Jensen, Bill

PERSONAL: Male. Education: Rochester Institute of Technology, B.F.A., 1977, M.S., 1995.

ADDRESSES: Home—Tacoma, WA. Office—The Jensen Group, 1 Franklin Place, Morristown, NJ 07960. E-mail—bill@simplerwork.com.

CAREER: Business consultant, public speaker, and writer. The Jensen Group (business consulting firm), Morristown, NJ, president and CEO, 1985–.

WRITINGS:

Simplicity: The New Competitive Advantage in a World of More, Better, Faster, Perseus Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Work 2.0: Rewriting the Contract, Perseus Books (New York, NY), 2002.

The Simplicity Survival Handbook: 32 Ways to Do Less and Accomplish More, Perseus Books (New York, NY), 2003.

What Is Your Life's Work?: Answer the Big Question about What Really Matters … And Reawaken the Passion for What You Do, HarperCollins Publishing (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to publications, including Harvard Business Review, Strategy and Leadership, Knowledge Management Journal, Focus on Change Management, Human Resource Planning Society Journal, Employee Relations Today, National Productivity, Internal Communications, Communication World, and Strategic Communication Management.

SIDELIGHTS: Bill Jensen has worked since 1985 as a consultant to businesses interested in simplifying their workplace and inspiring employees to improved productivity. His ongoing research in the areas of change management, behavioral communications, and leadership development have led to the publication of numerous books designed, as he mentions on his company Web site, to "make it easier for people to get stuff done."

Jensen's first book, Simplicity: The New Competitive Advantage in a World of More, Better, Faster, offers advice to both employers and employees on minimiz-ing wasted time and maximizing efficiency. University of California, Davis's IT Times onlin writer Nancy Harrington remarked, "the tools and examples Jensen includes in the book could be useful to any newcomer or old-timer in the workforce, to any employee or manager who believes that achieving clarity provides a workplace advantage. It's a pretty accessible read and offers some tactics an individual can put to work immediately." Mark Schindele wrote in a review for the Take Back Your Time Web site that "this engaging book offers solutions to today's hectic work place with humor, insight and common sense."

In Work 2.0: Rewriting the Contract, Jensen presents company leaders with strategies for improving employee productivity and morale. A MyBusiness magazine reviewer described it as a "well-written book containing practical advice for managers and business owners." Walt Boyes, a contributor to Automation.com, commented: "Like a Zen master, Jensen is one of a few thinkers on organizations and the way we work who also practices what he preaches." Work 2.0: Rewriting the Contract "is an extremely important book for both employers, employees, and jobseekers."

The Simplicity Survival Handbook: 32 Ways to Do Less and Accomplish More builds on Jensen's beliefs about simplifying the work environment by providing a guide to improving time management and reducing workplace complexity. Christopher T. Ernst, writing for Personnel Psychology, described The Simplicity Survival Handbook as "one of the best books I have read for dealing with the challenges of work in these hyperturbulent times…. The value of this book is both in the simple presentation of the tools, and the way in which they are grounded in a number of daily workplace rituals." As Ernst concluded, "The positive ratio of good ideas to time spent reading serves to strongly endorse the value of this book. Reading The Simplicity Survival Handbook is time and attention well spent. And that is the ultimate yardstick in a world of finite time and infinite choice." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly remarked that Jensen's "concise presentation … lays everything out perfectly the first time."

Jensen focuses on the personal impact of career priorities in What Is Your Life's Work?: Answer the Big Question about What Really Matters … And Reawaken the Passion for What You Do, in which he compiles letters and journal entries addressing what matters most in people's lives. A Publishers Weekly contributor commented: "Jensen does a wonderful job of pulling together meaningful, often moving letters gathered in the course of his consulting work," further adding that the book has "an abundance of meaningful philosophy, insight and advice."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Personnel Psychology, spring, 2005, Christopher T. Ernst, review of The Simplicity Survival Handbook: 32 Ways to Do Less and Accomplish More, p. 257.

Publishers Weekly, November 3, 2003, review of The Simplicity Survival Handbook, p. 70; April 11, 2005, review of What Is Your Life's Work?: Answer the Big Question about What Really Matters … And Reawaken the Passion for What You Do, p. 46.

ONLINE

Automation.com, http://www.automation.com/ (September 26, 2005), Walt Boyes, review of Work 2.0: Rewriting the Contract.

IT Times Online, http://ittimes.ucdavis.edu/ (October 8, 2005), Nancy Harrington, review of Simplicity: The New Competitive Advantage in a World of More, Better, Faster.

MyBusiness Online, http://www.nfib.com/ (June 2, 2004), review of Work 2.0.

Simpler Work Web Site, http://www.simplerwork.com/ (September 26, 2005), company information and author biography.

Take Back Your Time Web site, http://www.simpleliving.net/timeday/ (September 26, 2005), Mark Schindele, review of Simplicity.