Book Review: 'Love and Work' by Marcus Buckingham
Is 'Love and Work' with the tagline 'Find what you love, love what you do, and do it for the rest of your life' by Marcus Buckingham just another American-style self-help book worth reading? And the answer to whether a 50-year-old on TikTok, even if it's worth it, is cringe?
Rafal Szymanski
I implement LinkedIn and Sales Navigator in B2B companies.
I have an allergy to buzzwords and catchy slogans. So when I received the book “Love and Work” from Paweł Jarczewski, described with the tagline “Find what you love, love what you do, and do it for the rest of your life”, I immediately put it on my shame pile of books to read someday.
That was my big mistake.
TL;DR
Marcus Buckingham’s “Love and Work” focuses on discovering your own talents and passions, which according to the author should be key in shaping your career and choosing activities, including in Social Media.
👍 Pros:
- Introduces the concept of focusing on your strengths instead of struggling to match others in things that aren’t for you
- When we strip away the layer of “American dream and success” that initially bothered me while reading, the book really helps us open our eyes to several important matters. It helped me confirm my decision that a 50-year-old on TikTok is indeed cringe
👇 Cons:
- The amount of catchy slogans, American-style “rags to riches” success stories, and mentions of the author’s undeniable achievements may discourage readers. I managed to get through it, don’t you get discouraged
💡 Do I recommend the book: Yes, I recommend it, because the author has interesting things to say, and since he weaves it with his own story, we can not only understand the concept but also like him.
What is Marcus Buckingham’s “Love and Work” about
Marcus Buckingham promotes an approach where what engages and motivates us should determine both our career choice and how we present ourselves in professional life.
The author criticizes conformity and routine in corporations, pointing out that true engagement comes from actions aligned with personal strengths and genuine passion.
Key questions from the book
- How to discover your unique talents?
- What makes you stand out from others?
- What work will fulfill you?
I decided not to be discouraged by the American writing style, because I was looking for an answer to another question:
How do our talents influence the choice of platform in Social Media?
You know, I would recommend TikTok to an extrovert, and writing long articles on LinkedIn to an introvert, but I would do it based on my intuition. And while I value it, I like to justify my words with facts and research.
So how is it really?
Talents and Social Media - practical application
Buckingham emphasizes that our innate strong traits form the foundation for effective action in every sphere, including online. He claims that we will achieve greater success by developing them, rather than trying to force development of our weakest ones.
One of my strong traits is Educator and I’ll finish the review using it as an example.
”Educator” type in Social Media
People with a strong “Educator” trait derive satisfaction from:
- Sharing knowledge
- Teaching others
- Creating valuable content
- Helping others develop
Natural platforms for Educators
LinkedIn: Allows building a professional network, publishing expert articles, conducting training, and participating in industry discussions.
YouTube: Enables creating educational video content accessible to a wide audience in an attractive, multimedia format.
Alternative channels
Alternatively, depending on the educator’s character and audience, it’s worth considering:
- Podcasts – ideal for sharing knowledge in a dynamic, personal form
- Newsletters – effective source of regular, in-depth education and valuable materials
- Topic groups on Facebook or Discord – space for interaction, experience exchange, and mutual development
My thesis
I also put forward the thesis that in the era of AI scrapers that steal content from publicly available Internet, such closed communities will gain in importance.
The key is therefore not only the platform, but how to use talents to engage the community and authentically share knowledge.
My conclusions
Just thinking
According to Buckingham, talents are also key in choosing the platform and style of presence in social media. For the Educator type, LinkedIn and YouTube constitute a “natural” environment, but it’s worth experimenting and combining channels to make the most of your strengths.
For me, this is a plan to step out of LinkedIn and my comfort zone and start trying YouTube, maybe in podcast form?
Who is the author - Marcus Buckingham?
About the author
Marcus Buckingham is the co-creator of the StrengthsFinder tool (commonly called Gallup tests in Poland) and StandOut for assessing strengths, which over 10 million people worldwide have used so far.
He is a researcher focused on:
- Unleashing strengths
- Increasing productivity
- Creating better work prospects
Other books by the author:
- “First, Break All the Rules” (with Curt Coffman)
- “Now, Discover Your Strengths” (with Donald O. Clifton)
- “Nine Lies About Work” (with Ashley Goodall)
Where to buy the book
You can buy the book at MT Biznes bookstore: Love and Work - Marcus Buckingham - the official Polish publisher of the book. I received it at LinkedIn Local Warsaw, where I spoke about combining passion with work, building your visibility from scratch after leaving employment, and searching for your strengths. This review is not a paid collaboration, it was not commissioned, and the publisher doesn’t even know about its existence - I recommend the book because it’s good. I also recommend following Paweł Jarczewski on Social Media, as he recommends many good books.
Do you know your strengths? Or are you already testing different social media platforms in search of “yours”? Write to me about it, I’ll be talking about this approach at the October edition of the I ❤️ Social Media conference and maybe I’ll show your example
If you need something else that is not specified in my offer, e.g. ongoing marketing support, LinkedIn implementation and Employee Advocacy program in your company, let's arrange a 30-minute conversation so I can get to know your problems.
