Why would I tell new team members to read “Starting From Scratch”?

A little secret: I dread reading business books. Thankfully this one is different.

I appreciate the effort and care that authors take in creating 300+ page business behavior guides, but many of these books could probably be articles. I skim over the docudrama dialogue portions meant to be illustrative and I focus on the end of the chapter, where the takeaways are hopefully summarized in neat bullets.

I didn’t have to do that with this book. Osnat (Os) Benari has written a crisp and entertaining guide for anyone anticipating or navigating a career change. It’s a fantastic illustration of how to create an open mindset and flex that muscle to build the foundation for a fulfilling and successful work life. Her voice and tone echo that of your really wise friend whose advice you know you should take.

Plus she wastes no words getting to the point and keeps the third party stories brief - thank you for valuing our time, Os!

I’m adding this to the list of books I will give to new team members (along with Measure what Matters and People Styles at Work…And Beyond).

It may seem strange to give a new employee a book called Starting from Scratch, but this book is about preparing for change. Change comes for all of us eventually in some form - preparing with Os’s tools aimed at building resilience will help in career change, personal change and … some other third thing* … change.

(*huge props to anyone who can name the movie I nicked this phrase from)