"There is no plan" and other Bunko career advice
Sunday, April 27, 2008 at 09:10AM 
As readers of the Blue Skunk know, I am a Daniel Pink fan. So I was excited to get my very own copy of his latest book, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need.
It's great. Period.
Published in manga format (and supported by a blog/website), the short book takes about 30 minutes to read and offers six simple lessons about achieving satisfaction at work and life. The first lesson is "There is no plan." You'll need to buy the book or find another source to learn the other five (like here). Don't expect a lot of depth, but a parable along the lines of Who Moved My Cheese.
Bunko would make an interesting discussion book for any high school career planning effort. I wonder what guidance counselors will make of it? More than a few mid-career adults will stop and ponder their choices if they think about Pink's advice as well.
I am anxious to get a "review" from my son who will be graduating from college this August and who is more in the target market for the book. As a manga fan, he might even read it.
Get a copy for your school's library - or the Johnny Bunkos in your life.
Link here for a review by my 22-year-old son on this book.
images from http://www.johnnybunko.com/
Books 
Reader Comments (8)
Will do -- thanks!
Thanks for the post, Doug. You've got it exactly right. The book is designed to be read in less than an hour. (If it takes longer than that, I've failed.) And I'm hoping that once people read it, they'll pass it around. The goal is to start conversations. These days, authors might get the first word. But they don't get the last word. Keep up the great work!
Cheers,
Dan Pink
Hi Mr. Pink,
Thanks for leaving the comment. Wow, a celebrity looking at the Blue Skunk. You and Don Norman! Glad I gave your book a positive review ;-)
I'll put my 22 year old son's reaction on the blog if and when I get one.
Thanks again and all the best,
Doug
Hi Doug,
Browsing in a bookstore in Toronto over the weekend I ran across several Manga graphic novels of Shakespeare's plays. I took some time to actually deconstruct the reasons for the popularity of these books. I can see why it's a genre that needs to be taken seriously while having fun doing it.
Hi Paul,
I was a big comic book fan as a kid, including the old "Classics Illustrated." I'm still a fan of graphic novels. The manga thing seems odd to me, but if it gets a kid to read...
What did you discover the reasons for the popularity of the "cartoon Macbeth?"
Doug
My 22-year-old son's "review"
I thought Johnny Bunko was fantastic, it was a very relevant kind of motivation for young adults today. The art style and the characters are a fantastic way to get a message across that kids normally wouldn't even be receptive too. It almost works as kind of a gateway to this kind of thinking, and makes me want to read more of these kinds of books. I wish I had something like this before I started college to put me in the right mindset for the real world. I'm keeping this book and these lessons on hand for a long time as a reminder of what I really want to get out of life.
I completely agree with the above comment, the internet is with a doubt growing into the most important medium of communication across the globe and its due to sites like this that ideas are spreading so quickly.
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