REVIEW: Yael C. Sivi and Yosh C. Beier — Growing Up at Work (BOOK)
Yael C. Sivi and Yosh C. Beier prove to be a considerable literary team. Both have backgrounds in professional coaching, with Sivi herself not only holding the title of executive coach but also being a licensed Gestalt therapist. This kind of right brain approach heavily impacts the nature of their new book, titled Growing Up at Work: How to Transform Personally, Evolve Professionally, and Lead Authentically. Like any solid piece of nonfiction, the title is similar to a thesis statement — encapsulating the entirety of the book’s critical content and distinct subject matter.
URL: https://growingupatwork.com/
The decidedly holistic ring that word choice like Growing Up indicates, particularly in the presence of a corporate focused tome, also is a wholly realized ambassador to what Sivi and Beier push for mentality-wise when it comes to adequate workplace leadership. Surprisingly, there’s a lot of self-love and self-actualization required for the part. This is something that I did not expect. Many books in line with what Sivi and Beier focus and write on extensively don’t advocate for the embrace of one’s self in a leadership or otherwise corporately hierarchal role. It’s about self-subjugation to a certain extent, a series of cold and clinical passages on how to temper one’s pragmatic fallibilities in the eyes of the experienced professional so as to best approach the ladder like a cold warrior.
COLLABORATIVE COACHING: https://collaborative-coaching.com/
But in an era where social movements like TimesUp and #MeToo have led to something of a renaissance, many people eschew such an outlook. At best, it’s outdated. At worst, it’s abusive and patriarchal. That’’s not to say a careful balancing of all the right elements isn’t a must, Sivi and Beier state. But the way there no longer has to prove intellectually arduous, nor gruesomely adversarial. Workplace values in the 2020s are starting to become synonymous with personal values, they advocate. In essence, books like Growing Up at Work reinforce the idea that good neighbors are in turn good bosses.
“When we think of leadership, we tend to think of leading others. I think it’s worthwhile to borrow author Stephen Covey’s idea that leadership actually begins with leading yourself,” Sivi and Beier write in the aforementioned vein. “By bringing awareness to our behavior, we can identify which state we’re in and guide ourselves toward where we need to be…Leaders must be intentional about leading as often as possible from (a) (mature) state.” While such a psychological platform isn’t inherently original to Sivi and Beier’s insights themselves, what the duo does manage to do better than most is convince the reader of its necessity without things ever feeling snowflakish or overly emotional.
They communicate the ideas simply and effectively, with extensive scenarios to add dramatic heft and put a human face on what could be dry statistics and analytical observations and inference. The signifying message Sivi and Beier offer is clear: Work and play no longer possess a mutual exclusivity. The two form the building blocks for something far more important than either, yet that is undeniably connected to the marriage of both. Dynamic. In many ways, dynamic is the glue that ensures both exist stably and tangibly. By illustrating extensively the building blocks to realizing the best possible work dynamic(s), Sivi and Beier do an invaluable service to a wide-ranging set of professionals entering the modern-day workforce…
Colin Jordan
