Book review and Podcast: Experience: Our Ally at Work

The author recently interviewed me for her new podcast where she seeks to bring the stories of others’ experiences into view. I speak candidly about my own major life transitions and how I have sensed and led myself through them, with a mix of uncertainty, conviction, and peace.

You can access the podcast here.

This book seeks to bring to light how it is we learn from experience, how we tap into the rich resource of data available to us in any given moment, and use discernment to choose wise action - or inaction.

It is written with incredible generosity, exploring personal experiences and extrapolating the processes and mechanisms for learning that are made accessible to the reader’s own life and work.

For those familiar with action research, psychodynamics, organisational or socio-analysis, field theory, and systematic transformation, you’ll find resonances with the author’s sense-making and story telling. However it is not an academic piece but an everyday exposition of how we as humans navigate the pushes and pulls.

It works implicitly with the notion of ‘self as research tool’ and the spirit of social science, but it’s a ‘show me’ not ‘tell me’ book, with accessible stories and personal experiences woven throughout.

The book draws on the breadth and depth of human experiences available to us; the signs and symbols we encounter through life and how we work with them. No prior reading or knowledge is required! Curiosity and reflection however will serve you well.

Available to purchase here.