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Authorize It!: Think Like a Writer to Win at Work & Life
Success in the transitioning world of work—where all companies and all business conversations are dramatically changing—demands original thinking, fresh approaches, and storytelling muscle. Enter Authorize It!—an insightful new method that will have you thinking like a writer and winning.
The good news is that you don’t need to be a writer—you just need to think like one. Media executive and author Deborah Burns shares her five breakthrough storytelling lessons and their key takeaways, prompts, and real-world Q & A—along with her proprietary story-shaping tool that pulls it all together so you can authorize the stories you need to tell for success.
Transform into a more effective storyteller today and take the reins of the career you’d like to live. Whether you’re an in-office or remote corporate employee, a manager or manager of a side-gig, a solopreneur, freelancer, or contract worker, these storytelling principles will help you to clarify your actions and reactions, remain centered on your goals, better understand yourself and others, improve your creative problem-solving, stay open to the new and to the possible—and most importantly, to live up to your true potential.
Editorial Reviews
“If you want to live up to your full potential, plot your best career, and positively impact every scene in your work story, read this book right now.”—Romy Newman, President & Co-founder, Fairygodboss
"Practical advice that takes the abstract and makes it actionable for better communication and better careers.” —Jane Hanson, Emmy Award-winning Journalist, Communications Guru, and Host of See Jane
"These profound lessons reveal how a writer's mindset will help you to plot your career moves and evolve into the best version of yourself."—Fran Hauser, Startup investor and author, The Myth of the Nice Girl
“The author is such a strong innovator and a bold writer. Her advice is sure to set you up for Big success!”—Ann Shoket, Founder, New Power Media, and author, The Big Life
“Whether you’re reimagining the job you have or imagining the career you want, this book transports you directly to the work that fits your life!”—Kathryn Sollmann, author, Ambition Redefined
“A revelatory path that offers everyone the opportunity to lead their careers rather than the other way around.”—Philippe Guelton, President of Crackle Plus & Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment VOD Networks
&l
The good news is that you don’t need to be a writer—you just need to think like one. Media executive and author Deborah Burns shares her five breakthrough storytelling lessons and their key takeaways, prompts, and real-world Q & A—along with her proprietary story-shaping tool that pulls it all together so you can authorize the stories you need to tell for success.
Transform into a more effective storyteller today and take the reins of the career you’d like to live. Whether you’re an in-office or remote corporate employee, a manager or manager of a side-gig, a solopreneur, freelancer, or contract worker, these storytelling principles will help you to clarify your actions and reactions, remain centered on your goals, better understand yourself and others, improve your creative problem-solving, stay open to the new and to the possible—and most importantly, to live up to your true potential.
Editorial Reviews
“If you want to live up to your full potential, plot your best career, and positively impact every scene in your work story, read this book right now.”—Romy Newman, President & Co-founder, Fairygodboss
"Practical advice that takes the abstract and makes it actionable for better communication and better careers.” —Jane Hanson, Emmy Award-winning Journalist, Communications Guru, and Host of See Jane
"These profound lessons reveal how a writer's mindset will help you to plot your career moves and evolve into the best version of yourself."—Fran Hauser, Startup investor and author, The Myth of the Nice Girl
“The author is such a strong innovator and a bold writer. Her advice is sure to set you up for Big success!”—Ann Shoket, Founder, New Power Media, and author, The Big Life
“Whether you’re reimagining the job you have or imagining the career you want, this book transports you directly to the work that fits your life!”—Kathryn Sollmann, author, Ambition Redefined
“A revelatory path that offers everyone the opportunity to lead their careers rather than the other way around.”—Philippe Guelton, President of Crackle Plus & Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment VOD Networks
&l
202 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 12, 2021
2 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Deborah Burns
19 books39 followersDeborah Burns’ story has always been about invention and reinvention. She’s lived those two keywords with brands and clients throughout her media career, and she’s lived them in a life full of twists and turns and creative diversions, including writing the award-winning memoir about her unconventional mother, "Saturday's Child."
Now Deborah helps businesses and people invent and reinvent their companies, careers, and lives. Her second book—"Authorize it! Think Like a Writer to Win at Work & Life"—joins her virtual corporate Workshops and online Course to nurture talent, inspire personal and professional development, and help everyone live up to their potential and have more successful careers.
"Authorize It!" blends Deborah’s strategic business expertise with all the creative lessons she learned from the world of storytelling from writing "Saturday’s Child," which has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, Forbes, Refinery29, Entertainment Weekly, Parade, Thrive Global, LA Times, NY Post, Brit + Co, and PopSugar.
