Conversations from Q: Storytelling for a cause
I love listening to someone talking about a book they’re writing, or planning to write. People write because they feel that there’s something that needs to be said and, that in all of human knowledge, it hasn’t been said yet in this particular way and form. In John Yip’s case, he’s writing about something particularly important — workplace bullying — and it’s clear, when talking to him, that he has something valuable to say about it.
I met John last year; he attended a workshop I was delivering. John is honest about his life. As someone who’s been a victim of workplace bullying, he says:
“Workplace bullying is about power and how one overwhelms another by using that power to achieve one’s goals. The one who exerts and uses power wants to create a master-servant relationship where servitude is priced and expected by all means.”
A saying attributed to both C.S. Lewis and William Nicholson goes, “We read to know that we’re not alone.” It’s clear that John is writing to let people know that they’re not alone, and he wants to make it clear that workplace bullying is a serious issue.
“In the contemporary world,” he told me, “at least in civilised society, no one goes to work expecting to be enslaved, literally. No one can continuously feel downtrodden at work all the time. Such feelings and emotions are hazardous to one’s health and mental balance.”
John’s right. We don’t expect to feel this way at work, and yet, one in four Singaporean workers feel bullied in the workplace. Stories like John’s are not only worthwhile, they’re necessary. Urgently so.
Writing a book isn’t an easy thing to do, though. One of the most common questions I’m asked when training authors is how to keep writing when life gets in the way. I asked John this, and he said he’s motivated by the positive effect he can have on his readers:
“I want to bring change to those who suffer a similar fate but do not know what to do immediately. It is a crusade on my part, and I want to bring renewed hope of recovery and resilience to those who suffer and see only darkness everywhere.”
How the content is delivered to readers is an important consideration for any author, and John’s openness to formats other than a book is refreshing. He’s aiming for “relatable content delivered in a punchy format,” and is open to using images, animations, and videos. Sometimes this is a useful way to start thinking about a book. Even people who are usually terrible at drawing (like myself) can find it easier to map out an idea visually or imagine it as a video. But no matter what the format an author chooses, there’s no substitute for serious research. John is keenly aware of the need for concrete, valuable information. I asked him what his challenges are in this area.
“Researching, as content matters. More importantly, I need to find a way to stop myself for being overly verbose and getting straight to the point in my writing. Next is to be highly disciplined. I dread going back to my doctoral studies days when I had to balance my day job in investment banking with research, econometrics studies (I had never done statistics in my life!), and dissertation writing. I made it in six years. I need to find the discipline to write again, besides working on formats for effective delivery.”
Discipline and practice are realities of the writer’s life, and I struggle with it myself. But inspiration, we often say, is for the amateur. The serious writer can’t wait for inspiration, and I am reminded of Isabelle Allende’s exhortation: “Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too. If she doesn’t show up invited, eventually she just shows up.”
John knows exactly how much work is ahead of him. He also knows what he wants out of the writing process, and talks about what he’s looking forward to.
“I want people to find my book useful and instructive especially those who were, are, and seem to be in the same shoes I was in. It will also be most invigorating to see revenue from sales to covers my publication, web hosting, and media delivery costs.”
I asked him if the world would lose something if he stopped and didn’t write this book. He says yes, it would, and explained:
“No one in our part of the world bothers about subject like this as they are too shy to admit it and get down to doing something concrete about it. Many people complain and become bitter but do very little — at the most, they may simply leave a job they dread, but don’t do anything else.”
Perhaps discipline is simply the acknowledgement that the reasons for the work you’re doing are more important than the pain of doing it. I for one am convinced of the importance of John’s story and work, and am very grateful to him not just for this candid, meaningful conversation, but for starting this remarkable project on workplace bullying.
