Joy at Work
By Dennis W. Bakke
Reviewed By John Lovitt, Ed.D.
(ISBN 0976268647)
Most organizational and work books focuson executive management and thestrategies therein. In contrast, the book in questiondescribes the importance of employees andhow they impact the work environment.
Bakke said that “the crucial measure ofsuccess is the quality of their (employees) worklives.” And who best to orchestrate this successthan those on the front line. Management playsa role but not the most important one, accordingto Bakke.
Peter, Bakke’s son, uses a rubber–band ball todemonstrate how people of all shapes and sizes,cultural backgrounds, talents, skills, and aspirationsrespond when stretched and bound together. The ball does whatit is supposed to do–it bounces, because all the diverse bands use theirstrength to serve the world.
Why is Joy At Work important for a CEO’s, COO’s, CFO’s, or ExecutiveTeams’ consideration?
The above question begs yet another question–would you, the reader,like to learn a creative approach to reinventing your company? Based onwhat keeps you up at night, I suggest that you heavily consider the Joy AtWork approach. Dennis Bakke successfully built an eight billion dollar companyfocusing on providing energy to communities all over the world.
The author and CEO seriously questions the assumption that those furthestfrom the process can make decisions about the processes needed toexceed the expectations of the external and internal customers. He saysthat control becomes more of an issue than the process at hand.
The following comments show how much more powerful a companybecomes when joy at work becomes an overriding issue:
- Crucial measure of success is the quality of the work life itself
- Increased financial performance
- No official organization chart
- Job descriptions written around the passion and unique skills ofthe employee
- Decisions made at the lowest organizational level
- Employees are responsible for managing themselves
- Only one category of worker–employees
- New business and financial management are linked to day–to–day operations
- Specialist task groups kept to a minimum
- Volunteer task forces perform auditing, corporate capital allocation, balance sheet management, and global sourcing
- “Financial management and risk assessments are important elements in each person’s job”
- “Leaders see their role as serving other employees”
- “Leaders are mentors, coaches, teachers, helpers and cheerleaders
I found the book to be extremely interesting and worth buying. Theonly downside was the extreme reiteration of some points. Stories wereoften told when a simple statement would have sufficed. The last chaptercentered on his faith and how it interacted with the happenings of thecompany. This chapter was encouraging and probably better written thanthe rest of the book.
Michael Falcon is managing director and head of the RetirementGroup at Merrill Lynch.
For More Information Contact: Tiffany Mock, CRPC, CFM Financial Advisor Merrill Lynch
