Penguin Business signs Gratton's 'definitive' hybrid working guide

Penguin Business has inked a deal for the “definitive book on the future of hybrid working” by London Business School professor Lynda Gratton. 

Lydia Yadi, senior commissioning editor, acquired world rights, excluding Japan, for Redesigning Work: How to Transform Your Organisation and Make Hybrid Work for Everyone from Caroline Michel at PFD in an exclusive submission. It will be published in spring 2022.  

The blurb reads: “We are experiencing the greatest global shift in the world of work for a century. So, how do we make the most of this unique opportunity and radically redesign the way we work forever? In Redesigning Work, world-leading expert Lynda Gratton offers a bold vision for the future. She shares the four key stages of redesigning work along with 15 actions that managers and executives need to engage with now to redesign work that enhances productivity, supports employees to flourish and builds resilience for the future.” 

Redesigning Work promises to reveal “how companies can build on what we learnt through our experiences of the global pandemic and use the recent shifts in working norms to reset work for the coming decade and beyond,” Penguin Business said.

The book draws on 30 years of research into the "technological, demographic, cultural and societal trends that are shaping work" as "Gratton argues that to grasp this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we need to think beyond simple one-size-fits all answers". The publisher added: “This profound understanding is the foundation for re-imagining work in a way that is perfectly aligned to the company. It is the definitive book on the future of hybrid working.” 

Gratton is a global thought-leader on the future of work and professor of management practice at London Business School, where she has been voted best teacher of the year. As an adviser to companies, 10 years ago she founded the Future of Work Research Consortium, which has brought together executives from more than 90 companies. She is also a fellow of the World Economic Forum as well sitting on various other advisory boards and prize judging panels. She wrote the cover article for Harvard Business Review in May 2021 on hybrid work and is a regular columnist for MIT Sloan. She has also written 10 books which have been translated into more than 15 languages. 

Yadi said: “I’m thrilled to be working with someone as experienced and knowledgeable as Lynda at such a critical moment. Lynda will help companies and employees overcome the obstacles presented by a more fluid and flexible way of working, help them creatively reimagine time and place, and provide them with the frameworks and support they need to make, model, test and implement real, lasting change in a way that makes most sense for their business.” 

She added: “Redesigning Work will guide readers through this precipice moment and beyond, becoming a business classic, selling for many years to come.”  

Gratton commented: “I’m passionate about how executives can create work that enables people to thrive and to live purposeful lives. The experience of the pandemic has been to fast-forward what is possible. I wrote Redesigning Work as a tool kit, an inspiring call to action. It is my aspiration that this book becomes the classic text on redesigning work and acts as a real catalyst to change. I’m delighted to be working with Lydia and the team at Penguin on this and know that we have created a book that we can both be deeply proud of and excited by.”