Self-help books, coaching books, management books? They often promise too much, and nothing changes after reading them. Fortunately, that is not always true. Here is the eleventh book that gave me direction. Not by reading it, but by writing it.

DANCING TO WORK

After many years of coaching, my cupboard was overflowing with handouts full of insights, theories, and exercises. That was actually a gold mine. It would be a waste if it just sat there and remained available only to my clients. Lodewijk van der Peet, an acclaimed advertising professional and now also a coach, was willing to edit my texts to turn them into a book. He writes much more sharply than I could myself, and I was pleased with that. His wife, Esther Jansen, was responsible for the beautiful design. And it went so smoothly: publisher NieuwAmsterdam actually said ‘yes’ immediately to publishing it. It was quite a gift to create a little book together like that. And what are the 99 tips in this little book about? Work pressure sometimes runs high for everyone. Or communication breaks down. And sometimes you have to do things you can’t or don’t want to do. That causes stress. And you want to get rid of that.

I came up with 99 ways to deal with that more loosely. You probably know a few of them, but you just don’t do them. Others are new. They are all very practical. They make short work of your stress so that working becomes a daily party (again).
There are three themes: collaboration, meetings, and presentations. And you will find many practical tips for all three.

Recently, the office manager of a new client emailed me. She had bought the booklet out of interest and wrote to me: “What a great book, Dancing to Work. Arrived yesterday and applied the first tips today! (Sorry, I don’t read it entirely according to your reading guide to pick a random page). Tip 21 in particular turned out to be a good one to become aware of 🙂 Have a nice evening and I’ll talk to you soon!” My day couldn’t be better after that.