Wow.

As a supervisor, I was excited to read about what I could do to better engage with those I lead. The Optimistic Workplace was much more than that. It identified large-scale and individual pitfalls in leadership/management as well as provided best practices that were tangible to put to practice. Murphy presents the ideas throughout the book in a conversational way that still maintains a sense of authority and trust. I appreciated that both the perspectives the author presented and the style felt accessible and not sterile or too academic. Because of that, it's something that I could easily see being useful for people who are leading all kinds of teams, not just those who work fulltime or are established in their careers.

I think this is an important book for people who already lead teams, who have teams experiencing challenges, teams that will (or need to) face change or anyone who aspires to lead. The book itself and the Optimism Planner are tools of learning, reflection, and action. It's not enough to just read about how to cultivate a culture of fulfillment on a team -- you need to implement it. Murphy provides a great roadmap in The Optimistic Workplace.