Annicken R. Day is the founder and CEO of Corporate Spring, co-author of the book “Creative Superpowers,” public speaker, executive advisor and a passionate maverick for new ways of thinking, working and leading in the new world of work. After fifteen years as a leader and executive in the IT industry, Annicken jumped off the corporate treadmill in 2012 to start her own company, Corporate Spring, with a mission to make the corporate world a happier place. Since then she and her team have helped and trained thousands of leaders around the world on how to build thriving corporate cultures, high performing teams and successful businesses. “Fly, Butterfly,” Annicken R. Day’s debut novel, is the personal and professional metamorphosis story about Maya Williams, an ambitious, stressed-out New York businesswoman who is stymied on her way up the corporate ladder by sexist executives.

“Fly, Butterfly” begins as New York businesswoman Maya Williams, Vice President of sales, is getting ready to board a plane to Honolulu to give her monthly presentation to Technoguard, Inc.’s executive team. Her team sells cybersecurity to several companies but when she gets intel that there is a bug in their system, she is forced to share the information with her boss. Instead of taking the information and trying to fix the bug before the big meeting, her boss insists she disregard the information. During the presentation, she does the unthinkable and admits to prospective investors that they should hold off until the bug is fixed. Confident that she has committed career suicide, she decides to stay on the island a while longer. During this time, she learns to chill and meets people who open her eyes to different ways of thinking, being, living and ultimately, working. When she goes back to New York as a transformed person, she decides to apply the lessons she learned to the company she leads. Her goal is to make it into a kind of utopia that is actually normal in other developed nations that have healthy, happy and productive citizens.

Annicken R. Day’s debut novel combines motivational and inspirational lessons with one woman’s journey from burnt out executive to enlightened leader who transforms her workplace culture. The author brings her message across in an easy to read manner that makes this a definite page-turner. In beautiful descriptive language: “Large, colorful bushes separated the intensely green lawn from the sand, and behind it was the crystal blue ocean for as far as I could see. It looked like diamonds were dancing in its waves” she successfully paints a picture of Hawaii’s magnificence. The characters are well developed but there is no real background information on the father, who pops up every now and then; this would help readers better understand his influence on Maya, just like her mother influenced her. One has to wonder why someone so supposedly put together and intelligent would be sloppy with her love life, i.e. not very confident, but luckily she gets her happily ever after. Among the many people she meets along her journey, the standout is Josh, the surfer dude she first meets after that disastrous meeting. “I glanced over at Josh. I couldn’t help thinking that he was one of the most beautiful men I had ever seen, like a blond Greek god. He looked very young, maybe twenty-seven. Yet something about him felt very old.” He is the first of many who teach her life lessons but at the end she finds out through the locals that he died the previous year in a surfing accident. It is rare for a book to elicit such an emotional response but considering the world’s current situation, it serves as a reminder to set priorities and strive for a well-balanced life. “Fly, Butterfly” is an inspirational story about how lives can be transformed when people learn to follow their passion and heart to enrichen their personal and professional lives.

*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.