The Inner Game of Work

Rating:
Summary: Feet of Clay
Review: A well-known tennis coach and inventor of "the inner game" turns his attention to the business world. Big mistake.
Even if life were one big playing field this still wouldn't be worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: The Inner Game of Work - Asking the right questions
Review: Got the book yesterday and read it cover-to-cover in one sitting!

The book is a pleasure to read and at the same time it manages to challenge some of my most engrained ideas and concepts about "work".

The last chapter is a gem. Tim Gallwey asks poignant questions, one after the other, relentlessly. Putting the book down left me with so many excellent questions that I did not have the insight (or the courage) to ask myself on my own. The answer to these questions is a life's work.

The first step in finding answers is to ask the right questions. Tim Gallwey does just that, asking the "Whys?" in a courageous, dignified and inspirational way. Highly recommended for people that want to know more about themselves and are open to a different insight to the meaning of Work, Life and Enjoyment.

Rating:
Summary: Beyond buzzwords -- a business book with substance
Review: I highly recommend Gallwey's "Inner Game of Work" to every manager and executive. It's so refreshing to read a business or management book with real substance. So many books published in the last 20 years introduce or exploit a new buzzword, have 2 pages of interesting content, and then go on for another 200 pages of filler. As a result, I've become reluctant to read business and management books published recently.Gallwey's book goes beyond buzzwords. The author introduces groundbreaking management theory. He also provides some very practical action steps to implement the new theory.In my company as in many, we are trying to transition to a team approach throughout the organization. Over the next few years Gallwey's book and his ideas will be an extremely valuable resource in our efforts. "Inner Game of Work" is a gem. I would not be at all surprised if it becomes the best-selling business book of the year.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books ever written on work and learning
Review: The chapter on coaching alone is worth the price of the book - but don't skip the rest. This book is a rare combination of practical approaches to attaining dramatic improvements the the work environment and a solid philosophical basis for the relationship between work, learning, and enjoyment. Unlike most management books which are full of handwaving and short on implementation, there are plenty of straightforward approaches to making a real difference in work performance. I have used the STOP technique and others very successfully with myself and my teams. And the ideas presented are applicable far beyond the workplace. A must read for workers and managers alike.

Rating:
Summary: The Inner Game of Work
Review: The Inner Game of Work is the best book I've read yet on creating an environment in the workplace for optimal learning and productivity. Thanks to this book, I now see how the 8 hours each day I spend at work can be personally fufilling instead of a chore. He points out how I can actually integrate my experience at work to acheive my personal development goals. This book provided the tools I need to maintain my quality of life at work independent of the negative situations that inevitably occur in the workplace. I have shared this book with many people at work. Some have remarked that they are feeling the culture at work beginning to shift. People remarked that they are feeling more purposeful and less stressed. I highly recommend The Inner Game of Work.

Rating:
Summary: Plugging into True Potential
Review: The true achievement of Timothy Gallwey is his 'putting his finger on the exact, right spot'. Not only the spot where our barriers in achieving our full potentials lie, but also on how to evade and avoid these barriers. His book on Work (after his books on Tennis and Golf) is very well written. Through his natural flowing writing style he is able to establish a paradigm shift with the reader. Then, throughout the book, he keeps the reader firmly attentive to 'the inner game' paradigm and makes the subject come alive using theory and stories as building blocks. Once you have read this book, you will never look at achievement the same way. Not for yourself nor for anybody else. This book is an absolute must-read for all modern workers providing understanding of how true fun, learning and achievement works from-the-inside-out. Do not be surprised though when this book will also positively impact your view on, and handling of, many other aspects of life outside your work. Get it; you will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Plugging into True Potential
Review: The true achievement of Timothy Gallwey is his 'putting his finger on the exact, right spot'. Not only the spot where our barriers in achieving our full potentials lie, but also on how to evade and avoid these barriers. His book on Work (after his books on Tennis and Golf) is very well written. Through his natural flowing writing style he is able to establish a paradigm shift with the reader. Then, throughout the book, he keeps the reader firmly attentive to 'the inner game' paradigm and makes the subject come alive using theory and stories as building blocks. Once you have read this book, you will never look at achievement the same way. Not for yourself nor for anybody else. This book is an absolute must-read for all modern workers providing understanding of how true fun, learning and achievement works from-the-inside-out. Do not be surprised though when this book will also positively impact your view on, and handling of, many other aspects of life outside your work. Get it; you will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Unleash the Natural Learner Within By Using A Changed Focus
Review: This book deserves more than five stars, because it explains how you can be most effective in learning, gaining experience, and achieving higher performance. The principles are based on Mr. Gallwey's earlier successful coaching experiences and books about the inner games of tennis and golf. That may sound like an unlikely way to approach becoming more effective at work, but it is unusually effective for those who have ever played tennis or golf by providing a visceral point of reference.

I could immediately relate to the book's ideas, because both my tennis and golf performances are hindered by the critical stream of commentary that flows in my head as I play these sports. Occasionally, I quiet the criticism and I play much better.

