Business by manga

http://www.johnnybunko.com/

I woke up this morning about 4.30 AM. It was one of these days travelling early for a full day meeting in Stockholm. I spent the time in the airplane well, by sleeping and having a SAS-breakfast. I must say that after flying with Norwegian a couple of times, a SAS breakfast with Yughurt naturell with 8-corn müsli, fresh orange juice, a bun with cheese/ham/salad and a cup of tea, was really great. But, arriving to Arlanda I felt it was time to start doing something of a more intellectual challenge, so I decided to start reading the book I had brought with me: "The adventures of Johnny Bunko - The last career guide you´ll ever need", written by one of my favourite writer´s Daniel H. Pink. This book is "America´s first business book in the Japanese comic format known as manga."

I was amazed when I opened up the book, because I had totally missed that this book was written in a "comic format". I dunno how I could miss that. So it was a pleasant surprise for me, using the 10 minutes it took for Arlanda Express to arrive and the next 20 minutes to go downtown, enjoying this new way of a more fun learning experience. I could not wait until I got to the subway for another 8 minutes of funny reading. After my full day meeting, I then spent another 15 minutes to finalize it.
I must say that I am excited over this learning experience. A great book in a great comic format explaining "the 6 career secrets no one ever told you":

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

I personally think this type of "easy and funny to read story telling format" (the whole book took less than one hour to read) will gain in popularity the coming years, when we will have less time to read long management books. The "Iceberg is melting" by Kotter (see earlier blog post) and "Who moved my cheese", are another examples of telling a story that includes the management theories you want to explain. You could say that the exformation being communicated in this book is higher than in normal business format management books. Why? Because our brains like stories and like to have fun. In that way we will remember it more easily also...

Finally, why not end it with a YouTube clip - the "Johnny Bunko trailer":