Recap of Teleconversation with NYT bestselling author Daniel Pink

Hi, everyone. Hope that you all had a great weekend (I know I did!). This past Friday, I had the chance to listen in on the teleconversation with Daniel Pink, hosted by Learn From My Life.

Pink’s intelligence is almost breathtaking. His credentials are stunning: honors undergraduate degree from Northwestern, law degree from Yale, NYT best-selling author, chief speechwriter for Al Gore. When Pink speaks, his words are brilliant, relevant, and concise.

Brilliance and drive is exciting, but it’s been seen before. I like Pink because he is interesting. His form of innovation is the most unique: Pink doesn’t just create new final products; rather, he uses ingredients that nobody ever considered combining. If Pink were to make meatloaf, it would incorporate tofu, orange, and paprika—and it would be delicious.

But my absolute favorite thing about Pink is his personality. He is secure enough to think bold, devoted enough to honestly discuss the impact of his professional choices on his family, and down-to-earth enough to imbue the conversation with humor. And he was really, really good at answering questions.

With that, I’ll turn to Pink’s actual work.

The book up for discussion on Learn From My Life was Pink’s Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need, which is the first American business book to be created using the Japanese comic style of manga. Pink was awarded a Japan Society Media Fellowship for the project, and teamed up with Rising Stars of Manga competition winner Rob Ten Pas for illustration.

The book follows the story of Johnny, a college grad stuck in a dead-end job. During yet another miserable work-caused all-nighter, Johnny heads out for some sushi and grabs a handful of chopsticks. He returns to his desk, and is shocked to learn that ethereal career-guidance sprite Diana will appear to him each time he cracks open one of the remaining six sets of chopsticks.

Throughout the course of the book, Diana teaches Johnny six career lessons:

1. There is no plan.
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
3. It’s not about you.
4. Persistence trumps talent.
5. Make excellent mistakes.
6. Leave an imprint.

As Pink discussed the lessons, and as I read them later at home, they really struck a chord. Everything made sense. They were either things which I’d learned but had not yet articulated, or situations which I could readily believe would occur.

With that, I think I’m going to sign off—this has been a super-long post. But, I hope I’ve managed to convey how highly I esteem Pink, and how excellent—and truly valuable—a project this is. The book is an engaging and quick read, and I definitely recommend it.