Dan Pink’s Storied Manga Career Book

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Somehow it escaped my notice that one of my favorite authors, Daniel Pink, published a new book in April: The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need.  But it was incredibly swell of Dan to provide a newsworthy hook about the book so I don’t have to regret being six months late blogging about it (see below for the hook).

With illustrator Rob Ten Pas, Pink has rendered the book in Japanese manga style. As such, it’s an exceedingly quick read. I’m a super s-l-o-w reader, and it took me less than an hour. (Did I really pay 15 bucks for a comic book that took me 40 minutes to read? Of course I did …. I LOVE Dan Pink!).

Here’s a description: The Adventures of Johnny Bunko is America’s first business book in manga and the last career guide you’ll ever need.

The book, which you can read in an hour, tells the story of Johnny Bunko, a beleaguered Everyman toiling away at the Boggs Corp.

One night Johnny meets Diana, a magical and butt-kicking adviser who teaches Johnny — and you — the six lessons of satisfying, productive careers:

  1. There is no plan.
  2. Think strengths, not weaknesses
  3. It’s not about you.
  4. Persistence trumps talent.
  5. Make excellent mistakes
  6. Leave an imprint.

Here’s where the newsworthy hook comes in: Pink is running a contest, with a trip to England as the prize — for coming up the seventh lesson. Watch the video:

The Great Johnny Bunko Challenge from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.
I really wondered about the target audience for this book. I mean it is a comic book, lots of hip, young, borderline profane language, and the mistakes Johnny Bunko makes are pretty obvious (but then, I’m way older and have been in the career business for 20 years).  A YouTube interview with Pink reveals that he intended the book for 18-30 year olds, especially college students and recent grads. He has found, though, that high-school students and kids as young as 11 relate to the book.

One of my favorite bits in the book is Johnny’s recollection of his job interview with his first and current employer, Boggs Corp., a parody that’s a little too close to the way interviews really are:

HR guy: Where do you see yourself in five years? What’s your biggest weakness? What will your biggest weakness be in ten years? If you were a can of soup, what flavor would you be? We’re looking for recruits who are proactive. Who think outside the box. Who can take mission-critical, bleeding-edge assignments and then — and this is important — leverage efficiencies and drive gains … but in a team-based, client-centered win-win way, of course. It’s not rocket science, is it, Johnny?

Johnny: No, sir. Er, at the end of the day, it’s a no-brainer. It’s, uh, all about the value proposition.

HR guy: You’re hired!

I also like the way Pink integrates reinforcement for his concepts by bringing experts like Martin Seligman and Marcus Buckingham into the dialog. And how the folks in the Boggs accounting department have clunky PCs on their desks, while the cool marketing people, of course, have Macs.

I’m still not
sure what audience
will be most influenced
by this book, but
I’m 100 percent
convinced that the
message will get
across to many —
because it’s conveyed
through story.

Here’s a “trailer” for the book:

You can also see this at the Johnny Bunko Web site, download an excerpt, and join the Johnny Bunko Facebook group.