The Way We're Working Isn't Working: The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance
Written by Tony Schwartz and Jean Gomes
Narrated by Tony Schwartz
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
The Way We're Working Isn't Working is one of those rare books with the power to profoundly transform the way we work and live.
Demand is exceeding our capacity. The ethic of "more, bigger, faster" exacts a series of silent but pernicious costs at work, undermining our energy, focus, creativity, and passion. Nearly 75 percent of employees around the world feel disengaged at work every day. The Way We're Working Isn't Working offers a groundbreaking approach to reenergizing our lives so we’re both more satisfied and more productive—on the job and off.
By integrating multidisciplinary findings from the science of high performance, Tony Schwartz, coauthor of the #1 bestselling The Power of Full Engagement, makes a persuasive case that we’re neglecting the four core needs that energize great performance: sustainability (physical); security (emotional); self-expression (mental); and significance (spiritual). Rather than running like computers at high speeds for long periods, we’re at our best when we pulse rhythmically between expending and regularly renewing energy across each of our four needs.
Organizations undermine sustainable high performance by forever seeking to get more out of their people. Instead they should seek systematically to meet their four core needs so they’re freed, fueled, and inspired to bring the best of themselves to work every day.
Drawing on extensive work with an extra-ordinary range of organizations, among them Google, Ford, Sony, Ernst & Young, Shell, IBM, the Los Angeles Police Department, and the Cleveland Clinic, Schwartz creates a road map for a new way of working. At the individual level, he explains how we can build specific rituals into our daily schedules to balance intense effort with regular renewal; offset emotionally draining experiences with practices that fuel resilience; move between a narrow focus on urgent demands and more strategic, creative thinking; and balance a short-term focus on immediate results with a values-driven commitment to serving the greater good. At the organizational level, he outlines new policies, practices, and cultural messages that Schwartz’s client companies have adopted.
The Way We're Working Isn't Working offers individuals, leaders, and organizations a highly practical, proven set of strategies to better manage the relentlessly rising demands we all face in an increasingly complex world.
Tony Schwartz
Tony Schwartz is the founder and president of The Energy Project, a consulting group that works with a number of Fortune 500 companies, including American Express, Credit Suisse, Ford, General Motors, Gillette, Master Card, and Sony. He was a reporter for the New York Times, an associate editor at Newsweek, and a staff writer for New York Magazine and Esquire and a columnist for Fast Company. He co-authored the #1 worldwide bestseller The Art of the Deal with Donald Trump, and after that wrote What Really Matters. He co-authored the #1 New York Times bestseller The Power of Full Engagement with Jim Loehr.
Related to The Way We're Working Isn't Working
Related audiobooks
The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eat Sleep Work Repeat: 30 Hacks for Bringing Joy to Your Job Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Leading Brain: Powerful Science-Based Strategies for Achieving Peak Performance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Primed to Perform: How to Build the Highest Performing Cultures Through the Science of Total Motivation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Work Better Together: How to Cultivate Strong Relationships to Maximize Well-Being and Boost Bottom Lines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How We Work: Live Your Purpose, Reclaim Your Sanity, and Embrace the Daily Grind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Fix Meetings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGood Business: Leadership, Flow and the Making of Meaning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Power of Story: Rewrite Your Destiny in Business and in Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nine Lies about Work: A Freethinking Leader's Guide to the Real World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 25 Minute Meeting: Half the Time, Double the Impact Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best Place to Work: The Art and Science of Creating an Extraordinary Workplace Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Two Awesome Hours: Science-Based Strategies to Harness Your Best Time and Get Your Most Important Work Done Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Do What Matters Most: Lead with a Vision, Manage with a Plan, Prioritize Your Time Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sleeping With Your Smart Phone: How to Break the 24/7 Habit and Change the Way You Work Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The One Thing You Need To Know: ...About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Comes First: How Today's Leaders Create an Uncompromising Company Culture That Doesn't Suck Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlive at Work: The Neuroscience of Helping Your People Love What They Do Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extraordinary Influence: How Great Leaders Bring Out the Best in Others Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Invaluable: The Secret to Becoming Irreplaceable Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Master Mentors: 30 Transformative Insights from Our Greatest Minds Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hyper-Learning: How to Adapt to the Speed of Change Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Power of Pressure: Why Pressure Isn’t the Problem, It’s the Solution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInstinct: Rewire Your Brain with Science-Backed Solutions to Increase Productivity and Achieve Success Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fail Fast, Fail Often: How Losing Can Help You Win Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Leadership For You
Be the Unicorn: 12 Data-Driven Habits that Separate the Best Leaders from the Rest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: 30th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline; 21 Ways to Achieve Lasting Happiness and Success Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How To Win Friends And Influence People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 5AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Win Friends and Influence People: Updated For the Next Generation of Leaders Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership 25th Anniversary: Follow Them and People Will Follow You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leadership Strategy and Tactics: Field Manual Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brain Rules (Updated and Expanded): 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Principles: Life and Work Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All It Takes Is a Goal: The 3-Step Plan to Ditch Regret and Tap Into Your Massive Potential Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success: What You Need to Know to Win Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High, Third Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Introverted Leader: Building on Your Quiet Strength Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Failing Forward: How to Make the Most of Your Mistakes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Freakonomics Rev Ed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5WOLFPACK: How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power, and Change the Game Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Right Call: What Sports Teach Us About Leadership, Excellence, and Decision-Making Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for The Way We're Working Isn't Working
13 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Full of common sense BUT why don't we follow it?
This is worth the time to read and come back to as a reminder of how to "work". Following even a few of these ideas can change your life at work. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There's a lot of helpful stuff in this book. Particularly valuable to me was the information about the relationship between work and rest/renewal, also the concept of facts vs. stories.