1. Tell us about your book. What is it about?
We all want to feel fully alive while we work. The problem is that many people have settled for less – they remain in jobs that kill off their spirits. Work feels like prison; it draws out our ugly side. This book, Taking Your Soul to Work, provides powerful strategies and practical tips to help people work with meaning, purpose and joy. This book may free you from your invisible chains.
2. What’s special about your book?
We bring a unique Western and Asian perspective. Paul’s a Canadian in his seventies (lots of wisdom) while Alvin’s a Malaysian in his thirties (lots of real-life challenges). We studied powerful principles from great leaders over the past 1,000 years. We’ve packed each chapter with real-life examples and challenges. There’s lots of great tips on how to take your soul to work.
3. Tell us about yourself and what motivated you to write the book?
I have advanced degrees in English Literature and creative writing. And I've held leadership positions in eight different industries (academia, stockbroking, journalism, telecommunications, theology, philanthropy, leadership development, writing). So I learn stuff quickly. I’m passionate about leadership.
But a few years, in one of my jobs, I hit a wall. Hard. The job was far bigger than I could handle. It drew out all my inner demons: anger, pride, envy, restlessness, even sloth. At some point in life, we all hit the wall – not if, but when. What do we do then? Are we helpless? Or can we overcome the soul-sapping struggles? This book shows us how to overcome. We don’t have to be stuck. We can be free.
4. And how did you end up writing this book with Paul – so much older, from a different country?
Paul was my mentor and professor of leadership at university in Vancouver. Later, he invited me to write a book with him. We started in a Starbucks café in Vancouver. We met in Bali, Penang, Kuala Lumpur. We spent six hours everyday in a library basement for two months. We took a break in the middle to go wilderness canoeing. We wrote the final chapters under a gas lamp on an island in the Gulf Coast that had no running water or electricity. It was intense, challenging, exhausting. And the best collaborative work I’ve ever done.
5. Why is it important to take your soul to work? What if we don’t?
There’s a lawyer who’s really kind and generous, but at work, he screams at people and slams down the phone. Jekyll and Hyde. Work can make us crave for money, sex, power. Or we become lazy, stupid, bored, totally useless. If we don’t tackle this stuff, one day it’ll explode in our faces – like that nuclear power plant in Japan (e.g. Bill Clinton and Dominique Strauss Kahn for lust; Donald Trump for greed). Many of us are like walking dead. Our work has killed their souls. But we don’t know what to do about it.
6. What do you do about it? What's the key to taking your soul to work?
Our book gives everyone three powerful strategies for taking your soul to work:
First, identify a soul-sapping struggle in you. Take ownership of it. The problem is serious. It’s harming you. It’s harming the people around you.
Second, figure out a countermeasure. Don’t do this alone. You need friends, you need God. Our research shows that when you allow God and people to walk with you in your struggles, things change for good.
Third, practice the art of living in a new way of life. Default: “I’m greedy. Can’t change. That’s who I am.” You feel trapped. But when you take your soul to work, you discover a new way of life: you are good, you are generous, and you are content, not greedy. You are free.
7. What does this look like in real life? Any examples?
Remember the job where I fell flat on my face? It was a huge job, totally overwhelming.I felt several soul-sapping struggles: anger, pride, and above all, restlessness.
Step 1. Identify soul-sapping struggle: restlessness. Alvin, you’re scared, you feel stupid, and you want to run away. Wouldn’t it be great to quit?
Step 2. Figure out the antidote: Patience. You’ve to go remain, tough it out, at least for a while. If you don’t do this, you’ll carry restlessness everywhere you go, maybe forever!. (Tip: do five things before you run away. Tip: become CEO of Something. Tip: Grow your brain, try new stuff.)
Step 3. Live in your new way of life. The opposite of restlessness is confidence – working with meaning and hope. I learned to tackle the most difficult thing first. I faced up to difficult people rather than ignore and hope for the best. I could endure tough stuff. I was free.
8. The three strategies sound challenging. Any simple tips?
a) Don't struggle alone. Invite two trusted friends for coffee once a week. Share your struggles, share your hopes. Ask for one piece of feedback. You'll really grow. (Bonus: you'll feel twice as rich as before. Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahnemann has discovered that people who belong in a small group feel as happy as having their salary doubled.)
b) Take a 30-minute Timeout everyday. Take 30 minutes to ask yourself: what am I most grateful today? Least grateful? What's a next step for tomorrow? (CEO Mark Chang's story). Take a few days off every quarter to reflect on the big questions in life: why am I doing what I'm doing? Who am I these days? (Helen Read, MD of Ms Read boutiques and restaurants).
c) Read my book. Each chapter is short. There are a ton of practical tips. One soul-sapping struggle is slothfulness. Simple tip: don’t check email first thing in morning (90% do). You’ll get sucked in. Instead, take 10 minutes to write down five important things to accomplish today. Prioritize. Then take 90 minutes to tackle the most important thing.
9. What’s one final thing you have to share?
Never, ever settle for less. Don’t believe the lie that you’re stuck. You can’t change. You can. You can grow. You need to embrace a growth process that goes deep (the three strategies). And you need friends along the way. And live in your new way of life. That’s the secret to high performance leadership.
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