Authentic Work with James Autry

Program Description

The world of big business is changing, and a new management ethic is emerging. James Autry, whose book, Love and Profit (Avon 1991), has had a large impact on executive thinking, helped sow the seeds of this movement. Autry believes business is about values and relationships, not just the bottom line, and that’s why downsizing, lay-offs and cutting benefits are not producing the results corporations hoped for. Autry has learned through his own astounding career in management, that “passion is connected to finding meaning in your work, which is all about doing something that matters–feeling that what you are doing is greater than you are.”

A former Fortune 500 executive, Autry is also a poet, writer and inspirational speaker and author of Life and Work (William Morrow 1994), two books of poetry and Confessions of an Accidental Businessman: It Takes a Lifetime to Find Wisdom (Berrett-Koehler 1996).

Topics Explored in this Dialogue:

• What you deserve from your work
• Why you may not be happy in your job
• What’s missing in today’s workplace
• Learning how to be more than what you do
• Making a living vs. making a life
• The pressure cooker of today’s workplace
• Strategic miscalculations, careless miscalculations and plain old blunders
• Current remedies: Short-term solutions for long-term problems
• The inevitability of burnout from downsizing
• Understanding the CEO’s predicaments
• The art of leadership
• Good mentoring

Program Number: 2613                Host: Michael Toms                  Interview Date: 2/11/1997