Shapiro, David A. 1957-

views updated

SHAPIRO, David A. 1957-

PERSONAL:

Born 1957. Education: University of Minnesota, B.A. (philosophy); University of Washington, M.A. (philosophy).

ADDRESSES:

Office—Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children, Box 353350, Department of Philosophy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-3350. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

CAREER:

Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children, Seattle, WA, education director; Cascadia Community College, Bothell, WA, faculty member.

WRITINGS:

(With Richard Leider) Repacking Your Bags: Lighten Your Load for the Rest of Your Life, Berrett-Koehler (San Francisco, CA), 1995.

Choosing the Right Thing to Do: In Life, at Work, Relationships, and for the Planet, Berrett-Koehler (San Francisco, CA), 1999.

(With Richard Leider) Whistle While You Work: Heeding Your Life's Calling, Berrett-Koehler (San Francisco, CA), 2001.

Contributor to several photography books.

SIDELIGHTS:

David A. Shapiro is the education director of the Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children, a nonprofit organization offering philosophy to young people in communities and at school. He is also a best-selling author who brings inspiration to his craft through his own book, Choosing the Right Thing to Do: In Life, at Work, in Relationships, and for the Planet, and through his collaboration with coauthor Richard Leider. Whether advice is needed in a person's professional or personal life, Shapiro's writing is a source of hope and motivation.

Shapiro's self-help style of writing is featured in his first book, Repacking Your Bags: Lighten Your Load for the Rest of Your Life, which is the first book he wrote with Leider, who is a founder partner of the Inventure Group, a training firm. The authors describe the search for purpose in life as a series of packing, unpacking, and repacking. A briefcase, for example, is "Work" baggage. An overnight bag is "Love" baggage and a trunk is "Place" baggage. Self-analysis, the authors tell readers, is a continuing process and can be done by using packing as a metaphor and guide. January Adams from Library Journal noted that what Shapiro and Leider said "has been said before, but some authors are able to take familiar concepts and give them new meaning or appeal. Unfortunately, that is not the case here." Joyce M. Shelleman, from the Academy of Management Executive, felt that many people could benefit from the book as long as they are "open to introspection." She noted, "It's an accessible, readily digestible book but chock-full of heavyweight issues, many of which are spiritual." Shelleman recommended the book "for anyone who needs a stimulus or fresh viewpoint to get through the darkest times."

In his solo book, Choosing the Right Thing to Do, Shapiro provides a study of ethics through a "moral spectrum" that features seven "moral prisms." Each prism asks a pivotal question to help the reader make proper moral decisions. The "Virtue Ethics prism," for instance, asks "What would the most virtuous person I know do in this situation?"

Shapiro again collaborates with Leider in their book, Whistle While You Work: Heeding Your Life's Calling. Instead of focusing on the personal life of the reader, the authors ask the important question of "What is your life's calling?" Advice is given through exercises, stories, and various tools that can be used to find a career that will make you happy. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly wrote, "Leider and Shapiro maintain that when a calling serves to promote one of our passions in an environment consistent with our core values, we maximize our chances for infusing work with joy and meaning." Black Enterprise's Quincy L. Lewis enjoyed the book and observed, "You may find a reason to whistle before you finish it."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Academy of Management Executive, November, 1995, Joyce M. Shelleman, review of Repacking Your Bags: Lighten Your Load for the Rest of Your Life, pp. 94-98.

Black Enterprise, September, 2001, Quincy L. Lewis, review of Whistle While You Work: Heeding Your Life's Calling, p. 190.

Library Journal, December, 1994, January Adams, review of Repacking Your Bags, p. 116.

Publishers Weekly, November 21, 1994, review of Repacking Your Bags, p. 64; March 19, 2001, review of Whistle While You Work, p. 90.