Now Deborah helps businesses and people invent and reinvent their companies, careers, and lives. Her second book—"Authorize it! Think Like a Writer to Win at Work & Life"—joins her virtual corporate Workshops and online Course to nurture talent, inspire personal and professional development, and help everyone live up to their potential and have more successful careers.
"Authorize It!" blends Deborah’s strategic business expertise with all the creative lessons she learned from the world of storytelling from writing "Saturday’s Child," which has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, Forbes, Refinery29, Entertainment Weekly, Parade, Thrive Global, LA Times, NY Post, Brit + Co, and PopSugar.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 14, 2021
This is such an interesting take on a self-help and writing book. Deborah wrote it mainly for employees seeking to improve their careers through analytical and story analysis thinking. It's the best way I can describe how Authorize It! works. Although the target audience may be employees, we could easily turn the strategies within the book into applications for business owners or managers too.
Some of the exercises in the book ask you to write your answers and others get you thinking about which direction you want your life to go in. For me, writing has been a major part of my life since I was young so the strategies feel comfortable to me. Also, when you look at your life as a story (a third-person point of view) it helps you to reflect on the decisions you have and will make.
There are also a ton of useful acronyms. One of my favorites is READ:
R = relate to some shared shift
E = ease the instability with an idea
A = apply that idea to solve their darkness
D = deliver a vision for the light afterward
If you don't understand the context of the READ acronym then I recommend reading the book as you'll find so many other easy-to-remember acronyms that fit with different types of situations during your career.
Throughout Authorize It! you'll learn a lot about building a story and character on a Hero's Journey. Whether you're a writer writing your own story or a character living your own story the tips in this book will come in handy.
Some of the exercises in the book ask you to write your answers and others get you thinking about which direction you want your life to go in. For me, writing has been a major part of my life since I was young so the strategies feel comfortable to me. Also, when you look at your life as a story (a third-person point of view) it helps you to reflect on the decisions you have and will make.
There are also a ton of useful acronyms. One of my favorites is READ:
R = relate to some shared shift
E = ease the instability with an idea
A = apply that idea to solve their darkness
D = deliver a vision for the light afterward
If you don't understand the context of the READ acronym then I recommend reading the book as you'll find so many other easy-to-remember acronyms that fit with different types of situations during your career.
Throughout Authorize It! you'll learn a lot about building a story and character on a Hero's Journey. Whether you're a writer writing your own story or a character living your own story the tips in this book will come in handy.
July 20, 2021
📚 Book Name - Authorize It : Think like a writer to win at work and life.
📚 Author - Deborah Burns
📚 My rating - 4.7/5
📚 I was eager to learn how this book could help me grow not only in my craft, but in my life’s journey. The author's idea of sharing her experiences and thoughts to evoke the readers is noble, she's indeed a wonderful mentor.
📚Throughout the book Burns shares how she has managed to reinvent the narrative in her personal and professional life. I was especially impressed with the way the author shows us how self-examination plays a significant role in our journey to improvement.
📚 The author has shared her personal story, what was her upbringing like, how she dealt with the situations, a lot of positive and great things to learn from this story.
📚This book is definitely educate the reader about a lot of stuff like how to polish your skills, how decision making plays an important factor, etc which will help you alot in creating your place in the outside world.
📚By using what the author calls Narrative and Character Arcs, we learn to shift our focus, welcome conflict as a means of growth, and seek unconventional ideas and begin to make positive life changes.
📚Just as writers use writing prompts to spark their imagination and creativity, Burns uses prompts at the end of each chapter to encourage readers in the authorizing of their lives.
📚Throughout Authorize It! you'll learn a lot about building a story and character on a Hero's Journey. Whether you're a writer writing your own story or a character living your own story the tips in this book will come in handy.
📚I really enjoyed reading this book and have already begun to apply some of these principles to my life journey. I urge anyone feeling like they are in a rut in the workplace or with fulfilling their dreams to read this book.
📚 It will help bring many things into perspective and bring you closer to realizing your true potential. I'm waiting for my friends to read it and share their experiences. For me the book is life changing
📚 Author - Deborah Burns
📚 My rating - 4.7/5
📚 I was eager to learn how this book could help me grow not only in my craft, but in my life’s journey. The author's idea of sharing her experiences and thoughts to evoke the readers is noble, she's indeed a wonderful mentor.
📚Throughout the book Burns shares how she has managed to reinvent the narrative in her personal and professional life. I was especially impressed with the way the author shows us how self-examination plays a significant role in our journey to improvement.
📚 The author has shared her personal story, what was her upbringing like, how she dealt with the situations, a lot of positive and great things to learn from this story.
