Own Your Work Journey!: The Path to Meaningful Work and Happiness in the Age of Smart Technology and Radical Change
Edward D. Hess
Self-Published (March 2023)

A well-written primer on business basics

FYI: My For Star rating for Amazon is based on two separate but related evaluations: I rate this book Three Stars for experienced (especially C-level) executives but Five Stars for those among their direct reports as well as for others who have recently begun a career in business or are now preparing for one.

There are no head-snapping revelations in this book nor does Edward Hess make any such claim. However, he focuses on the most important business fundamentals and discusses each of them with refreshing brevity. For example:

o Gratitude Practices
o OLD SMART v. NEW SMART
o Managing Negative Emotions
o Generating Positive Emotion
o The Five Gateways of Speech
o Loving-Kindness Meditation
o Take Ownership of You
o Critical Thinking Purposes & Questions
o Gary Klein’s PreMortem Tool
o High-Quality Making-Meaning Conversations
o Caring, Trusting Behaviors
o Life-long Behavioral Goals

In each instance, Hess focuses on the WHAT and suggests a brief HOW.

I view this book as a primer. Pay special attention to the 35 “Workshops,” a series of exercises that Edward Hess provides so that readers can anchor his key ideas in the context of their own workplace circumstances.

Here are two concluding suggestions: Highlight key passages, and, keep a lined notebook near at hand while reading Own Your Work Journey! in which you record your comments, questions, action steps (preferably with deadlines), and page references as well as your responses to the “Workplace” questions and to lessons you have learned. These two simple tactics will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent reviews of key material later.