TOP DRAWER BOOK REVIEW
by
HL Carpenter

 

Joy at Work
by Dennis W. Bakke
ISBN 0-9762686-0-4
314 pages; hardcover; $24.95
PVG, Seattle, WA, 2005

Have you ever heard of public accounting firms, investors or the SEC asking whether a company is fun to work for? Insert your two-letter answer here: ___.

What’s more, you probably never will spot a joy-quotient in financial statements. Not even in the footnotes. Measuring ‘the soft stuff’ in dollars has long been thought impossible. But author Dennis Bakke, CEO of Imagine Schools, believes happy employees can bring hard results to the bottom line.

He also believes monetary rewards are the wrong reason to strive for a joyous workplace. Instead, companies should seek joy simply because it’s the right thing to do.

Are you getting the idea he’s not your typical manager?

Joy at Work is Mr. Bakke’s memoir of his years founding and running AES Corporation, a publicly traded power company. From the formation of the company in 1982 until his sort-of voluntary departure in 2002, Mr. Bakke tried to advance his radical management concept: Employees who are empowered enjoy their work.

When AES was making money – and its stock price was acceptably high – his happy board of directors was behind him. When financial performance went south, he was out the door. Leading the revolution to uproot entrenched management techniques appears to be an unjoyous calling.

Nonetheless, Mr. Bakke professes to having had a good time, though it seems AES reverted to more traditional methods after his departure.

Joy at Work includes a bit of psychology, a lot of religiosity and a center section of family photographs. You might manage to locate a few management tips.

Will you be able to apply them to your company? Maybe, if you’re in charge.

Or maybe not. Judging by Mr. Bakke’s experience, sitting in the corner office doesn’t guarantee success in promoting Joy at Work.

 

Review originally published August 2005.