Quiet Works: Making Silence the Secret Ingredient of the Workday

We live--and work--in a world of nonstop noise. It’s time to reimagine how we work and make silence the secret ingredient.

From the time we wake up, our workday starts. We’re on our smart phones, texting and emailing, scrolling news feeds, jumping on video conference calls. It’s a 24/7 hamster wheel. Work culture--at the office, hybrid, or remote--is defined by too much information and constant collaboration. There’s no time or place for thinking alone.

In Quiet Works, Joseph McCormack proposes a simple, practical, and useful way to work more strategically and intentionally. You will learn to:

• Make appointments for quiet, and not run from or cancel them
• Set boundaries to alert others not to disturb or distract you
• Balance time spent alone in quiet with time together collaborating
• Design workspaces that are conducive to quiet
• Use tools and practices that are realistic and rewarding

The noise of constant distractions, interruptions, and digital devices doesn’t need to defeat us. We can set the conditions for ourselves, colleagues, and organizations to slow down periodically while everything is speeding up. Quiet Works will help you become a stronger professional who is empowered and energized to work in a better, smarter, and more productive way in today’s competitive, noisy environment.

Joe McCormack is on a mission to help organizations master lean communication. An experienced marketing executive, successful entrepreneur, and author, Joe is recognized for his work in narrative messaging and strategic communications. He speaks at diverse industry and client forums on the topics of brevity, storytelling, change and leadership. He founded The BRIEF Lab in 2013 after years dedicated to developing and delivering a unique curriculum on executive communications for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (Ft. Bragg, NC). He actively counsels military leaders and senior executives on effective, efficient communication and produces a weekly podcast series called Just Saying. Previously, he served as SVP, Corporate Marketing at Ketchum, a top-five marketing agency in Chicago, where he directed its corporate marketing practice and introduced new service models to enhance messaging and deepen relationships with market influencers. He received a BA in English Literature from Loyola University of Chicago.