Julianna Newland, a University of Indianapolis graduate with more than three decades of experience in business, is the author of “All Up in Your Bizness: Managing Your Business Crap.” The book is a collection of humorous anecdotes from her career, as well as advice for succeeding in the business world.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Some days in the office were so absurd, so surreal and so dumbfounding that you just had to laugh.
Julianna Newland spent more than three decades in a variety of business settings, from working at Fortune 500 companies to jobs at nonprofits and in state government. The roles and responsibilities may have been different, but the humorous happenings of office life were stunningly similar.
“I found that there were so many things that had occurred and I observed that struck me as funny or interesting. I had been taking notes about these, and I thought I’d put them together and write a book,” she said.
Newland is retired from the business world now, so she’s compiled her recollections and random observations in a new book. “All Up In Your Bizness: Managing Your Business Crap” is a whimsical collection of humorous stories and experiences drawn from her own observations over the course of her career. Mixed into the anecdotes on office minutiae is good-hearted advice to help readers navigate the corporate world.
“It’s not a business textbook. While it does offer a lot of interesting advice, it is also tongue-in-cheek and funny so that people can read it and enjoy the instances or programs or processes of people they’re reading about,” she said.
And to accompany the different chapters, Newland has worked with the mixology staff at Ambrosia, a longtime favorite among diners in Indianapolis, to include cocktail recipes to help unwind after a hard day at the office.
Newland, an Indianapolis resident and graduate of the University of Indianapolis, hopes her own experiences bring a smile to readers’ faces while teaching them something too.
“I hope they take away a little comedy and humor to help them. It’s such a divisive world right now, and we’re all frustrated by what’s going on. It’s like, for them to chuckle a little bit and to find some learning points they can use in their own job experience,” she said.
Newland grew up in Indianapolis, then graduated from the UIndy with a double major in English and political science. Those dual specialties came to be the engine that drove her career. She worked for 23 years for Eli Lilly and Co., both as a manager of public affairs and an associate consultant.
She spent time in state government, contributed to two nonprofit organizations and was active in a prominent trade association. Her unique blend of writing talent and expertise in public affairs, government relations, lobbying and fundraising consistently set her up for success.
Over the course of these varied responsibilities, Newland learned much about the ins and outs of office politics.
Newland had kept notes over the years of these funny instances, and when she decided to write “All Up in Your Bizness,” she put them together and fleshed the ideas out to give them more body. The book is broken up into more than 40 topics, ranging from parking spaces to use of exclamation points to holiday office parties.
She closes with a look at the “exit interview.”
“I just pulled them together, did a lot of reorganizing and writing and editing and reorganizing before I even sent it to the publisher,” she said.
While the tone is meant to be humorous and even irreverent, Newland weaves valuable observations and advice into the stories along the way. She’s been part of and conducted countless interviews and gone through performance reviews and networked with people across all departments. Her own experience can offer advice to those currently in the workforce, she said.
She also emphasizes the importance of having mentors to guide you through the business world.
“It’s a critically important piece of someone’s job. They should look to find a mentor, someone who can help them along the way,” she said. ”That’s extremely valuable.”
Some of her memories still sting — such as reckoning with the “good old boy club” mentality of upper management.
“I noticed over the decades how the good old boys club has somewhat diminished, but still exists, but not nearly as much as it did when I first started working,” she said. “It was very difficult for a female in a management position for a Fortune 500 company to look up and see female mentors in higher positions, because they just weren’t there.”
Still, Newland’s tone is decidedly lighthearted, which is amplified by the inclusion of cocktail recipes included within the book. She and her husband James are frequent patrons of Ambrosia, an Italian eatery located in the Meridian-Kessler neighborhood.
Over the years, they’ve become close with staff at the restaurant, including mixologists at the bar.
“Often times, they’d make something up and ask us to try this drink or that drink,” she said. “I thought it would be interesting to put in the book and give them business names like ‘Networking’ or ‘Thinking Outside the Box.’ The whole idea is, after you come home from a hard day at work, why don’t you try this recipe that was made for you to help you unwind.”
“All Up In Your Bizness” is on sale now at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
AT A GLANCE
“All Up In Your Bizness: Managing Your Business Crap”
What: A whimsical collection of humorous stories and experiences drawn from author Julianna Newland’s own observations over the course of her career, accompanied by good-hearted advice to help readers navigate the corporate world.
How to buy: Go to allupinyourbizness.com. The book is also available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Upcoming readings
Nov. 30: 9 a.m., Rose and Lois, 7249 E. 146th St., Suite 110, Carmel
Dec. 16: 2 p.m., Indy Reads, 1066 Virginia Ave., Indianapolis
