New publications written by Goodenough College Alumni – February 2022
Our roll call of Goodenough authors continues to grow with a list of new publications from our Alumni. These range from a picture book for pre-schoolers, inspired by living on The Square, to a novel for young adults and a history of the courageous Australian women who served as doctors and medical specialists from WW1 onwards. There’s also a book on the future of management and leadership in a post-pandemic world and a practical guide to creating ‘smart luck’ – so there’s something for all ages and interests.
Thank you to Susan Neuhaus (WGH 2003-05) for alerting us to the new edition of Not for Glory: A century of service by medical women to the Australian Army and its Allies, written by Susan with Sharon Mascall. The book is now available in paperback and as an audiobook and e-book.
Lieutenant General David Morrison (Chief of Army, Australian Defence Force) says: “Not For Glory has done a magnificent job in reminding us that bravery, skill and compassion exist not only in the history books, but also in the current generation of female medical professionals who serve Australia here at home and wherever our soldiers deploy.”
Susan is a surgeon and former army officer. Her military deployments included serving in Cambodia, Bougainville and Afghanistan. In 2009 she was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross and in 2020 was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to medicine, veterans and their families.
Ipsita Dash (LH 2015-16) stayed at Goodenough while pursuing her MSc at the Architectural Association.
Now based in India, Ipsita has just had her first fiction book published (in to the Young Adult Bildungsroman genre).
Ploughing the Mirage is narrated through the eyes of Diti – a demure, 22-year-old Indian woman – who moves to London for her studies. Diti crosses the boundaries of geography, culture and self-set fault-lines whilst she creates her new identity and deals with the challenges thrown at her.
Ipsita says: “While it is not autobiographical and does not constitute my London memoirs, the thoughts, experiences and challenges faced by me during my stay in London have recurring and indelible parallels to those of the protagonist. Diti’s story is a coalescence of the ‘killing-the-mocking-bird’ feelings of the millennials.”
Deborah Pickering Heitz (WGH 2016-18) lived in Goodenough with her husband Emanuel Heitz. Deborah honed her illustration and design skills in London (Central Saint Martins and City Lit Academy) and in Switzerland (Basel School of Art & Design and Lucerne College of Art). The couple are now based in Switzerland.
Deborah writes: “During our time in London I worked on a children’s book, writing the story and illustrating it. The story is set in London and many images are inspired by my time living at Mecklenburgh Square – for instance, my main character lives in a house with remarkable similarities to Charles Dickens House in Doughty Street!”
Deborah’s passion is creating fun and lovable characters and the book features Piggywiggly and Babybird: the kind-hearted pig and his cheeky friend Babybird. This unlikely pair get into all kinds of mischief, providing entertainment for young children and adults alike.
To see images of the book or to place an order visit Deborah’s website.
Kian Gohar (LH 1999-01) is Founder & CEO of Geolab, an innovation research and leadership training firm in Los Angeles and now the co-author of the bestselling Harvard Business Review book Competing in the New World of Work written with the #1 New York Times bestselling author Keith Ferrazzi.
Kian writes: “The pandemic totally disrupted how the world of business works. Over the last 18 months, I undertook a major research project with Harvard Business School, where we interviewed over 2,000 CEOs and executives from 300 global companies to understand how they are innovating for the post-pandemic world, and what the most successful teams are doing to thrive in 2022.
“We’ve compiled all this research and written a book called Competing in the New World of Work, which is Harvard Business School’s top post-pandemic research initiative, and an unparalleled guide to the future of management and leadership, with specific ‘how to’ roadmaps for leaders to empower every team to lead through this era of uncertainty.”
Kian has kindly agreed to conduct a a virtual book talk for Alumni on March 21 at 6pm GMT – see Goodenough Global or the Alumni diary page on the website for details.
Dr Christian Busch (LH 2009-2014) kindly gave a talk on his book The Serendipity Mindset to Alumni in November 2021. Christian got in touch to inform us about the publication of Connect the Dots: The Art & Science of Creating Good Luck, the extended international paperback version of The Serendipity Mindset, and to alert us to his special LinkedIn newsletter.
The newsletter will focus on the question of how we can turn unpredictability into opportunity, and cultivate serendipity and “smart luck” in our lives. Christian is sharing the first edition with Alumni (see below), and if you’d like to be kept in the loop, please subscribe.
Here are Christian’s five tips to create “smart luck” and cultivate serendipity in our lives:
1) Set serendipity hooks: Whenever you communicate with someone, cast a few hooks – concrete examples of your current interests – thus maximizing the chance you and the other person (‘coincidentally’ latch onto common ground and shared passions, triggering serendipity.
2) Create potentiality: If you feel unfulfilled in your current job, jot down your key interests and offer your support to organizations or individuals in that space, be it as an assistant, freelancer, consultant, board member or whatever. You will start “bumping into people,” and begin connecting the dots to create new opportunities. Instead of only asking yourself, “What is my potential risk of doing this?”, ask instead, “What might I potentially lose if I don’t do this? Will I regret it?” Serendipity is about potentiality.
3) Accept imperfection: Accepting imperfection as part of life allows us to more easily reframe situations so that where others might see a problem (say, unexpected budget constraints), you see an opportunity (making the best out of whatever resources are at hand), thus allowing more creative outcomes to emerge. That’s also where rituals such as “post mortems” or “project funerals” come in, where people openly and frequently talk about ideas that did not work out. Importantly, this is not about celebrating failure – it’s about celebrating the learning that comes from unexpected places. Oftentimes, serendipity happens when people “coincidentally” realize that an idea that didn’t work in one context, might work in another.
4) Start asking questions differently: Imagine you are at a (virtual) conference, and meet a new person. Many of us might go on auto-pilot and ask the dreaded “So what do you do?” This tends to put the other person into a box that is hard to get out of. Positioning ourselves for smart luck means asking more open-ended questions like “What did you find most interesting about…?”; “What brings you here?”; or “What project are you most excited about at the moment?” Such questions open up conversations that might lead to intriguing – and often serendipitous – outcomes.
5) Plant serendipity seeds: Take steps to use technology to your advantage in order to expand your opportunities. This may mean writing speculative emails to people you admire, or inviting someone in a different department or function to coffee or a video call. You can “plant serendipity seeds,” with the end goal being to engage in unexpected conversations that subsequently increase the chances you can connect the dots to an exciting opportunity.
If you’d like to be kept in the loop, please subscribe here. (More of this content can also be found in the international paperback Connect the Dots, which is now available in the UK and the rest of the world, and the hardcover The Serendipity Mindset is available here.)