Justin Kerr ’00 Wants to Help You Be A Better Worker

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  The book: Justin Kerr ’00 endeavors to remove the guesswork from career success in How to Be Good Great at Your Job (Chronicle Books). He walks readers through the basics for excelling in any job — from writing a good email, to working with others, and giving presentations. He also tackles trickier subjects, like maintaining a work-life balance and how to get promoted.

As an executive who reached the top of the corporate ladder before the age of 40, Kerr has packed his book with tips and advice to help everyone from those new to the workplace to mid-career professionals.

The author: Justin Kerr ’00 is a self-described efficiency monster. He hosts the MR CORPO podcast, has written 14 books, and once toured the country in a rock band. He was also the youngest senior executive at Gap, Old Navy, Levi’s and UNIQLO. Currently, Kerr is the president of Imprint Projects.

Opening lines: People tend to get distracted by the politics of the workplace (bad bosses, unfair deadlines, conflicting priorities), but that’s just noise, and none of it matters when it comes to finding your own personal success at work.

If you want to get promoted, leave work early, win an email flight, or make somebody at work stop hating you, the formula is the same: Take responsibility and overcommunicate like crazy.

I’ve worked at some of the biggest companies in the world, running billion-dollar businesses with hundreds of people reporting to me, and yet I’ve rarely worked past 5 p.m. or checked my email on the weekend. I call myself an efficiency monster, because I am obsessed with finding the easiest and cleanest way to do things.

Most people never realize that the reason they are working late is because they are losing two hours of their day waiting for people to reply to their (sucky) emails. Write better emails, leave work early, have a better life. Sometimes it’s really that simple.

Whether you are new to the workforce or a veteran of middle-management, your ability to get promoted and do awesome work ultimately hinges on whether you can do the little things right time and time again.

Let’s get to work.

Reviews: "Most people try to start a fresh and switch their mentality around on a Monday. New week, new you. How about we choose today? Take real control of our mental health and our outlook on life and just decide F-it I’m going to do better. And I don’t need a weekend to prepare for that. Make a new Friday feeling. This book has a great no bullshit approach to doing better at work. My favourite section about presenting - everyone can do it, you just need to practice. No special way of thinking, no breathing exercises - you just need to practice. Do you fancy switching your perspective today?" — Book Sundays