CEO's Novel Reveals How To Bring Paradise To Work

If your workplace feels like one of the nine circles of Dante's Inferno instead of a paradise, you're not alone-but you're also not trapped.

"Some of the things my American readers have named 'a beautiful utopia,' I have been part of creating and have experienced in real life," author and Corporate Spring CEO and founder Annicken R. Day says. "Different and unique? Yes. But it's not a corporate fairy tale story. Scandinavian companies have generally a much more humanistic approach to corporate life. Compared to Scandinavian work life, I find corporate America in general quite brutal and inhumane in many ways."

Day's Fly, Butterfly is a fictional tale, it has firm roots in reality: A personal and professional metamorphosis story about Maya Williams, an ambitious New York businesswoman who is stymied on her way up the corporate ladder by sexist executives.

When speaking at a conference in Hawaii, Maya makes a choice that may jeopardize her entire career: She learns to chill and meets people who open her eyes to different ways of thinking, being and leading. When she goes back to New York as a transformed person, she decides to transform the company she leads into its own "utopia"-the kind utopia that's actually normal in other developed nations that are rife with healthy, happy and productive citizens."

Day wants us to raise our standards for how we're treated at work and in life, whether it be by others or by ourselves. "I truly believe we are on this earth to live a life of joy and that if we dare to ignore the boxes surrounding us, telling us about everything that is impossible, we can start living lives beyond our wildest imaginations," she says. "I know I am."

ABOUT ANNICKEN R. DAY:

Annicken R. Day has over 20 years of experience of building engaged, high performing team cultures, inspiring and effective leadership teams and successful businesses. In her years as Chief Cultural Officer for the global IT company Tandberg, the company was recognized for its unique culture, awarded Best Place to Work in Norway three years in a row and was listed among the top 50 best workplaces in Europe. The company experienced an annual growth of 35% and became a global market leader in the video-conference industry under her cultural leadership. In 2010, the company was sold to Cisco for$ 3.4 billion. Day was a "cultural ambassador" for Cisco, serving as a spokesperson for the business benefits of culture, while helping recently merged teams and businesses collaborate more effectively and coaching leaders in how to make their teams perform at their best.

In 2012, Day founded Corporate Spring, a culture and leadership consultancy on a mission to make the corporate world a happier place. Since then, she and her team have trained thousands of leaders and employees around the world in new ways of working, thinking and leading to be successful in the new world of work.Day is an executive advisor, TEDx speaker, Huffington Post writer, co-author of the book Creative Superpowers and author of the novel Fly, Butterfly.

To learn more, visit AnnickenDay.com and CorporateSpring.com and connect with Annicken R. Day on Facebook and Instagram.

Fly, Butterfly is now available wherever books are sold.

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