The Natty Professor: A Master Class on Mentoring, Motivating and Making It Work!

Gunn, best known for his role on Project Runway, was a faculty member at Parsons School of Design in New York from 1982 to 2000 and chair of Parsons's fashion design department from 2000 to 2007. Though he is no longer in a classroom, Gunn still considers himself a teacher and a mentor. He explains that a good teacher collaborates with students, asking questions so that students clarify their responses, and the book intersperses his personal stories with anecdotes from friends and fans writing about teachers who have had a significant impact on them. He ends with five takeaways: love your work and learn new ways to enjoy whatever you do; take every opportunity to discover things you didn't know existed (he recommends visiting museums); read books (he advocates the serendipity of libraries and bookstores); travel (across the country, around the world, or "explore your neighborhood as if you are a tourist"); and be curious about other people and listen to their stories. Gunn's straightforward narration is easy to listen to and well paced.