For our featured book this quarter, the MVP Executive Search & Development team highly recommends “Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life” by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.
Bill Burnett is Executive Director of the Stanford Design Program and cofounder of the Life Design Lab, as well as former leader of Apple’s PowerBook product line and CEO of a design consultancy.
Dave Evans is cofounder of the Life Design Lab, a lecturer in the Stanford Design Program, a management consultant, and formerly a cofounder of Electronic Arts.
Posted May 2017
Testimonials
“This book is brilliantly written and a must read for anyone looking for their next career adventure.” – Mary Olson-Menzel, President of MVP Executive Search and Development
“You are Here” is not only a sign that you will see in the classroom at Stanford University where the class is taught, but it also tells us we can start from right where we find ourselves to consider new options and opportunities. I enjoyed the book because it is for a wide reaching audience and has excellent advice for people at the start, mid-point, or nearing the end of their career.” – Kathleen Hajek, Vice President at MVP Executive Search and Development.
“The goal of the book (which is based on the class) is to teach people through design process how to figure out what they want in life/work and how to get it. Each chapter has an exercise to help you figure out step-by-step what gives you joy, what you are good at, what makes you thrive, what your beliefs and values are, etc., all as part of the process of trying to figure out what you want to do with your life and career. Over the course of a month, I did every exercise faithfully and the experience was transformative.” – Anne Randall
“Maybe the best part of Designing Your Life is its deconstruction of the myth that professional choices made in my 20s should be lifelong commitments. The book not only grants permission but strongly encourages a process of self evaluation with a goal of discovering the next, best professional path waiting to be discovered and embraced – at any age or stage. Rather then feeling depressed or guilty about finding a new career, I found myself enthusiastically curious and encouraged about what the future holds.” – Jose de Lasa
“Designing Your Life, written by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans (two longtime professors at Stanford University’s d-School) teaches us how we can apply ‘design principles’ — Curiosity, a Bias to Action, Awareness, Reframing and Radical Collaboration — to make smarter decisions in both our personal and professional lives. I personally found this book to be a critical tool in my recent career decision-making. Though the core principle can sound a bit like a motivational poster (the idea that happiness is not a destination, it’s the journey itself), this is not a ‘squishy’ self-help book, but rather a very practical set of processes that can help you make smarter choices at various inflection points in your career. Ideas such as the importance of ‘proto-typing’ possible jobs (finding ways to test what working in that new field might actually entail before jumping in all the way) or ‘way-finding’ (exploring different pathways to get to your desired experience) have practical applications, whether you’re just starting out or nearing the proverbial ‘third-act.’ Most importantly is the idea of building a team — having an ‘advisory board’ of people you trust — to help you test your theories and keep you moving forward.” – Michael Voss