I am so pleased People Artists: Drawing Out the Best in Others at Work written by Peter W. Hart and myself. But don’t take my word for it:
Ms. Leslee Thompson President and CEO of Kingston General Hospital said
Jasmine Gartner, business anthropologist said
Just before Christmas, I received a box from Canada – when I opened it up, I found David Zinger and Peter Hart’s book. If you’re familiar with David’s take on employee engagement, you know he gets to the heart of what’s important about it: our relationships with each other. The thing that’s lovely about this book is that it is one half of a conversation, where you, the reader, provide the other half. The book invites you to think and reflect upon what you do – who you are. If you share this with others, you invite them to do so as well. People Artists makes a link between our senses, our emotions and intellect, and how we experience the world and create experience for ourselves and others. Drawing on this, there are five sections. “The heart cares,” write Zinger and Hart. “The ears listen. The eyes see. The lips talk.” And finally, “the hands give.” Each chapter then shows how various people have used these ideas to forge relationships. Peter Hart’s paintings, reproduced here, contribute to that sense that it’s not just words and logic that create a human workplace.
As an anthropologist, I greatly enjoyed that the book draws upon people’s stories. The back and forth of illustrations, stories, and invitations to practice and reflect are not something that most people ordinarily think of when they think of work.
This is one of the major points of the book – that, if we are lucky enough to be able to make our luck, we can change our workplaces: Imagine a workplace where people don’t care… We hope you only have to imagine this, not experience it. There is another way: People Artistry Another point is that it is only by improving ourselves that we improve our workplaces, and ultimately, our world. There are lots of things that are beyond our control – but changing ourselves through reflection, conversation and relationship isn’t one of them. That message of hope is the thing I loved most about the book. Check it out when you get a chance and let me know what you think.
To preview the book sample, click here.
To order 10 or more copies of the book contact me directly and I will set this up for you: david@davidzinger.com