To me, the explanation of how to help someone improve their tennis or golf games, or do their work better was a real eye opener. If you encourage someone to simply notice what is going on during the performance of the act (where they strike the ball relative to their feet in tennis, the lie of the ball in golf, or the important circumstances of the work environment), the person will quickly and easily find their own solutions to becoming more effective. That made sense to me because I have been operating without taking golf lessons for about a year and a half now, and many parts of the game have improved in major ways. I have taken charge of making my own diagnoses of what I need to do differently, and have learned a lot that I did not grasp from taking lessons. That experience validated the author's approach for me.

The other reason it made sense is that in my own coaching activities with business executives about their work, I always find that people know the answer to their own issues if you can give them a more helpful focus to open their minds and help them recall information that they have observed in other contexts. That is exactly the coaching method that Mr. Gallwey describes in this book.

The model here is that our conscious minds tend to focus on harmful criticism that provides limited useful information about what we should be doing. On the other hand, our subconscious minds are very good at directing us when we let loose of the chatter from our conscious minds.

Mr. Gallway takes that observation and builds methods to help you set inspiring, authentic, and meaningful goals for learning, gaining experience, and becoming more productive. He gives you tools to shift you focus away from the concerns of the conscious mind, and how to coach others to do the same in their learning. He then links all of this to creating conscious choices to change your direction and behavior in ways that serve you better. To make this last step easier, he provides several alternative perceptual analogies to encourage you. The book has a series of effective exercises you can do to pursue those analogies. The book also provides many examples drawn from the author's consulting experiences to help bring the points home. I am sure that many of these will strike a familiar bell with you.

I plan to cite this book in my future writing, because it is an important contribution to how we can reestablish the wonderful learning capability we all had as children, in a way that is appropriate for adults.

Be sure to share this book with others you care about so you can learn to coach each other, as a way to reinforce your progress toward nonjudgmental learning. That will be a 2,000 percent solution for you both!

I also suggest that you reread this book from time to time . . . especially if you find that you are not accomplishing things as easily and as joyfully as you would like.

Rating:
Summary: Unleash the Natural Learner Within By Using A Changed Focus
Review: This book deserves more than five stars, because it explains how you can be most effective in learning, gaining experience, and achieving higher performance. The principles are based on Mr. Gallwey's earlier successful coaching experiences and books about the inner games of tennis and golf. That may sound like an unlikely way to approach becoming more effective at work, but it is unusually effective for those who have ever played tennis or golf by providing a visceral point of reference.

I could immediately relate to the book's ideas, because both my tennis and golf performances are hindered by the critical stream of commentary that flows in my head as I play these sports. Occasionally, I quiet the criticism and I play much better.

To me, the explanation of how to help someone improve their tennis or golf games, or do their work better was a real eye opener. If you encourage someone to simply notice what is going on during the performance of the act (where they strike the ball relative to their feet in tennis, the lie of the ball in golf, or the important circumstances of the work environment), the person will quickly and easily find their own solutions to becoming more effective. That made sense to me because I have been operating without taking golf lessons for about a year and a half now, and many parts of the game have improved in major ways. I have taken charge of making my own diagnoses of what I need to do differently, and have learned a lot that I did not grasp from taking lessons. That experience validated the author's approach for me.

The other reason it made sense is that in my own coaching activities with business executives about their work, I always find that people know the answer to their own issues if you can give them a more helpful focus to open their minds and help them recall information that they have observed in other contexts. That is exactly the coaching method that Mr. Gallwey describes in this book.

The model here is that our conscious minds tend to focus on harmful criticism that provides limited useful information about what we should be doing. On the other hand, our subconscious minds are very good at directing us when we let loose of the chatter from our conscious minds.

Mr. Gallway takes that observation and builds methods to help you set inspiring, authentic, and meaningful goals for learning, gaining experience, and becoming more productive. He gives you tools to shift you focus away from the concerns of the conscious mind, and how to coach others to do the same in their learning. He then links all of this to creating conscious choices to change your direction and behavior in ways that serve you better. To make this last step easier, he provides several alternative perceptual analogies to encourage you. The book has a series of effective exercises you can do to pursue those analogies. The book also provides many examples drawn from the author's consulting experiences to help bring the points home. I am sure that many of these will strike a familiar bell with you.

I plan to cite this book in my future writing, because it is an important contribution to how we can reestablish the wonderful learning capability we all had as children, in a way that is appropriate for adults.

Be sure to share this book with others you care about so you can learn to coach each other, as a way to reinforce your progress toward nonjudgmental learning. That will be a 2,000 percent solution for you both!

I also suggest that you reread this book from time to time . . . especially if you find that you are not accomplishing things as easily and as joyfully as you would like.

Rating:
Summary: This book is unique
Review: This book is unique from the many others on how to succeed at work, management, leadership, even life. All of the rest either give you great "principles" and urge you to pursue a higher purpose at work, or they are "packed with great ideas" for doing it better. This book is different because it is not preaching a principle or trying to sell you on the newest work fad.

This book gave me the insight, in simple terms, to learn my way of living up to any principle I choose, and then to determine if it really is a good principle for my work or the kind of leader I want to be.

The book teaches you how to work with your own best inherent desires and abilities in order to develop all the ideas, successful habits and best practices you will need. Not someone else's that they self-righteously prescribe for you, but your own genuine best.

So this is not about trying to implement the latest fad in how to be a highly successful professional and leader. This book is about a simple, elegant way of discovering and learning to be your best.