What Do You Want to Create Today? Build the Life You Want at Work

Flashes of inspiration elevate Tobin’s uneven attempt to weave Eat, Pray, Love–style insights into a self-help book for business readers. At his most effective, consultant and executive coach Tobin, professor emeritus at Japan’s Keio University Faculty of Business and Commerce, urges readers to engage in a journey of self-discovery, and, at his least, sounds like a particularly naive consultant when he recommends that employees break company policy if it annoys them. Peppered with quotes from the usual inspirational gurus (Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Eleanor Roosevelt) and padded with chapters on known wisdom, such as not shying away from challenges and “mak[ing] work fun,” the book nonetheless proves a cheerful guide. Now a partner in a Tokyo art gallery, he brings in stories of artists to demonstrate the importance of daring and perseverance. The book’s highlights are an imaginative chapter on getting to know yourself that will inspire useful reflection and a later exhortation to remain ever curious. These nuggets of wisdom make the mining for insight worthwhile. Agent: Herb Schaffner, Big Fish Media. (Oct.)