The Why of Work: How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

If any of you are looking for applicable advice in these troubled times from the preeminent business consultant and his equally brilliant wife who teaches inter-workings of psychology in human behavior, this is the book for you. The book answers many of the essential questions that people (and businesses) have been asking from the beginning of commerce. The Why of Work introduces the seven principles viewed through the prisms of the physical & spiritual world, which deviates from other similar book I've ever read. Understanding these varied dimensions teaches the reader to comprehend competitive advantage within any organization and adding enhanced value in varied realms: life, market, and society. The Ulrich's recommendations are based on experience and research compiled through many years at the highest level of business organizations. Dave & Wendy's personal knowledge within organization and psychology disciplines provides a template to create meaning in many areas. No doubt that this information will translate into results for the small business owner or the Fortune 50 CEO and will make all readers much better leaders. This book has set a new standard for understanding business from varied and interesting angles. I'd recommend it to anyone looking to grow business or understand overall life perspectives.

Dave and Wendy Ulrich collaborated to create a real gem on how leaders can influence whether workers perceive their work as meaningful and why that is so important. Essentially their recommendations, based on extensive research and experience in organizations and psychology, provide a guide to create meaning that results in tangible value to employees, customers, investors, and communities. Sound too good to be true? It's not -- leaders can help employees build professional friendships which brings meaning to relationships; leaders can facilitate building personal strengths and expand organizational capabilities, both essential to increasing performance and results. There is no fluff in The Why of Work -- read it and become a meaning maker. Sheryl Dawson COO, Total Career Success, Inc. Co-Author, Job Search: The Total System (3rd Ed)

Dave & Wendy Ulrich have produced not just a guide for becoming a better leader and organization but they have created a way for all of us to ask 7 core questions of ourselves on our journey to a more abundant life. The key highlight for me early in the book is when it is written that "When we find meaning in our work, we find meaning in Life". It was then that I realized that this was not just another book that will help me find better balance in my work but in my life. We do spend more time at work than anywhere else and to think that the two can be managed separately is crazy! This book brings the two together in a meaningful and thoughtful way. Wrapped around 7 key questions makes the book an easy read and perfect road map to happier work and a more meaniful relationships in and out of work. My favorite question is "What Delights Me?". What a wonderful way to identify what we really value and what makes us happy. I recommend it for reading by business leaders, future business leaders and anyone looking for a more meaningful and abundant life! Well done Dave & Wendy and thank you. Chester Elton

This is an inspiring book for leaders who strive to keep their employees engaged in their work. In a time of economic challenges this book encourages leaders to infuse real meaning into their organizations. The book is filled with stories that inspire and practical, effective steps to ensure meaningful work in your organization.

Dave and Wendy Ulrich organize the material in this book within a framework of seven questions. As you review the list, begin to formulate your answers. 1. What am I known for? 2. Where am I going? 3. Whom do I travel with? 4. How do I build a positive work environment? 5. What challenges interest me? 6. How do I respond to disposability and change? 7. What delights me? They devote a separate chapter to each of these seven questions, focusing on real-world situations in which various people address the given issues each query raises. Perhaps your initial responses to the questions have begun to suggest what you would like to change. Perhaps they have evoked others. For example, which of the seven are the easiest for you to answer? Which are the most difficult? Is the answer to any one of them of greater importance to you than any others? In the Preface, the Ulrichs explain what they hope their book will accomplish. They seem wholeheartedly committed to helping their reader to add substantial value in all areas of her or his own life (notably family, career, and community), and also to help their reader help others to do so. There are frequent references to meaning or the absence thereof. The Ulrichs share their thoughts and feelings about both the "why" and the "how" of meaning at work. "The why refers to the human search for meaning that finds its way into our offices and factories, a search that motivates, inspires, and defines us. The how gets us into the practicalities of how leaders facilitate that search personally and among their employees." Purpose gives both meaning and value to such initiatives. The Ulrichs characterize human beings as "meaning-making machines" who seek and often find inherent value in making sense of life. Such meaning also has market value because "meaningful work solves real problems, contributes real benefits, and thus adds real value to customers and investors." In this context, the Ulrichs introduce their concept of the "abundant organization" and identify its dominant characteristics: "a work setting in which individuals coordinate their aspirations and actions to create meaning for themselves, value for stakeholders, and hope for humanity at large"; an organization that "has enough and to spare of the things that matter most": creativity, hope, resilience, determination, resourcefulness, and leadership; a profitable enterprise that concentrates on opportunities, potentialities, synergies, and fulfillment of a diversity of human needs and experiences; and especially when times are tough, a social as well as economic forces that can "bring order, integrity, and purpose out of chaos and disintegration." An abundant organization gives meaning to everyone involved by offering a spiritual as well as physical environment within which to thrive as human beings; their contributions, in turn, create a decisive competitive advantage for the organization while increasing and enhancing its market as well as its social