‘Unique and unexpectedly moving: it’s a choral work of frustration, pride and despair’ – The Telegraph

‘Charlie Colenutt’s intense and revealing interviews capture the raw voices of people talking honestly about work . . . Read this, as each one opens a hidden window on the way we live now’ – Polly Toynbee

For the best part of two years Charlie Colenutt travelled the country to talk to a hundred strangers, from all walks of life, about their jobs: What did they do for a living? Why did they do it? Did they like it?

They met in coffee shops, chain pubs or front rooms. Through hearing people tell their stories, he found out the number of birds killed per day in a poultry factory, the order in which patients are woken up in care homes, and the reasons why you shouldn’t smile when you are shown your bonus in an investment bank.

He spoke with the church minister who, maddened by his email inbox, has come to feel more like an administrator than a spiritual leader; the cleaner that became so frustrated by the lack of change in her local area that she ran to be a councillor and won; the baker who used to hate touching flour; and the trade union organizer, not pressured by hours or targets, but by the cause.

Together, the voices in Is This Working? tell a story about the one thing that most British adults have in common – work.

‘Unique and unexpectedly moving: it’s a choral work of frustration, pride and despair’ – The Telegraph

‘Charlie Colenutt’s intense and revealing interviews capture the raw voices of people talking honestly about work . . . Read this, as each one opens a hidden window on the way we live now.’ – Polly Toynbee

For the best part of two years Charlie Colenutt travelled the country to talk to a hundred strangers, from all walks of life about their jobs: What did they do for a living? Why did they do it? Did they like it?

They met in coffee shops, chain pubs or front rooms. Through hearing people tell their stories, he found out the number of birds killed a day in a poultry factory, the order in which patients are woken up in care homes, and the reasons why you shouldn’t smile when you are shown your bonus in an investment bank. He spoke with the church minister who, maddened by his email inbox, has come to feel more like an administrator than a spiritual leader; the cleaner that became so frustrated by the lack of change in her local area that she ran to be a councillor and won; the baker who used to hate touching flour; and the trade union organiser, not pressured by hours or targets, but by the cause.

Together, the voices in Is This Working? tell a story about the one thing that most British adults have in common – work.

‘If you’re looking for fresh ways to energize your work, you’ve come to the right place’ – Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Think Again

Doing something for its inherent satisfaction – rather than external rewards – is the key to success and satisfaction in any endeavour. Motivation is your essential and comprehensive guide to achieving this. Filled with practical methods and techniques Stefan Falk developed at McKinsey & Company, and through twenty-five years as a senior executive and performance coach working with elite athletes, top executives, special operators in the armed forces and leaders from all walks of life.

To satisfy our psychological needs in today’s professional world, we must pursue them consciously and purposefully – but unfortunately, most of us don’t know how to do so effectively. The true solution to becoming happier, healthier and more productive is to become intrinsically motivated: to stop wasting time on activities that don’t really contribute to our careers or our company’s success, eschew the dog-eat-dog culture of modern business, and find ways to take pleasure in what we do – and to do it well. This groundbreaking book will revolutionize your approach to success at work and beyond.

‘The very best insights, tools and tips for managing yourself and your goals in high-pressure situations’ – Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of Drive

Published as Intrinsic Motivation in the United States.

On the surface, men today don’t have much to complain about. At work, they still get paid more than women for doing the same jobs. At home, they still shirk most of the unpaid labour. Putting the bins out does not count.

Beneath the surface, it’s a different story. An alarming number of men end up anxious, exhausted, depressed – and very reluctant to admit they are. Even if they do everything that’s expected of them in work, life and fatherhood, genuine happiness is still elusive. By midlife, their levels of stress are higher and their levels of wellbeing are lower – and work-life balance turns out to be just a cruel illusion.

The evidence is clear and ironic: the system set up by men for men doesn’t work for men either. It is making none of us happy.

In Man Down, Matt Rudd takes the long view on this perplexing paradox. Drawing on stories from his own life, and the varied lives of the other men he has interviewed, he goes back to the beginning to consider what makes the modern man – how the seeds of midlife misery are sown in the school playground and cultivated through adolescence and into adulthood. By turns compassionate and provocative, Man Down asks the important question: is midlife unhappiness inevitable? Spoiler alert: it isn’t.

The week just started and already you’re playing catch-up. At the end of another busy day, your to-do list is longer than it was this morning. Enter GRIP: the book for everyone who has too much to do.

This fresh, no-nonsense guide brings clarity and direction to even the most hectic workweek. Using tools you know – like your calendar, to-do list, and email – GRIP walks you through working smarter, thinking bigger, and clearing the way for what matters most. And GRIP‘s pick-and-choose structure makes it easy to dive in and start applying what you like straightaway.

So you can reclaim your time and
start chasing your wildest dreams. Today.

‘Packed with immediately actionable insights and smart frameworks to put you in the driver’s seat‘ JULIE ZHOU, former VP Design at Facebook and author of The Making of a Manager

‘In a time when we all face so many demands, expectations and uncertainties, GRIP will help you take back control of your week and your life’ TONY CRABBE, bestselling author of Busy: How to Thrive in a World of Too Much

‘Terrifyingly entertaining.’ Kelly Link
‘Masterful.’ Washington Post
”Alice in Wonderland set in the gig economy.’ New York Times
‘What is this?’ Los Angeles Times
Shortlisted for the Center for Fiction’s 2020 First Novel Prize

18 boyfriends. 23 jobs. One ghost who occasionally pops in to give advice. Welcome to the world of the Temporary.

‘There is nothing more personal than doing your job’. So goes the motto of the Temporary, as she takes job after job, in search of steadiness, belonging, and something to call her own. Aided by her bespoke agency and a cast of boyfriends – each allotted their own task (the handy boyfriend, the culinary boyfriend, the real estate boyfriend) – she is happy to fill in for any of us: for the Chairman of the Board, a ghost, a murderer, a mother. Even for you, and for me.

Wild, hopeful, infinitely sad and infinitely funny, Temporary is the smartest, most humane story of what it is to work and live, here and now.

It’s time to do things differently.

Trust your team. Be radically honest. And never, ever try to please your boss.

These are some of the ground rules if you work at Netflix. They are part of a unique cultural experiment that explains how the company has transformed itself at lightning speed from a DVD mail order service into a streaming superpower – with 190 million fervent subscribers and a market capitalisation that rivals the likes of Disney.

Finally Reed Hastings, Netflix Chairman and CEO, is sharing the secrets that have revolutionised the entertainment and tech industries. With INSEAD business school professor Erin Meyer, he will explore his leadership philosophy – which begins by rejecting the accepted beliefs under which most companies operate – and how it plays out in practice at Netflix.

From unlimited holidays to abolishing approvals, Netflix offers a fundamentally different way to run any organisation, one far more in tune with an ever-changing fast-paced world. For anyone interested in creativity, productivity and innovation, the Netflix culture is something close to a holy grail. This book will make it, and its creator, fully accessible for the first time.