📚This book is definitely educate the reader about a lot of stuff like how to polish your skills, how decision making plays an important factor, etc which will help you alot in creating your place in the outside world.
📚By using what the author calls Narrative and Character Arcs, we learn to shift our focus, welcome conflict as a means of growth, and seek unconventional ideas and begin to make positive life changes.
📚Just as writers use writing prompts to spark their imagination and creativity, Burns uses prompts at the end of each chapter to encourage readers in the authorizing of their lives.
📚Throughout Authorize It! you'll learn a lot about building a story and character on a Hero's Journey. Whether you're a writer writing your own story or a character living your own story the tips in this book will come in handy.
📚I really enjoyed reading this book and have already begun to apply some of these principles to my life journey. I urge anyone feeling like they are in a rut in the workplace or with fulfilling their dreams to read this book.
📚 It will help bring many things into perspective and bring you closer to realizing your true potential. I'm waiting for my friends to read it and share their experiences. For me the book is life changing
May 3, 2021
Deborah Burns inspires people to become their own personal hero or heroine in her book Authorize It!: Think Like a Writer to Win at Work & Life. As a novice writer, I was eager to learn how this book could help me grow not only in my craft, but in my life’s journey. I quickly learned that by using the methods that writers use to develop stories the author shows readers how to apply those same methods to jumpstarting your career and making positive changes in your personal life. What is best about this unique concept is that you don’t have to be a writer to understand this method, but you will learn to think like one as you follow the author’s lessons.
Throughout the book Burns shares how she has managed to reinvent the narrative in her personal and professional life. I was especially impressed with the way the author shows us how self-examination plays a significant role in our journey to improvement. By using what the author calls Narrative and Character Arcs, we learn to shift our focus, welcome conflict as a means of growth, and seek unconventional ideas and begin to make positive life changes. Just as writers use writing prompts to spark their imagination and creativity, Burns uses prompts at the end of each chapter to encourage readers in the authorizing of their lives. To bring many of her points home, she also adds a real-life Q&A section called “Author It! Live.
I really enjoyed reading this book and have already begun to apply some of these principles to my life journey. I urge anyone feeling like they are in a rut in the workplace or with fulfilling their dreams to read this book. It will help bring many things into perspective and bring you closer to realizing your true potential.
Throughout the book Burns shares how she has managed to reinvent the narrative in her personal and professional life. I was especially impressed with the way the author shows us how self-examination plays a significant role in our journey to improvement. By using what the author calls Narrative and Character Arcs, we learn to shift our focus, welcome conflict as a means of growth, and seek unconventional ideas and begin to make positive life changes. Just as writers use writing prompts to spark their imagination and creativity, Burns uses prompts at the end of each chapter to encourage readers in the authorizing of their lives. To bring many of her points home, she also adds a real-life Q&A section called “Author It! Live.
I really enjoyed reading this book and have already begun to apply some of these principles to my life journey. I urge anyone feeling like they are in a rut in the workplace or with fulfilling their dreams to read this book. It will help bring many things into perspective and bring you closer to realizing your true potential.
September 10, 2021
🖋 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆.
The author @ guides you on how you can think like a writer, by using the same creative principles that guides writers when they construct a captivating story, you can construct your own story and enhance your professional and personal life.
📖 The book teaches you this technique through 5 lessons, to help you plot your career moves to excel at work:
1️⃣ 𝐸𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑐:
▪️Building your Narrative Arc (4 ingredients in every master Narrative Arc: Quest, Action, Reaction, and Expectations).
2️⃣ 𝑈𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠:
▪️Identifying people at work, what role they play and what impact they have on your work life.
▪️Crafting your starring role.
3️⃣ 𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑡:
▪️Four writerly conflict-resolving tips to help you authorize how you face your shadows and deal with those that belong to others.
▪️5 rules to how to deal with the top four external stressors that drive office conflict- Competition, Challenge, Contradiction, and Criticism- in a way that sparks positive change.
4️⃣ 𝑆𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙:
▪️How to leverage the unconventional mindset by using five bold, perspective-changing writerly techniques
▪️Four writing-world methods for developing your strengths and using them to lead to unconventional solutions at work.
5️⃣ 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑝 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛:
▪️4 tactics that can help you march into the unknown with grace.
▪️ What to do when your quest feels impossible.
▪️How to leverage the unknown to win at work?
💫 I find this idea and techniques of thinking like a writer unique, logical and effective. These techniques can help us in the real world.
The author @ guides you on how you can think like a writer, by using the same creative principles that guides writers when they construct a captivating story, you can construct your own story and enhance your professional and personal life.
