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Book - Product Information
Joy At Work: A Revolutionary Approach To Fun On The Job
Dennis W. Bakke
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Rank: 50
Imagine a company where people love coming to work and are highly
productive on a daily basis. Imagine a company whose top executives, in a
quest to create the most "fun" workplace ever, obliterate labor-management
divisions and push decision-making responsibility down to the plant floor.
Could such a company compete in today’s bottom-line corporate world?
Could it even turn a profit? Well, imagine no more.
In Joy at Work,
Dennis W. Bakke tells the true story of this extraordinary
company—and how, as its co-founder and longtime CEO, he challenged
the business establishment with revolutionary ideas that could remake
America’s organizations.
It is the story of AES, whose business model
and operating ethos –"let’s have fun"–were conceived during
a 90-minute car ride from Annapolis, Maryland, to Washington, D.C.
In the
next two decades, it became a worldwide energy giant with 40,000 employees
in 31 countries and revenues of $8.6 billion.
It’s a remarkable
tale told by a remarkable man: Bakke, a farm boy who was shaped by his
religious faith, his years at Harvard Business School, and his experience
working for the Federal Energy Administration.
He rejects workplace
drudgery as a noxious remnant of the Industrial Revolution. He believes
work should be fun, and at AES he set out to prove it could be. Bakke
sought not the empty "fun" of the Friday beer blast but the joy of a
workplace where every person, from custodian to CEO, has the power to use
his or her God-given talents free of needless corporate bureaucracy.
In
Joy at Work, Bakke tells how he helped create a company where every
decision made at the top was lamented as a lost chance to delegate
responsibility—and where all employees were encouraged to take the
"game-winning shot," even when it wasn’t a slam-dunk. Perhaps
Bakke’s most radical stand was his struggle to break the stranglehold
of "creating shareholder value" on the corporate mind-set and replace it
with more timeless values: integrity, fairness, social responsibility,
and, above all, fun. And Bakke doesn’t shrink from describing the
assault on his leadership when AES was sucked into the Enron downdraft and
faced a plunging stock price.
At this moment of crisis, influential
colleagues and directors distanced themselves from the values that had
made AES one of the most celebrated companies in the world.
Joy at
Work offers a model for the 21st-century company that treats its people
with respect, gives them unprecedented responsibility, and holds them
strictly accountable—because it’s the right thing to do, not
just because it makes good business sense.
More than any book you’ve
ever read, Dennis Bakke’s Joy at Work will force you to question
everything you thought you knew about corporate success.
About the AuthorDENNIS W. BAKKE was raised in Saxon, Washington, and graduated from the
University of Puget Sound, Harvard Business School, and the National War
College.
He co-founded The AES Corporation in 1981 and served as its
president and CEO from 1994 to 2002. He is now president and CEO of
Imagine Schools, a company that operates elementary and secondary (K-12)
charter schools in 10 states.
He and his wife, Eileen, live in Arlington,
Virginia.
Editorials
Sample 3 of 6
Joy At Work: A Revolutionary Approach To Fun On The Job
Dennis W. Bakke
![]() | | | President Bill Clinton | | "A timely and inspiring book that challenges us to rethink the purpose of
business in society." |
![]() | | | Jack Kemp, former HUD secretary and vice presidential | | "A must-read book for anyone who wants to make work fun." |
![]() | | | Mike Holmgren, coach of the Seattle Seahawks | | "Dennis Bakke’s book is a ‘coaching manual’ on how to make
fun and success synonymous in the workplace." |
Customer Reviews
Sample 3 of 7
Joy At Work: A Revolutionary Approach To Fun On The Job
Dennis W. Bakke
![]() | | | A CEO's insights into the link between J O Y and R O I | | (Culver City, CA United States) February 23, 2005 - 5.0/5 stars | | 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... read full review |
![]() | | | Should be called "Joy at Life" | | (Culver City, CA United States) March 21, 2005 - 5.0/5 stars | | 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... read full review |
![]() | | | I'd Like to Work for/with Him | | (Winnemucca, NV) March 21, 2005 - 5.0/5 stars | | 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... read full review |
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