Joy at Work: A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job

I regard most new books aimed at business leaders as recycled drivel. But Bakke's work stands out, and it could indeed be the seedling for a revolution in business culture, particularly in light of recent spectacular corporate failures. Revolutionary: Early in the book, Bakke backs up and offers a brief history of the Industrial Revolution and its impact on current corporate structures - hierarchy, hourly wages, corporate specialists (i.e. accounting, purchasing, contracting), policy manuals, centralized decision-making, etc. Then he explains how these forces have removed personal initiative, measured risk-taking and a sense of contribution from workers, thus removing "joy" from the workplace. He replaces it with genuine respect for all workers, allowance for mistakes, and giving everyone an opportunity to make key decisions that can impact the whole company. He argues AGAINST the fundamental belief that return on shareholder value is the primary goal of a corporation. Refreshing: Bakke makes the case for values over profits - even if adherence to corporate values means missed opportunities or forgone profits. In the post Enron/Tyco/WorldCom era, there has been renewed emphasis on values. But Bakke provides lengthy examples of how to identify, proclaim, teach and maintain on-going conversations about a company's values. He does away with the concept of our work life being differentiated from the rest of our life - if most people's goal in life is to "make a positive contribution in the world," the workplace should provide an opportunity for such goals. Real: Unlike many academics that dream up such ideals in a vacuum, Bakke's lab for developing these revolutionary concepts is a global energy company with 40,000 employees, over $8 billion in revenues and operations in 31 countries (read, "cultures!"), where he served as co-founder and CEO. He is candid about how difficult and stressful it was to put these ideas into action, struggles with his board, and mistakes made along the way by himself and others he empowered. He provides actual excerpts from communications with employees, shareholders and clients. And in a helpful appendix, he differentiates between "a conventional approach" and "the joy at work approach" to dealing with compensation, auditing, employees, boards and other issues that leaders must address daily.

It is interesting how finding Joy at Work results in finding Joy in Life. A very inspiring book which make one realize that not matter what their station is within an organization, that one person can make a difference. Bakke's principles are my guiding light in finding "Joy at Work"

Back more years ago than I can count on all my fingers and toes I remember an organizational theory teacher saying that the Roman Catholic church was easily the most successful organization of all time. One of the mail reasons, he said, was that the Catholic Church essentially had three layers in its chain of command: priest, bishop, pope. At the time I was working for a computer company as an engineer and had eleven layers in the chain of command just to get out ot the plant I was in, and who knos how many more to get to the president. This one of those computer companies that completely missed the PC revolution and is now still alive but pretty sickly. What attracted me to this book was reading a page where Mr. Bakke said that the corporation he founded had a three layer chain of command. I then went on to read of his concept of management of a company. He believes in empowering the worker to a greater extent than anyone I've read before. In this book he presents a workplace vision that he apparently carried out in the formation of a quite large company. I am left with the feeling, however, that the company became a reflection of Mr. Bakke rather than the principles that he describes in the book. As I look at the AES web site now, I see words like "Focus on Performance" and little mention of Mr. Bakke, apparently he is not even a director. Certainly the structure of the company as he founded it would make it a joy to work there. I wonder if it still is. This book is very interesting to read. It's more attuned to the individual starting or running a company than to the person working eleven or fifteen layers down.

Dennis Bakke's stories of everyday workers successes demonstrates why seeking joy at work is a revolution in the making. He says we are called to serve, not to conquer, to have fun, not to tolerate our work. His central view is that "bosses" need to be passionate and engaged, but restrain their use of power, so others may have that chance and the joy of ...making that right... or even the wrong decision. In building a great worldwide power generating business, he models how bosses that humble themselves elevate the performance of everyone around them and create a fun place to work. I loved the tale he recounts of taking to three men. He asks the first what he is doing and the man responds, laying brick. The second says I am building a wall. The third man says I am building a Cathedral. How many of us are allowed at work to build that Cathedral?

Few books about fun in the workplace are based on a real-life account by a CEO, but this one is, and perhaps it's the only one. Bakke presents a very personal account of his 20 years spent building a highly successful multi-billion dollar company centered on the values of integrity, fairness, having fun, and being socially responsible. Bakke's view is that these values made his company financially successful, a result which he views as a second-ranked goal. While the book is truly the tale of a CEO's adventure, we at Stern's Management Review Online (www.hrconsultant) find it to be a unique portrayal of the creation of a values-driven enterprise. Don't let the title fool you...this work goes far beyond "joy." Cutting through Bakke's excellent storytelling and quantum-leaping to the back of the book, we found that the author thoughtfully offers the reader a to-the-point profile of 49 items (Appendix A, The Joy at Work Approach) arranged under the following headings: treatment of employees; purpose, mission, goal; annual reports; leaders and managers; compensation; education, training and information; auditing; and board of directors. Here's where you'll hit the meat 'n potatoes of "JOY." Whether or not you buy into all these points is your call, but at least they are there for your perusal. Face it, when it comes to management books, page-flipping to the back often pays off, big time.