A Groundhog Career – Book cover reveal and pre-sale availability

Our Second Book Official Cover is Revealed (Tah-Dah) and Pre-Sales are Now Available on Amazon!

It does feel slightly unreal.

When you work on a book project it has some similarities to a PhD dissertation. There is the concept, there is research, there are ideas and inputs from collaborators, there are roadblocks, re-writes, and a ton of editing.

Since the whole process takes so long, as our friend Jack Oswald told us, you have to focus on eating the elephant one toe at a time. You collapse the project into digestible pieces. Otherwise, it can feel overwhelming.

So, when you reach this point—the point where you near publishing—it feels strange.

“Look, it’s a book… where did that come from!”

The cover design is an Andy “Doodles” Baker original. You may recall Andy from the work we have done with him before. You can read the interview we did with him a year ago here. We love working with Andy. His interpretation of Shey at age 30, facing the prospect of repeating the same day… over and over again. It’s inspired by pop art and has Andy’s unique style.

A Groundhog Career Artwork

Deciding how you want your book to look is a big deal.

As much as we often repeat the “don’t judge a book by its cover” adage, the reality is… we do. It’s reported that a staggering 80% of us are initially drawn to a book because of how it looks. And… 60% say they may buy or read a book simply because of its visual appeal.

So, let’s gently sidestep temptations to discuss what that may say about us more generally and focus on the story of how we went about choosing our approach.

We think business books have a distinct look. They tend to be a big headline with a small graphic that emphasizes the subject. Or… a picture of the authors looking convincing. It is tempting to conform. There is some well-rehearsed logic for why business books take the form they do. However, we have just written our second book on the dangers of following the crowd, of being swept along by “conventional wisdom” without deeper reflection.

Plus… we are very much about producing something that has a distinctly different appeal, for a more modern, more “TikTok” zeitgeist. Now, obviously, we are still writing a book, so there are limitations (currently) on how multi-media you can go and still embrace the beauty and uniqueness of the written word.

However, making our cover distinctive… well, we can do that. And that’s what we have tried to do.

In some ways, we might describe our approach as non-binary. We are trying to produce writing with a new appeal—something that uses storytelling and aspects of mentoring and coaching, while doing so in a way that piques interest from a population that has been ignored.

Business books have served a small slice of the population—largely those who are hardcore reading champions or those who have no choice and are forced by a school or business to read something.

We want to broaden the tent. Invite some others who want to enjoy and be entertained while reading something that might help them find an elusive missing ingredient in their professional lives.

So, our goal for A Groundhog Career’s book cover was to create something distinctive, something unique, something fun. A visual depiction of career traps and the insidious allure of superficial forces that tempt us to grab what we can today and ignore where that road may lead us in time.

This is where working with Andy is an amazing experience. We talk through the story, our goals, and bridging from A Career Carol to the second book, and he provides a sketchbook. A series of iterations follow, and in a few weeks… something magical seems to happen.

And… of course… when you approach this not as “work” but as something that brings you genuine wonder, it’s just very compelling.

We hope you enjoy the artwork as much as we enjoyed working with Andy to create it.

A Groundhog Career: #1 and #2 Hot New Release!

This week, our second book became officially available on Amazon to pre-order.

Perhaps that doesn’t sound extraordinary in itself. But there are three things that we think are remarkable about the news.

First—our book isn’t due to be released until March 2025! Basically six months from now. The reason for this is that the publication process is still working. There are typesetting questions, paper choices, printing questions still to work through. Plus—and this we continue to learn—working with the printing distribution network takes time.

The question that follows is that if the writing process has finished, and we are ready to announce the book cover… why not let people pre-order? Our wonderful publisher Alison Jones’ view was simple: absolutely no reason not to let people pre-order now!

Second—By making it available for pre-order, Amazon (God bless them) start to track orders relative to similar books. So, as of this week, we have been able to see in real time how early interest in the book matches up against others.

On Wednesday, our hardback version of A Groundhog Career was the number #1 trending book on Amazon’s list of business/career titles! We beat out that other amazing book… wait… that’s also our book… the paperback!

In the overall charts, we were briefly number #7 (the charts seem to update every day).

Seeing our book in the bestseller charts is a huge thrill. And we have all of you to thank for that.

Thank you, thank you, thank you 1,000 times.

Third—Being unleashed to talk about the book, its characters, its messages.

About a month ago we (well, one of us more than the other) thought the book was basically finished and was feeling a bit frustrated we had a long pause before we could start sharing the news. Well, in having it now listed for pre-sales, we are able to start engaging on its contents.

That’s exciting. We think this second book is very important, very impactful, and very entertaining! We are very excited to now be able to share it with you.

Reflections from the 29th AFS Youth Assembly

The Dr. Schuster Column

It doesn’t always take great things—sometimes it is the small things done in a great way that end up making the biggest differences.

These were the words of a young man from Malaysia that deeply resonated with me.

I have spent the last few days at the 29th AFS Youth Assembly in New York City. It was my third time attending in my role as a member of the Leadership Council. Despite already witnessing the power of previous events, I was once again blown away by the diversity, maturity, and authenticity of the participants.

In the corporate world we often talk about safe spaces and inclusion. At the Convene Center where the event took place, it was a reality.

I was given the honor to introduce the new alumni program for participants of the AFS Youth Assembly—an important next step to keep the message of global citizenship alive and turn this annual summit into a sustainable movement.

And maybe, only maybe, this little change of creating a framework and a support structure for the 20,000+ AFS Youth Assembly alumni will be exactly this small thing that ultimately will turn out to make a huge difference—a tipping point for something much greater.

My big takeaway from this conference was that we can trust the next generation of leaders to lead us to a better, more peaceful, and inclusive future. Despite the emergence of ever new technologies and ever more sophisticated apps supposedly designed to allow us to connect, this conference was a good proof point for me to reinforce how much more powerful and transformational good-old in-person conversations and open dialogue remain.

One of my personal highlights was the moment when a participant came up the podium and asked me to sign their copy of A Career Carol. Young people still read books and appreciate books that talk to their issues and emotional state.

It also gave me huge confidence that themes we cover in our Shey Sinope Saga are relevant and address very important issues of our times.

Can’t wait now to see the reactions to our next book—A Groundhog Career.