I read Dan Pink's latest book The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need cover-to-cover in less than 37 minutes. It's no A Whole New Mind or Free Agent Nation but then again it's no typical career advice book either. Working with illustrator Rob Ten Pas, Pink harnesses the kinetic, if sometimes ridiculous, energy of manga to drive home five sensible lessons for achieving a successful and happy career:
1. There is no plan.
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses
3. It's not about you
4. Persistence trumps talent
5. Make excellent mistakes
6. Leave an imprint
It's a perfect book for high schoolers trying to figure out how to pursue their skills and passions. More than the advice, though, what I really liked about Johnny Bunko was how it fused two different genres together - manga and career guides - to make something interesting and enjoyable. The story itself isn't groundbreaking, but the format is. So kudos to Pink and Penguin for that and especially for raising the bar significantly with the trailer they produced to push the book.
Johnny Bunko trailer from Daniel Pink on Vimeo
Very well done!