Through his years of intensive work consulting to companies including Procter & Gamble Sony Toyota Microsoft Ford & Ernst & Young with his firm The Energy Project Schwartz has developed a powerful program for changing the way we are working that greatly boosts our engagement & our satisfication with our work & increases our performance In this book he marshalls a wide range of powerful evidence from business research & psychology that shows that the current model of work -- in which people are treated essentially as machines that should be able to perform at top speed for extraordinarily long hours be able to multi-task be always accessible & online withstand often harsh & emotionally punishing treatment & be primarily driven by the need to make profits -- is not only not optimal it is specfically counter-productive because it saps us of our physical emotional mental & spiritual energy In order for us to perform at our best we must make a set of key changes in our work lives -- & in order to develop the full potential of their work force our managers & companies must institute changes that will provide us with the regular physical renewal emotional reward mental focus & stimulation; & sense of purpose & significance that we need