Dare to Inspire: Sustain the Fire of Inspiration in Work and Life

For those feeling stuck at work, the cofounders of consulting firm InspireCorps have built out an encouraging, if familiar, manual to getting out of a rut. Holzer, Spataro, and Baron describe building their business on the elusive concept of inspiration—asking themselves why, since the average person works for over 90,000 hours over the course of a lifetime, that time shouldn’t be meaningful and fulfilling? The book offers examples of people whose inspiration drove their success, from entrepreneurs such as chef Wes Avila, who combined his Puerto Rican immigrant mother’s cooking with his French gourmet training to offer “high-quality food with... unusual flavors,” to Nobel Peace Prize–winner Malala Yousafzai, whom they note was inspired, but not led, by her father to become an education activist like himself. Their recommendations to readers seeking to spark and maintain inspiration in themselves and their teams include taking on a service mindset, seeking out inspirational environments, and prioritizing self-care. Though the inspiration framework is an interesting one, the advice itself is fairly run-of-the-mill. Nonetheless, this is a useful workbook for people seeking a positive spin on easily digestible advice. (Nov.)