Richard A. Moran - Nuts, bolts, & jolts : fundemental [sic] business and life lessons you must know

I have often told the story that I wrote most of my first book, Never Confuse a Memo with Reality , one night while on an airplane from New York to San Francisco. It went on to become a bestseller. It was a very long and productive flight.

When I began that trip, I hadnt intended to write a book. I was in New York City for only a day. During that one fateful day, several events pushed me into becoming a business author and creating a genre of business books of bullets. First, during an interview over breakfast for a very senior position, the job candidate told me I looked like a golden retriever. I barked in response. Later that morning, at a meeting with financial analysts, my client droned through a presentation and repeatedly said, I know you cant read this, but Indeed, no one could see, so they stopped paying attention and got on their cell phones and BlackBerries. Even later, a different client gave a presentation to his own marketing group while wearing a shirt that didnt fit. Without the benefit of a T-shirt, his hairy belly was sticking out through the buttons of the shirt. His gross hairy belly was all anyone saw or paid attention to.

After a day like that, I needed something to stop me from talking to myself or drinking heavily on the return flight. I needed a cathartic event to make me feel better. So on that airplane ride from East to West Coast, I poured my heart into the laptop. It became a list of rules too simple not to know. I wondered, Is it just me, or do people just not know that there are simple rules to follow to be successful in business and in their careers and lives? Turns out, people are looking for those rules.

While chatting with a fellow business traveler on a flight right after that first book was published, he told me that my book had changed his life. I was appreciative but suggested he should consider reading something else like The Da Vinci Code or Harry Potter . My books are not intended to change lives. They are intended to shed some light on what we are all dealing with in the workplace and improve our lot there. Navigating through the worlds of work, family, and all the white space surrounding those two big categories is hard and stressful and demanding and time consuming. If truth and humor in my books will improve our chances to enjoy work, develop a career, and maintain a quality life, then my intentions with the books will be fulfilled.

My books are born of my own observations. The observations are formed through a very simple methodology: I watch people and listen to what they say at work. Most tell me what people at work already know. I spend time with people at work, while they are working. The locations can range from the tarmac at the airport in Pittsburgh, to the bank corporate headquarters in Los Angeles, to the steel mill in Chicago, the insurance company in Connecticut, and the high-tech company in San Jose.

Studs Terkel is the original one who captured a true sense of the work world, albeit not an inspiration for applying for jobs. His book, Working , is a masterpiece; however, it paints a pretty grim picture and provides little in the way of advice. Its hard to get up in the morning when Studs starts describing work. In the second sentence of Working he describes work as about ulcers as well as accidents, about shouting matches as well as fistfights, about nervous breakdowns as well as kicking the dog around. I was okay until the dog. Why worry about performance reviews when your dog is getting all hell kicked out of him?

Scott Adams, through his Dilbert strip, is the new Studs Terkel, except hes funny. Dilbert has done more to tell the truth about work than all the latest business books combined. Although hilarious, Dilbert only shows what is, not how to improve it. There is no prescription from Dilbert .

The message I want to convey to my readers is that work isnt so bad. In fact, we all feel most fulfilled when we are productive at work. If it wasnt so, why do Bill Gates and other billionaires work? There are lots of things, some big, some small, that we can all do to improve our lives at work. That is what this book is all about.