• By Marjolein Lips-Wiersma and Lani Morris
• Greenleaf Publishing
• RRP $45
The search for meaning in life in general, and work in particular, can be arduous. So, map to that particular destination is an excellent idea. Two New Zealanders have collectively spent almost two decades exploring and charting this difficult terrain and co-authored something that is both profound and promising.
The Map of Meaning: guide to sustaining our humanity in the world of work is thoughtful and exhaustively researched. It offers model for what the authors call holistic development. It’s like map, but “not as static”. They have drawn it because, as they put it, “organizational life has become so intensely directed towards single economic goal that many practices have become dehumanizing”. In this context, they argue, “simple map of meaning is essential”.
Life for too many in the world is still wretched. For them, finding meaning beyond the search for meal is too difficult for the likes of us to comprehend. But if, as the World Bank reports, significantly more of the world’s population is being lifted out of poverty and maybe into work, their hierarchy of needs will change too – and so better understanding of words like meaningful and meaningless becomes increasingly universal.
This book is written for those who are already fortunate enough to want better understanding of how they might align their “deeper” life purposes with their daily actions. And chief executives, for example, smart enough to understand the value of creating more meaningful work environment will pick up valuable pointers. It’s book for managers and leaders who know that opportunities can be created and problems solved “by going deeper, not by doing more”, say the authors.
The search for meaning in life and work is journey just too “overwhelming” for many to contemplate. So we opt for not paying it much mind. Here is researched, though not inaccessible, work that takes another tack and offers constructive alternative to just accepting life’s work-a-day lot without question.
The book’s not available in bookshops because distributors don’t like to handle anything bit specialised. Get it on Amazon, or from the publisher,
greenleaf-publishing.com. – Reg Birchfield
