions and other assorted crazi­ness.  Pink asserts that you can either make “safe” deci­sions that may lead to some­thing bet­ter some­day, or make deci­sions that lead to the oppor­tu­ni­ties to learn excit­ing new things, build skills, and enjoy life now.
2. Think Strengths, Not Weak­nesses — Pink ref­er­ences Mihaly Csik­szent­mi­ha­lyi, one of my favorite authors, and dis­cusses the idea of lever­ag­ing that which you love and are good at to make a liv­ing.  Instead of try­ing to improve upon that which you despise or strug­gle with, focus on your strong points.  This will ulti­mately lead to a job where you can achieve “flow” on a reg­u­lar basis — with time fly­ing by as you enjoy and are engaged in what you do.
3. It’s Not About You — The most valu­able peo­ple use their tal­ents to bring out the best in oth­ers.  If you want to improve your life, start by improv­ing some­one else’s.
4. Per­sis­tence Trumps Tal­ent — The best of the best are those who stick with it in the tough times.  For musi­cians and ath­letes alike, it comes down to prac­tic­ing hard every day.  The same is true in business.
5. Make Excel­lent Mis­takes — Too many peo­ple get hung up on try­ing to avoid fail­ure at all costs.  In doing so, they never try any­thing new.  It is ok to fail, as long as it gets you closer to excellence.
6. Leave An Imprint — Life is short.  Do some­thing that matters.

Whether you like busi­ness books or not, this one is a must read.  It is so dif­fer­ent from most of what is out there and presents the mes­sage in such an inno­v­a­tive way, that you are sure to think a lit­tle dif­fer­ently about work by the time you get done read­ing it.

Ja Mata

The Adven­tures of Johnny Bunko