Two things I love about this interview.  First, Mark is a fellow Aussie.  That always puts me in a good mood.  Second, he’s reinvented himself.  He was a VP and COO for the JP Morgan Private Bank in London.  And he is now the world’s first executive meditation coach.  He teaches at the Harvard Law School and the Wharton Business School as well as having many private clients and he’s written a fantastic book Meditation in a New York Minute: Super Calm for the Super Busy. (Doesn’t that sound useful? It really is.)  So this is a story that combines business, and the quest for Great Work, and finding and creating a unique space in the world.

In the interview we’ll get into:

• How connecting with the peak moments can give you a powerful insight as to what your Great Work might be – if you’re courageous enough to pursue it
• The power of meditation as a diagnostic tool – and as a business critical tool (1200 scientific studies can’t be wrong)
• How to counter the epidemic of uncertainty and stress – something that’s costing North America about a trillion dollars each year
• The path of 30,000 steps – and how you can begin that journey in just a couple of minutes

Listen to my interview with Mark Thornton

The interviews are all between 25 and 30 minutes long.
You can either download them here as mp3s, or go to iTunes, type in “Great Work Interviews” and you’ll see them all there.

A final reminder that I’m running a free telelcass tomorrow with Tom Heck, President of the International Association of Teamwork Facilitators.

It’s on at Wednesday, 1pm Eastern – and you can register here.

Come along and you’ll learn:

• What’s the difference between Great Work and Good Work – and whether you should care or not
• How to help a team or an organization focus on the work that makes the most difference – and how to deal with the work that doesn’t
• Two words that will significantly increase the power of your facilitation questions

We’ll be using a new technology that allows us to do small group breakouts on the phone – so this won’t be the usual one-hour monologue. (But it also means you’re unlikely to catch up on much email during the call…)

“If I had to pick a person to have dinner with, when I need to be prodded and challenged and inspired to think about the things I really am committed to think about for myself and what I’m doing, I’d pick Michael Bungay Stanier. He has an ability to shake our tree and make us more conscious and responsible about what we know but aren’t willing to admit we know yet. And the best part – he makes it easy and fun. Great work, Michael!”
~ David Allen, 
Author of Getting Things Done

Follow Michael Bungay Stanier/@boxofcrayons on Twitter

“If you take care of the small things, the big things take care of themselves. You can gain more control over your life by paying closer attention to the little things.”
~ Emily Dickinson, 1830 – 1886

I spent much of my English degree writing bad facsimilies of Emily Dickinson’s poetry. My attempts were short and with lots of dashes – but sadly, they lacked her ability to capture the essence of things so wonderfully.

I’ve been playing with paradox recently – some deep paradoxes live at the heart of Great Work – and I think this is one of them.

I agree with “don’t sweat the small stuff – and it’s all small stuff.”

And I agree with this too.

Worry and don’t worry about the small stuff.

Worry and don’t worry about the big stuff.

Mainly, I think, don’t worry.

There’s something very useful about hearing from people in the “c-suite” – those senior leaders in an organization that are often responsible for articulating what Great Work might mean to an organization and inculcating a culture that allows it to flourish.  Bob Hughes is one of those people.  He’s the Managing Director of CIGNA Healthcare Benefits, and has recently come to that position having been with CIGNA for more than twenty years.  Prior to being MD, he was the CFO for CIGNA International. In this interview we talk about:

• How he managed to guide decentralized global teams back to interacting and engaging with one another
• The importance of opening up “white space” to let Great Work flourish
• Finding the right balance as a senior leader to work “on the business” rather than “in the business”
• And why it’s never too early to start thinking and acting strategically

Listen to my interview with Bob Hughes

The interviews are all between 25 and 30 minutes long.
You can either download them here as mp3s, or go to iTunes, type in “Great Work Interviews” and you’ll see them all there.

Tom Heck, President of IATF (International Association of Teamwork Facilitators) is hosting a Great Work teleclass a week from today – 1pm on Wednesday 28th.

=> http://tinyurl.com/ylppvqn

This will be a fun, practical and interactive session – and free to boot.

It’s based on my Find Your Great Work book – and you can read some nice things said about that below.

In the teleclass you’ll learn

• What’s the difference between Great Work and Good Work – and whether you should care or not.
• How to help a team or an organization focus on the work that makes the most difference – and how to deal with the work that doesn’t
• Two words that will significantly increase the power of your facilitation questions

So jump on in – the water’s fine…

=> http://tinyurl.com/ylppvqn

“If I had to pick a person to have dinner with, when I need to be prodded and challenged and inspired to think about the things I really am committed to think about for myself and what I’m doing, I’d pick Michael Bungay Stanier. He has an ability to shake our tree and make us more conscious and responsible about what we know but aren’t willing to admit we know yet. And the best part – he makes it easy and fun. Great work, Michael!”
~ David Allen
, Author of Getting Things Done

In the world of teamwork there is something we call “synergy”. When a group of individuals work together with passion and focus, they produce a result that is much greater than the sum of the individual effort. When interviewed, team members will use the word “magical” to describe these types of experiences. Creating teams that work in this way are what managers dream of. For too many managers the dreams are never realized because they don’t know how to help their team members do more Great Work. I love Michael’s book “Find Your Great Work” because it provides a powerful, step-by-step system managers can use to help coach their team members to making the shift from good (or even bad) work to great work. How many team and leadership development books have you read that leave you wondering how to implement the author’s wisdom? This book is different. Michael literally maps it out for you. We’ve entered a new age in teamwork – - the inspiration age – - and this book will help managers build inspired teams.
~ Tom Heck, IATF President & FounderNew