Exciting News: Wiley has purchased my next book, Curve Benders, to be published this fall.
Curve Benders will be book number 11, and I couldn’t be more excited to partner again with the great folks at Wiley, who published my first book, Relationship Economics, back in 2008!
Now comes the hard part – the sprint to capture several years of really thinking about this idea of the future of work, distilling the best of hundreds of interviews, synthesizing the essence of the core ideas, writing, editing, and re-writing a manuscript. It will need illustrations, referencing the social science research of several fantastic assistants, indexing, designing a relevant book cover, and getting out a final product by September 1st. In the end, I hope to inspire business managers, team and organizational leaders, and entrepreneurs alike, to buy a copy or gift it to a professional colleague or a friend. I hope those I’m blessed to reach with it will read it, learn through its ideas and stories, act on the recommendations within it, and prosper personally and professionally from it.
It is no easy task, yet an incredibly inspiring one that keeps me repeating this often painful, time and resource-consuming, and strangely exhilarating process. Think of it as a rollercoaster ride that scares the hell out of you, and at the end of the ride, you can’t run fast enough to get back in the line to ride it again!
I’m taking a page out of my friend and our Cohort Community member, Clint Padgett’s, Shifting The Worry Curve® playbook, and setting out a plan, including key milestones in advance of the September 1, 2020 manuscript deadline.
So, here is the opportunity – come along this journey with me. Read about my challenges, struggles, critical chapter overviews, and the questions I’m trying to answer. Provide your input on the process AND the content.
Most of my contemporaries (I’ve done it in the past as well), will write a book and then come out and talk about it. I’ve always believed that I learn as much, if not more, about my content after the book is released.
Think about it – as people learn about, buy, read, and internalize the key ideas, they’ll share their perspectives, stories, and unique insights. That conversation creates an unbelievably vibrant environment to learn and grow from the process.
So, head on over to our newly created Nour Forum community and follow these three simple steps:
- Sign up as a member (no cost) and create your profile, including headshot and bio
- Introduce yourself in the Welcome thread so that others can learn more about you
- Read, ask questions, and start a conversation in the Curve Benders thread to read what I’m up to each of the next 14 weeks in this 90-day sprint to get the manuscript written and turned in on time.
It may not entirely be as exciting as a Peleton class, but it’s sure to push you to think about how you’re preparing now for the future of how we’ll work, live, play and give!
To give you a glimpse, here is an overview:
Curve Benders
Why Strategic Relationships Will Power Your Non-Linear Growth in The Future of Work
A new book by David Nour
For the past two years, I’ve researched and am currently writing my next book, Curve Benders for a fall 2020 pub date. It is a personal growth roadmap at the intersection of the future of how we’ll work, live, play, and give and our strategic relationships. Think of Relationship Economics, Co-Create and Curve Benders as my “Star Wars trilogy”:
- In Relationship Economics (Wiley, 2012) I introduced the idea of intentional, strategic and quantifiable business relationships accelerating business outcomes;
- In Co-Create (St. Martin’s Press, 2017) I provided a canvas for the application of strategic business relationships in iteration, innovation, and disruption opportunities;
- In Curve Benders (2020), I will focus on a roadmap of how strategic relationships can dramatically alter our growth trajectory in both its direction and ultimate destination against the forces that will shape the future of how we’ll work, live, play and serve others.
Our research has identified 15 forces which will heavily influence what we’ll be doing, how and where we’ll engage our current and prospective relationships, create value and make a difference in the lives of others. COVID-19 is an example of a Black Swan Event, and one of the 15 forces. To remain relevant, we’ll need to upskill, reskill, and redeploy our knowledge, skills, and behaviors. None of us can predict the future. We can all plan our strategic path forward.
The goal of my research, interviews, and writing this book is to provide the reader with a roadmap for personal, professional, and organization growth. Beyond a linear growth journey, I will highlight how certain relationships enable a non-linear growth trajectory. Beyond what we can accomplish, they often shape who we become. I call these relationships, Curve Benders! Through 10 chapters and roughly 200 pages, I’ll describe who and where they are, how to find and engage them, and equally valuable, how does one become a Curve Bender to impact the lives and livelihoods of others profoundly.
My audience is mid- and large-enterprise P&L executives and their influencers, entrepreneurs of growth-oriented companies, industry association executives, investors as well as private and public-company board members. Many of whom I meet through my writing, speaking, advisory, and executive coaching work. They’re intelligent, tough-minded, and are busy with high demands of their time and attention. They’re all challenged to pivot their strategies, business models, and governance structures to remain relevant. And COVID-19 has exasperated their strategies and prioritized pursuits. The need and the ability to maneuver their business models, leadership bench, and personal relationships in how they create and deliver value is greater than ever.
Through my Curve Benders podcast, our Relationship Moments newsletter, Forbes leadership column on the Future of Work, and various social channels, we reach an estimated 50,000 individuals, predominately in the U.S. with a strong presence in Europe, the Middle East, and more recently, India due to several recent leadership development engagements there.
Table of Content
- Foreword
- Introduction: Crisis Resilience from COVID-19
- Chapter One: Blending of Professional Roles with Personal Obligations
- Chapter Two: 15 Forces Creating Headwinds, Tailwinds, and Turbulence
- Chapter Three: Finding Your Curve Benders
- Chapter Four: Remaining Relevant by Bending Your Growth Curve
- Chapter Five: Strategic Relationships at Refractions
- Chapter Six: Your Personal S Curves of Reinvention
- Chapter Seven: Destigmatizing Vulnerability, Candor, and Failure
- Chapter Eight: Becoming a Curve Bender to Profoundly Impact the Lives of Others
- Chapter Nine: #NeverStopGrowing
- Chapter Ten: The Best of You Is Yet to Come
- Final Thoughts
- Afterword
Thanks for your encouragement, support, and love,
Nour
p.s.
Here’s a picture of me after finishing the original Relationship Economics manuscript, circa 2007!! I have less hair now and the ones that are left have mostly turned grey! 😉
