Customer Reviews

Fun Is Good: How To Create Joy & Passion in Your Workplace & Career

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Baseball and writing about baseball are my passions and being passionate about something is the heart and soul of the new book by Mike Veeck (and Pete Williams), "Fun Is Good: How to Inject Joy & Passion Into Your Workplace & Career" published by Rodale Press and to be released early next month. The book is part business philosophy, part autobiography, part confessional, part homage to his late father Bill Veeck, part salute to his 12-year old daughter who is fighting blindness as the result of retinitis pigmentosa, part a baseball love story and all fun. Because fun is what Mike, like all the Veecks, is all about.

Mike writes, "Somehow in our haste to seize the American dream, we've sucked the fun, passion, and creativity out of the workplace." How many of you feel that way? I guess that's why so many people say that work sucks. But as Mike points out, "Fun isn't just good; it's a necessity." "If you're not having fun, it's nearly impossible to project the upbeat, positive attitude necessary to service clients effectively."

We know that's the trouble with baseball, don't we? Somehow it has becoming way to much about greed. We could handle it if were about drugs, sex, and rock and roll, at least that's fun. Mike writes that when his father Bill Veeck died in 1986, "we had him cremated so he wouldn't constantly be rolling in his grave."

In the workplace it's about passion, the right attitude and being happy at what you do. Mike encourages change and risk taking because if you're unhappy you can't afford to stay where you are. In addition, your role whether you are an Indian or a chief is to help create a workplace atmosphere that is fun, positive and risk taking. He writes, "How effectively you interact with coworkers sets the tone for the organization," because if you take a genuine interest in the people around you, you never know where it might lead.

I was particularly struck with this philosophical statement, "If you approach things with optimism and with the mentality that any obstacle can be overcome with good humor, preparation, brainpower, and a little bit of luck, nothing is outside the realm of possibility." It is that statement that clearly drives Mike's wonderful daughter. The book is filled with interviews and vignettes from business leaders in which they express, in their own words, how the importance of a "Fun is Good" philosophy has driven the success of their company. None is more powerful or moving than the section written by Rebecca Veeck who truly sums up much more than the philosophy of the book when she writes, "Fun is Good because that's the way life is supposed to be. It's the main feeling that we're supposed to have. I mean, if you're not having fun, what's the point?"

I will be giving this book to my daughter Elizabeth on her birthday on April 11 (the same date as Veeck's eldest, Night Train Veeck) because as she prepares to graduate college and face the real world she needs to know that if you treat every day like Opening Day than life will be fun, and fun is good.

When I was 10 years, I wrote Bill Veeck--the innovative baseball
promoter--a letter . . . he responded, and that began a period
of occasional letters that ended when he died several years
later . . . his creativity inspired me then--and still does to this day.

I still chuckle at some of the things that Veeck did to enliven
the game . . . he introduced exploding scoreboards, popularized
postgame fireworks and provided nurseries at the ballpark for
children . . . in addition, he staged special nights for every
group imaginable and was the first to popularize ballpark
giveways.

His son, Mike Veeck, has carried on his legacy with a series
of equally unique promotions that he writes about with co-author
Pete Williams in FUN IS GOOD . . . but you don't have to be a baseball fan to love this
book, in that the ideas contained can be applied to any
profession . . . or as the subtitle points out, you'll learn
HOW TO CREATE JOY & PASSION IN YOUR
WORKPLACE & CAREER.

Many times, authors promise outrageous things in their
titles and/or subtitles . . . this is not the case here;
Veeck and Williams actually show you how this can be
done in a step-by-step approach that's both easy to
follow and apply.

I kept jotting notes down as I read FUN IS GOOD, which is
always a good sign . . . it means that I plan to go back to use
much of it . . . the only negative to this practice is that it makes
it difficult to choose just a few ideas to share in this brief
review, in that there were so many . . . yet that said, these
tidbits did stand out:

* If you're someone still trying to find your way, let your passions
serve as your guide. Look for environments where people are having
fun. When I hire people, I seek out passionate folks with an array
of interests, no matter how eclectic. If I need an accountant, for
instance, I don't look for just someone with the proper credentials.
I go in search of an experienced accountant with other interests,
someone I know might not only be fun to be around by perhaps
have non accounting skills that might be valuable. Perhaps this
person is a fly-fisherman or guitar player. That kind of focus
and creativity manifests itself in the workplace

* Jim Lucas, who was the assistant general manager of our Charleston
RiverDogs team a few years ago, issued pins to 10 or 15 fans before
each game, with instructions to give them to employees who
provided great customer service. The 3 employees who collected
the most pins at the end of the season received cash prizes.
These pins cost us only about 60 cents apiece, but you would have
thought they were precious gemstones. Employees proudly
displayed them on hats and worked tirelessly to obtain them.
Since nobody knew who had the pins, everyone was treated
extraordinarily well by employees with upbeat attitude.

* You don't need a ballpark to try things like Mime-O-Vision. [Veeck
hired a bunch of mimes to reenact plays before instant replays
became popular.] Years ago, people would win shopping sprees
where they had 90 seconds to grab whatever they could. Pizzerias
would award a year's worth of pizza to the winner of a pie-eating
contest. My dad used to say that it's barely noteworthy to give
one bottle of beer to each of a thousand fans, but it's a big deal to give
a thousand bottles of beer to one lucky winner.

Looking for an idea holiday gift this upcoming season? You
certainly won't go wrong giving FUN IS GOOD to somebody
you care about . . . or want to inspire.

This book was penned by the man who was lambasted for his Disco demolition stunt in Cominsky Park. In the middle of a doubleheader, the promoters put a box of disco records in the middle of the field with a bomb. When it exploded, fans ran onto the field and commenced creating their own disco record explosions. This eventually caused the cancellation of the second game is considered a travesty in baseball lore.

However, it has become part of baseball lore. From a marketing standpoint, it was brilliant. How many marketing stunts have 25th anniversary DVDs?

This is a book about embracing failure, laughing, trying something new, and of course having fun. The book largely follows Mike Veeck and his father's philosophies and antics with baseball (and a few other businesses they tried). It's a fun book that those who are a little disgruntled or inspired with their workplace should read. Surely, you will find something that will make you laugh and improve your own workplace.

Mike Veeck and Pete Williams will keep you laughing throughout the entire book. Great example why you shouldn't take yourself to seriously and have fun with life.

What a great formula for business success! I love the philosophy behind this wonderful way to run a company and a career. Laughter is definitely more than the "Best Medicine" as this book shows....it can lead to higher profits and a real jump up the ladder of success!

the advice is fine if you are running a baseball team or some entertainment oriented company, possibly even a web-based retail company. However, if you have a real business with tough competition and a product to make, it is isnt practical.

advice for the boss includes putting the coffee maker in your office so people come talk to you.
That is great advice if you have absolutely no responsibility to produce deliverables.

anyway, the book is cute and many workplaces could benefit from a less serious attitude, but this one was almost as useful as Magic Johnson's book on how to run a business (with fame and almost unlimited capital, how hard can it be?)