Miranda West on Building the Do Book Company

Miranda West is the founder of the Do Book Company, an innovative publishing house that produces a unique series of pocket guidebooks written by speakers from the Do Lectures.

When Miranda left her senior role at Random House UK to move to Switzerland with her husband, she knew she wanted to start a new book-related venture. It wasn’t until someone forwarded her a link to a Do Lecture given by Craig Mod that she found her inspiration.

The lecture was about the future of books in the year of the iPad. Miranda was intrigued not only by the content, but also the unique nature of the Do Lecture series. She immediately reached out to creator/founder David Hieatt and was surprised to hear back that same day. David and his wife, Claire, had wanted to publish books based on the Do Lectures, and Miranda was the perfect person to help make it happen. She spent the next two years learning how to run a business and working with David to develop the unique brand that is the Do Book Company.

In order to stay true to the spirit of the Do Lectures, every detail was carefully considered. From the length and focus – the books would be kept around 100 pages, and they would focus on doing rather than theory – to the cover art, paper stock, and interior layout. What’s more, the books would fall into one of two categories. One would be for creative entrepreneurs, books that Miranda could have benefited from when starting the company. The other would be a more playful range, teaching everything from how to grow vegetables to bake sourdough bread.

The Do Book Company will be releasing four new titles in May, one of which is Les’ Do Lead. What sets this book apart is it reveals the true nature of leadership. It doesn’t just consist of heroes jumping in at the eleventh hour to save the day – that’s merely the tip of a very large iceberg. Instead, the book invites everyone to lead by showing how to utilize one’s own natural talents and skills. It also offers tools and insights on how to unlock the leadership potential that exists within teams and drive it throughout the organization.