johnny bunko cover“Meet Johnny Bunko. He’s probably a lot like you. He did what everybody—parents, teachers, counselors—told him to do. But now, stuck at a dead-end job, he’s begun to suspect that what he thought he knew is just plain wrong. One bizarre night, Johnny meets Diana, the unlikeliest career advisor he’s ever seen. Part Cameron Diaz, part Barbara Eden [I Dream of Jeannie], she reveals to Johnny the six essential lessons for thriving in the world of work.” (quote and image from Dan Pink’s website)

If you don’t have the time or patience to read a 400+ page career tome (e.g., What Color Is Your Parachute?), check out best-selling author Dan Pink’s most recent publication, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko. Written in manga, a Japanese form of the graphic novel, you can whip through it in 45 minutes.

I read Johnny Bunko while sitting on a windowsill in the downtown Indianapolis Borders. I had gone to Indy with my dad, his friend, and my boyfriend to watch the Spartans in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament regional finals. While they went to a sports bar to watch basketball (I love the game and have played since I was five, but I can only take so much of it in one weekend), I decided to read the book that everyone in the Career Network had been talking about. When I met up with the guys at the sports bar afterward, the first words out of my dad’s mouth were, “Wait. You just read an entire book?!”

Not only is Johnny Bunko a quick read; it’s also an entertaining book full of quality advice (hence its buzz around the Network). As students, this book can help give us perspective. Too often we focus only on the paths immediately in front of us—choosing to go to MSU, then picking a major, finding internships to fulfill graduation requirements, prepping for grad school entrance exams, etc.—without thinking about our end goal: to prepare ourselves for a career that makes us excited to get out of bed in the morning. In college, life can often seem like one big syllabus, checking off one assigned task to get to another. Challenging yourself to step out of that mindset and think about things on a larger scale is necessary from time to time. Dan Pink’s The Adventures of Johnny Bunko forces its readers to do so.

This book has the potential to reach a wide audience, but it is best suited for college students like you and me. Pick it up. Read it. By writing it in manga, Pink made sure that you couldn’t use lack of time as an excuse. What other excuse do you have?

I asked Pink a few questions about Johnny Bunko, more career advice, and his own fascinating career history. Read on for his responses.

1) In 2007, after winning the Japan Society Media Fellowship, you went to Tokyo to study manga. What made you interested in learning about the manga industry?

It was a few things. I saw manga becoming very popular in the United States, I began reading it, and found that it was a wonderfully entertaining and extremely powerful medium. So I wanted to learn more. When I was in Japan, I had the opportunity to interview manga artists, editors, critics, publishers, and fans—which was absolutely fascinating. That led to my wanting to give it a try myself with The Adventures of Johnny Bunko.

2) Why a career book in manga?

A few reasons. First, there’s so much career information online that most career books aren’t that useful. I imagine that most MSU students begin investigating careers by roaming the Internet rather than by looking at a physical bookshelf. That means a book has to do something Google cannot—which is to provide big picture, strategic advice. Second, in talking to college students around the country I realized that they were often operating under the same false assumptions about work that I had 25 years ago. So I wanted to write a book about the things I wish I had known when I was a college student. Finally, manga is fast. So is your generation. My collaborator, Rob Ten Pas, and I crafted this book so that anyone could read it in 45 minutes or less.

3) You worked as former Vice President Al Gore’s chief speechwriter from 1995 to 1997. What was that experience like? What got you into speechwriting and how was it different from your other work experiences?

I got into speechwriting by accident. I was working in some campaigns. I began doing it. I did it OK. And then I got asked to do it more. As a kid, I never thought, “One day, I want to grow up to be a speechwriter.” Working for Al Gore in particular was great. He’s smart, funny, and focused on the public good. Every speechwriter should be lucky enough to have a boss like him.

4) Your first book was Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself. What advice would you give to college students who dream to be “free agents”?

Right now think less about the “how” and more about the “what.” Working for yourself is a “how” question. But before you can even get to it, you have to figure out what you’re going to do. College is a great time for exploration. Use it to begin trying to learn: 1) what you are good at; 2) what you love to do; and 3) how you can use that to accomplish something in the world. Those are tough questions. So asking them early has a big pay-off.

5) You graduated from Yale Law School, but you never practiced law. What was your first job out of law school? Would you say the law school experience was worthwhile? How so?

My first job out of law school was working as a policy person on some political campaigns. It was great, though the campaigns always lost. As for law school, it was definitely worth it—but that’s because law school is where I met my wife! I didn’t hate law school actually—but in retrospect, I probably could have found more useful, more meaningful, and less expensive ways to spend those years.

6) Is there any reason for your use of six right-brained skills in A Whole New Mind and six career secrets in The Adventures of Johnny Bunko? Is it the magic number, does it work well for structuring a book, or is it pure coincidence?

The number six is part of my elaborate plan to mold them minds of young people across the world! Actually, it’s a coincidence. Six happened to seem like the right number for A Whole New Mind. And six happened to seem like the right number for Johnny Bunko. But there is something beautiful about three and its multiples, isn’t there?

—Sarah Aldrich, Professional Writing, Class of 2010