New Work

How do you empower people at work? What does New Work really mean, and which measures can I actually use to put New Work into practice? These are all questions that Carsten Schermuly tackles in a scientific and well-founded way in his book "New Work: Gute Arbeit gestalten: Psychologisches Empowerment von Mitarbeitern". In this review, you will find out why he succeeded so well, unlike so many other high-level books about New Work.

New Work is on everyone’s lips. There is hardly a management or corporate conference that does not address the topic in one way or another. All the more refreshing, then, that Carsten Schermuly approaches the topic scientifically – based on empirical data and facts. Carsten is a professor and, among other things, director of the "Institute for New Work and Coaching", whose motto is "empowered by research". A motto that also applies to Carsten’s book! I enjoyed learning more about the background of how we work and organize ourselves today. Why do we actually work the way we do? What is backed by evidence and what is just buzzword bingo?

"New Work" first gives us a scientific introduction to the topic and its many facets. We get a lot of background information and a good overall impression of how broad the topic actually is.

New Work measures (source: Carsten Schermuly)

The book’s main topic is already in its title, but its generalist and scientific approach sets it clearly apart from other publications.

"New Work" by Carsten Schermuly is for anyone looking for a book on the topic that does not throw them into crisis mode and panic, but who wants to learn in a factual and professional way what New Work actually is and how to approach the topic with the future in mind.

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Especially those who are willing to go deeper and are not immediately put off by scientific explanations will be very happy. The book is for anyone who wants to tackle the topic in their company, e.g. as an owner, or who leads teams.

"New Work - Gute Arbeit gestalten: Psychologisches Empowerment von Mitarbeitern" is a non-fiction book, and you can tell that its aim is to present provable, researched relationships. If you want to read a book about New Work "real quick", Carsten Schermuly’s book is not for you. But if, beyond the buzzwords everyone knows, you want to learn more about the current state of scientific research, you will definitely be happy.

Carsten Schermuly has managed to present his research findings in a tangible and understandable way. You can clearly tell the book has a scientific background, and in places it goes very deep, but that is exactly the decisive difference from the other books available on the topic. Above all, it shows that New Work is not "the one thing", but the successful interplay of many different things.

A highlight of the book is the constant practical tips. I was able to mark concrete measures that I can tackle with my teams right away. Carsten’s "New Work" is definitely my must-read when it comes to the future of work!

At this point, I also recommend Carsten’s videos, as he is also very active as a keynote speaker. With them, he provides first impulses and sparks interest in the topic: