The Map of Meaning: A Guide to Sustaining our Humanity in the World of Work

“I loved your book and am so glad to have been exposed to your model and all the ways it can be generative-what a gift! Lips-Wiersma and Morris bring the meaning we make of life to a whole new level of understanding in their book, The Map of Meaning. They offer their holistic developmental model as an analytical and practical tool for engaging different pathways of meaning making in our work and in our lives more generally. The book is overflowing with useful advice and examples of how to engage the model as a means for fostering individual and collective growth, learning and re-becoming whole.”

Jane E. Dutton, Robert L. Kahn University Professor of Business Administration and Psychology, University of Michigan

If you want to deeply understand the Holistic Development Model and the insights that it is based upon and then be easily able to work with it, you will find this book helpful.  We wrote it so you could have this work at your fingertips, available in the many situations in which it can be extremely useful.

“By providing a well tested, comprehensive framework and language, this book helps managers to engage in a genuine dialogue on how daily tasks can be a natu-ral expression of what truly matters, beyond profits and growth. Grounded and deep, the authors show us how to integrate inspiration and purpose into the reality of business.”

Lenette Schuijt, leadership trainer and author of several books on management and inspiration

Written for anyone - from a CEO to a blue-collar worker; consultant, teacher, nurse; office worker or social worker - who is interested in creating more meaning and purpose in work and organisations, and who would like to get others engaged, it is for those searching for ways to revitalise their work or change their careers. It is for anyone who firmly believes that it must be possible to align our deeper life purposes with our daily actions in the workplace.

“This is an important book, as it helps one orientate their career and work-life balance in line with their values and beliefs. It is a rigorous book, thoroughly researched and evidence based, tried out and tested in various organizational sectors, in different countries and with a range of professions. It is also a 'dangerous' book, as it confronts the reader with their inner most sense of being and challenges them to an intimate conversation with their self. The human resource professional who wishes to work with human beings rather than with human resources, will find in this book a useful and easily accessible tool, with numerous illustrations, to help people on their career journeys inside and outside work. Highly recommended.”

Yochanan Altman, Senior Professor, Bordeaux School of Management; Research Professor, London Metropolitan University; Visiting Professor, Sorbonne Universities (Pantheon-Assas); Founding Editor, Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion; European Editor, People & Strategy

Full of stories from people who have worked with the Holistic Development Model which forms the heart of The Map of Meaning the book demonstrates the versatility of the model and show how it helps people to analyse, speak to, and plan around an enormous variety of everyday issues and situations. While this has a practical focus, the effect of working with meaning in this way is also to refresh the heart and soul.

“The search for meaning is as old as humankind. The Holistic Development Model proposed in this sober volume is about learning to successfully engage the external world and its challenges from the inside. This is a contemplative yet practical work that is as incisive as it is revelatory. It combines our search for deep purpose with the need to align goals, aspirations and values within the environment we live in. It will be received as a welcome addition to the rich and growing literature on self development irrespective of cultural boundaries. It is warmly recommended.”

Ramnath Narayanswamy, Professor in Economics and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Based on years of practical experience and heart-warming results, the book helps you create these same results in your life and in the life of those you work with.

“I had the good fortune of using this Holistic Development Model early in its development, both for my own growth and then in one of my classes.  In my MBA class on Organizational Behaviour I use the model and describe it to the students as a sort of "personal balanced scorecard."  The students immediately see its relevance to integrating their personal and professional lives.  I am delighted to have this beautifully written book available, and if you are interested in your own growth as a whole person and/or if you assist others in that quest, you need to use this book. It is extremely provocative and practical - as well as poetic.”

Douglas T. (Tim) Hall, Morton H. and Charlotte Friedman Professor in Management and MBA Faculty Director. Boston University School of Management

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