Business & personal development
The Savvy Child Within You
Become more successful in your life and business using forgotten childhood wisdom.
By Mel Clifford
For anyone who’s felt overworked, overruled or quietly worn down by workplace culture — and is ready to take back a sense of choice.
About the book
What it’s about.
The Savvy Child Within You is a book about workplace culture, human behaviour and keeping your humanity inside difficult organisations.
It starts from a simple idea. As children we’re naturally honest, curious and direct. Then we step into the world of work and, bit by bit, we learn not to be. In high-pressure or unhealthy environments that loss costs us dearly — in our time, our boundaries and our self-respect.
Drawing on more than five decades of working with people and organisations, Mel shows how to rediscover that forgotten childhood wisdom and use it to regain a sense of personal responsibility — not by blaming yourself, but by recognising where you still have a choice.
Themes in the book
Personal responsibility
Not blame — the recognition that, even in a difficult workplace, some choices remain yours to make.
Self-respect & boundaries
Why saying no is a skill, and how clear boundaries protect both you and the people you work with.
Curiosity & honesty
Bringing back the questions children ask without thinking — and the honest answers organisations need to hear.
Workplace culture & human behaviour
What really drives behaviour inside organisations, and how to stay human when the culture doesn’t make it easy.
This book is for you if you…
- feel overworked and struggle to say no
- have weak or unclear boundaries at work
- feel taken advantage of, or powerless inside an unhealthy culture
- are frustrated by workplace politics
- feel other people control too much of your time
- want your self-respect and sense of responsibility back
In Mel’s words
“Business has never simply been about processes, systems or spreadsheets. It’s about people.”
— Mel Clifford
Also on the shelf
More books by Mel.
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