Joy at Work - BookWyrm

Paperback, 314 pages

English language

Published July 30, 2006 by PVG.

ISBN:: 978-0-9762686-4-2
OCLC Number:: 57707154

View on OpenLibrary

(2 reviews)

1 edition

paven reviewed Joy at Work by Dennis W. Bakke

Review of 'Joy at Work' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This is a clear inspirational book. What should we give to our workplace, can we accept less than expected less than have a greater purpose for our work. I think the core tenant of having joy at work is something many companies are missing and Bakke clarifies that it is possible and necessary.

If you are an atheist like me you can skip the last chapter, and get a book with few references to faith, I do find it surprising that so many of these great ideas come from people's faith. And after reading the rest of the book I found it valuable to hear how he connected faith to his work.

Izzmo reviewed Joy at Work by Dennis W. Bakke

Review of 'Joy at Work' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Dennis Bakke gives a great take on how to transform your old industrial-age business to a modern, decentralized, employee-driven one where people actually fun (yes, FUN!) at work. His account of how he created and transformed his business in the energy industry with his company AES is very informative. If you work in the software industry then you will probably draw a lot of parallels to how your business and teams are ran and how he was trying to do this back in the 1980s.

Ultimately, what you should take from this book as a business leader is that you want to stop the "manager-employee" relationship and instead step back and let your employees make all of the tough decisions. It's not easy! You have to give up power, you have to be more transparent and actually give the employees the tools they need to make those decisions. It's a …

Dennis Bakke gives a great take on how to transform your old industrial-age business to a modern, decentralized, employee-driven one where people actually fun (yes, FUN!) at work. His account of how he created and transformed his business in the energy industry with his company AES is very informative. If you work in the software industry then you will probably draw a lot of parallels to how your business and teams are ran and how he was trying to do this back in the 1980s.

Ultimately, what you should take from this book as a business leader is that you want to stop the "manager-employee" relationship and instead step back and let your employees make all of the tough decisions. It's not easy! You have to give up power, you have to be more transparent and actually give the employees the tools they need to make those decisions. It's a crazy thought for some, but if you do this, more often than not, you'll create your business' next generation of leaders as well as making people love your company and the work they do.

P.S.
Some reviewers have noted that Bakke is a religious man. This is true and he does make some mentions of it, but it's not suffocating. You can respect that a lot of his decisions in life and this book were driven from the morals he gained from his religion and then you can move past it.

Subjects

Motivational
Leadership In Business
Executive Management
Business & Economics
Business / Economics / Finance
Business/Economics
Management - General
Human Resources & Personnel Management
Leadership