📖 The book teaches you this technique through 5 lessons, to help you plot your career moves to excel at work:
1️⃣ 𝐸𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑐:
▪️Building your Narrative Arc (4 ingredients in every master Narrative Arc: Quest, Action, Reaction, and Expectations).
2️⃣ 𝑈𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠:
▪️Identifying people at work, what role they play and what impact they have on your work life.
▪️Crafting your starring role.
3️⃣ 𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑡:
▪️Four writerly conflict-resolving tips to help you authorize how you face your shadows and deal with those that belong to others.
▪️5 rules to how to deal with the top four external stressors that drive office conflict- Competition, Challenge, Contradiction, and Criticism- in a way that sparks positive change.
4️⃣ 𝑆𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙:
▪️How to leverage the unconventional mindset by using five bold, perspective-changing writerly techniques
▪️Four writing-world methods for developing your strengths and using them to lead to unconventional solutions at work.
5️⃣ 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑝 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛:
▪️4 tactics that can help you march into the unknown with grace.
▪️ What to do when your quest feels impossible.
▪️How to leverage the unknown to win at work?
💫 I find this idea and techniques of thinking like a writer unique, logical and effective. These techniques can help us in the real world.
July 13, 2021
📚 Book Name - Authorize It : Think like a writer to win at work and life.
📚 Author - Deborah Burns
📚 My rating - 4.7/5
📚 Very rare people in this world have such motivating personality and the author Deborah is definitely one of them.
📚This book is definitely educate the reader about a lot of stuff like how to polish your skills, how decision making plays an important factor, etc which will help you alot in creating your place in the outside world.
📚 The author has shared her personal story, what was her upbringing like, how she dealt with the situations, a lot of positive and great things to learn from this story.
📚If you are a college grad and a corporate starter, this book is the best gift you can provide to yourself, it is worth each and every penny.
📚 How to reach your goals, achieve your target, prepare a schedule, everything can be learnt from this masterpiece. Exciting isnt it? I have learnt alot of things from this book which have improved my skills in personal as well as professional life.
📚 The title and cover of the book is so appealing and has a true meaning, which you will understand after reading this, this will not at all bore you, this books becomes a friend as a story progresses.
📚 Vocabulary is simple and easy to read, confusion in careers is a most common subject in today's young gen and you will find the answer in this book, go give it a go.
📚 Author - Deborah Burns
📚 My rating - 4.7/5
📚 Very rare people in this world have such motivating personality and the author Deborah is definitely one of them.
📚This book is definitely educate the reader about a lot of stuff like how to polish your skills, how decision making plays an important factor, etc which will help you alot in creating your place in the outside world.
📚 The author has shared her personal story, what was her upbringing like, how she dealt with the situations, a lot of positive and great things to learn from this story.
📚If you are a college grad and a corporate starter, this book is the best gift you can provide to yourself, it is worth each and every penny.
📚 How to reach your goals, achieve your target, prepare a schedule, everything can be learnt from this masterpiece. Exciting isnt it? I have learnt alot of things from this book which have improved my skills in personal as well as professional life.
📚 The title and cover of the book is so appealing and has a true meaning, which you will understand after reading this, this will not at all bore you, this books becomes a friend as a story progresses.
📚 Vocabulary is simple and easy to read, confusion in careers is a most common subject in today's young gen and you will find the answer in this book, go give it a go.
July 19, 2021
What an amazing book by Deborah Burns. This book consists of six chapters which will help you ascend to where you want to be. As you begin to embrace the lessons and think like a writer, you will recognize your own power to improve the story you experience over time. The book contains various acronyms and examples and how you can use them in your life. You can always use the teachings in this book to achieve your goal in your life.
📚 The main motive of the book is to help the readers reach their goal, to motivate them and inspire them. This book is like a guide that allows you to improve yourself. This might be one of my favorite self help books of all time.
📚 I'm so happy I got an opportunity to read this marvelous book. The language used is simple and easy for anyone to understand.The writing style is beautifully penned with amazing and smooth narration. All in all, I would say this book is a transforming read. I always enjoy reading self help books. I highly recommend it to all the readers and if you haven't read it please do.
📚 The main motive of the book is to help the readers reach their goal, to motivate them and inspire them. This book is like a guide that allows you to improve yourself. This might be one of my favorite self help books of all time.
📚 I'm so happy I got an opportunity to read this marvelous book. The language used is simple and easy for anyone to understand.The writing style is beautifully penned with amazing and smooth narration. All in all, I would say this book is a transforming read. I always enjoy reading self help books. I highly recommend it to all the readers and if you haven't read it please do.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews