Customer Reviews

Joy At Work: A Revolutionary Approach To Fun On The Job

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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 successful multi-billion dollar company centered on the values of integrity, fairness, having fun, and being socially responsible. Bakke's view is that these values made his company financially successful, a result which he views as a second-ranked goal.

While the book is truly the tale of a CEO's adventure, we at Stern's Management Review Online (www.hrconsultant) find it to be a unique portrayal of the creation of a values-driven enterprise. Don't let the title fool you...this work goes far beyond "joy." Cutting through Bakke's excellent storytelling and quantum-leaping to the back of the book, we found that the author thoughtfully offers the reader a to-the-point profile of 49 items (Appendix A, The Joy at Work Approach) arranged under the following headings: treatment of employees; purpose, mission, goal; annual reports; leaders and managers; compensation; education, training and information; auditing; and board of directors. Here's where you'll hit the meat 'n potatoes of "JOY." Whether or not you buy into all these points is your call, but at least they are there for your perusal. Face it, when it comes to management books, page-flipping to the back often pays off, big time.

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 the mail reasons, he said, was that the Catholic Church essentially had three layers in its chain of command: priest, bishop, pope.

At the time I was working for a computer company as an engineer and had eleven layers in the chain of command just to get out ot the plant I was in, and who knos how many more to get to the president. This one of those computer companies that completely missed the PC revolution and is now still alive but pretty sickly.

What attracted me to this book was reading a page where Mr. Bakke said that the corporation he founded had a three layer chain of command. I then went on to read of his concept of management of a company. He believes in empowering the worker to a greater extent than anyone I've read before.

In this book he presents a workplace vision that he apparently carried out in the formation of a quite large company. I am left with the feeling, however, that the company became a reflection of Mr. Bakke rather than the principles that he describes in the book. As I look at the AES web site now, I see words like "Focus on Performance" and little mention of Mr. Bakke, apparently he is not even a director. Certainly the structure of the company as he founded it would make it a joy to work there. I wonder if it still is.

This book is very interesting to read. It's more attuned to the individual starting or running a company than to the person working eleven or fifteen layers down.

I regard most new books aimed at business leaders as recycled drivel. But Bakke's work stands out, and it could indeed be the seedling for a revolution in business culture, particularly in light of recent spectacular corporate failures.

Revolutionary: Early in the book, Bakke backs up and offers a brief history of the Industrial Revolution and its impact on current corporate structures - hierarchy, hourly wages, corporate specialists (i.e. accounting, purchasing, contracting), policy manuals, centralized decision-making, etc. Then he explains how these forces have removed personal initiative, measured risk-taking and a sense of contribution from workers, thus removing "joy" from the workplace. He replaces it with genuine respect for all workers, allowance for mistakes, and giving everyone an opportunity to make key decisions that can impact the whole company. He argues AGAINST the fundamental belief that return on shareholder value is the primary goal of a corporation.

Refreshing: Bakke makes the case for values over profits - even if adherence to corporate values means missed opportunities or forgone profits. In the post Enron/Tyco/WorldCom era, there has been renewed emphasis on values. But Bakke provides lengthy examples of how to identify, proclaim, teach and maintain on-going conversations about a company's values. He does away with the concept of our work life being differentiated from the rest of our life - if most people's goal in life is to "make a positive contribution in the world," the workplace should provide an opportunity for such goals.

Real: Unlike many academics that dream up such ideals in a vacuum, Bakke's lab for developing these revolutionary concepts is a global energy company with 40,000 employees, over $8 billion in revenues and operations in 31 countries (read, "cultures!"), where he served as co-founder and CEO. He is candid about how difficult and stressful it was to put these ideas into action, struggles with his board, and mistakes made along the way by himself and others he empowered. He provides actual excerpts from communications with employees, shareholders and clients. And in a helpful appendix, he differentiates between "a conventional approach" and "the joy at work approach" to dealing with compensation, auditing, employees, boards and other issues that leaders must address daily.

Dennis has written a book that contains some radical and very compelling ideology about how to run the workplace to make the work itself more meaningful and fun for employees. His basic premise is that in order for work to be "fun" the employee must have the ability to be engaged in making important decisions. Therefore, he sought to knock down the usual hierarchy and structure that exists, cut out many middle management roles, and engage his people at all levels in being part of the "fun".

On this I would completely agree. There is no question that engagement, meaningful work, job satisfaction and performance are correlated. I found his approach so radical that even though I consider myself very progressive in how business and organizational dynamics exist, and how they may be improved to engage people, I was left feeling a bit rigid in my thinking in comparison. Whenever a book poses ideas so radical they make me re-examine my own biases and operating principles, that is a very good thing.

However, it should also be noted that to be quite honest about it, it didn't work. The company did not exceed all expectations indefinitely, and Dennis himself was asked out. I think a closer look will show some inherent flaws in the execution of his philosophy.

First, Dennis assumes that all employees desire the accountability and responsibility for the bigger picture. His depicts an approach that is male-centric and focuses on a western culture of "winning a game" that may not fit for many employees; therefore requiring them to do that role may be counter productive.

Second, a culture that expects all employees to make difficult and strategic leadership decisions requires a huge effort on costly employee development and training. The skills required to make strategic long range decisions, balancing capital, people, and execution are not widely held. Expecting someone to want to step up and make the decision themselves is not enough, they must have the skills to do it effectively and this requires an organization to develop them in its employee base. There was little discussion of how his company did this. Contrast this with GE's focus on leadership development for example.

Third, there is a reason that most compensation systems reward leadership positions more highly. The resulting accountability, stress and responsibility warrant the additional compensation. In the model Bakke describes, he seems to want to maintain his leadership compensation, while at the same time expecting his employees to take on the hard work that goes along with it. This is also has the potential to cause distractions if not managed carefully.

Overall, I loved the book and embrace the core essence of what he is trying to say. If taken in context of the potential issues in execution, I would say that it is a very sound way to operate a business and will likely pay off in higher employee engagement and performance.

Dennis Bakke, the Washington, D.C.-area businessman who helped lead electric-power company AES from its founding in 1982 until he retired under pressure in 2002, believes that joy and work are not incompatible. He and a colleague built AES to an $8.6 billion revenue giant with the insistence that work can be fun - as long as employees are empowered to think for themselves. Bakke believes that the hierarchical "top-down" structure of American business is dehumanizing and that the distinction between management and labor is an artificial relic of the 18th century. Workers who are allowed to make decisions that affect their work lives can achieve "joy," Bakke believes; companies organized on that principle can prosper; and, most important to Bakke, that is the only right and moral way to run a business.

But after AES reached the top, it rode all the way down to the bottom. In the wake of the Enron debacle of 2001, Wall Street devalued all non-traditional energy companies, including those like AES where there were no issues of fraud or corruption. Investors and employees lost millions, and directors concluded that Bakke didn't have a viable plan to bring the company back. He left in 2002 and now heads a company that runs charter schools.

This book, which Bakke published himself, is partly an exposition of Bakke's business principles, which he sums up well as "Every person a business person." It's partly an explanation of what went wrong at AES, and why the company's unusual approach to management had nothing to do with its troubles. "At age 10 I learned that when the river flooded at a 100-year level, it didn't matter how well our house was constructed," Bakke writes: essentially, the company's fall was unavoidable. Bakke faults himself repeatedly for management errors but says his philosophy of "fun" remains valid. And the book is partly an account of how Bakke's deep Christian beliefs were the underpinning of his career. He served God best, he says, by working in the business world and serving others.

Especially when Bakke discusses AES and the values upon which it was founded, the book can become repetitious. Six chapters could probably be condensed into three or four. But the book has considerable value. Many people who have worked in an organization where their decision-making power is limited and they feel like a small cog in a large machine will understand what Bakke is getting at. Law firms can function as the kind of "flat" organizations that Bakke likes, or they can be regimented and hierarchical. Despite Bakke's repetitiveness and his occasional tendency to preach, Joy at Work contains enough genuine insights into the working world to make it worth reading.

Dennis Bakke's stories of everyday workers successes demonstrates why seeking joy at work is a revolution in the making. He says we are called to serve, not to conquer, to have fun, not to tolerate our work.

His central view is that "bosses" need to be passionate and engaged, but restrain their use of power, so others may have that chance and the joy of ...making that right... or even the wrong decision. In building a great worldwide power generating business, he models how bosses that humble themselves elevate the performance of everyone around them and create a fun place to work.

I loved the tale he recounts of taking to three men. He asks the first what he is doing and the man responds, laying brick. The second says I am building a wall. The third man says I am building a Cathedral. How many of us are allowed at work to build that Cathedral?

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. Bakke's principles are my guiding light in finding "Joy at Work"

I was drawn to "Joy at Work" because for the last twenty years or more I've been looking for the meaning of work and the title and the author spoke to me. In the eighties Peter Senge's elucidation of "the learning organization" became my ideal and then in the nineties I discovered Peter Block's "Flawless Consulting," and went on to read all his books including "The Empowered Manager" and "Stewardship." I even went as far as attending a training course given by Block, where I asked him a question that had been on my mind for years -- I asked him where there was an organization that worked this way. Of course this is a question that any idealist hates to be asked, but I did get an answer. Peter Block, after pausing for a while, wearily listed some examples, including AES. So, for me, the question raised by this book is whether it shows that such organizations exist and whether there are more created from the same mould.

Bakke does a good job of describing his vision of a free work place where the shared values are integrity, fairness, social responsibility, and fun. He is clearly a remarkable person with unique gifts and incredible drive. Not many people could take this vision and realize it despite all obstacles. He did this in the face of investors who responded to his proposal for funding with, "They can have all the fun they want, but not with my money," of workers who responded to his request that they take on more responsibility with "people here don't want what you are talking about. Most people don't want to make decisions," of board members who told him that the values "didn't work," and that he should adjust and "tone down his rhetoric," and of magazine reporters that wrote that AES was "out of control." None of this stopped Bakke in the execution of his grand experiment that was started in 1982 when he founded AES with Roger Sant and which ended -- at least at AES -- in 2002, when he retired in the wake of poor economic results.

At it's peak, AES had more than 40,000 employees, $33.7 billion in assets and served the energy needs of more than 100 million people. Not bad for a company that has at its core the shared value that work should be fun and that puts its stakeholder interests above shareholder interests. The book makes a strong case for building an organization on the principle of stewardship over pure profit.

Bakke worked hard to arrive at the shared values of AES and to promote these tirelessly in communications with all its stakeholders. This dedication to values is rare, but Bakke argues that values statements are worthless unless they are:
* Shared by the majority,
* Lived with some consistency by leaders,
* Considered at least equal to economic criteria in all major decisions in the organization,
* Taught at every opportunity, and
* Constantly communicated to stakeholders outside the organization
He supports this argument with twenty years of case history, and with stories showing how AES values enriched its workers lives and inspired them to great achievements. Bakke asserts that decisions made at AES by decentralized groups were at least as good as those made in organizations with many-layered hierarchies and centralized decision making. This assertion is backed up by AES's success.

Is this success repeatable? Bakke claims that it is -- and, further, that the way companies are generally run is an anachronism whose roots lie in the industrial revolution. He presents good evidence for this view, but the cynical will not find it credible that the majority of bosses of today's organizations will ever give up their control and power, allowing fellow workers in remote locations to make their own decisions as AES workers have done. However, for those who do believe and want to follow his example, Bakke shows the way. His prescription is simple. To motivate a team of people and create a small organization, such as a retail business, based on these same principles, you should:
* Share dreams and fears with the people who make up the team
* Work alongside and get to know the people
* Teach and constantly reaffirm the principles that serve as the foundation of the business
* Assume that the people are thoughtful, creative, and capable
* Create a single team with only one official leader
* Define and each year restate the purpose of the organization as a team
* Shift all hourly workers to a salary, and have everyone work on important issues such as setting compensation and benefits
* Create a bonus pool that is shared equally
* Assign 80% of time to carrying out primary responsibilities, with the other time dedicated to learning other responsibilities
* Hold one business review meeting each year to set the year's budget, another for annual reviews
* Assign business decisions to relevant people and ensure that everyone takes a share in presenting the financial report at the business review meeting
Simple, but not easy to carry out. However, in my view these steps and principles could be used by any organization with similarly dramatic results. The experiment is repeatable, and as Bakke suggests, it may not even require a charismatic leader to carry it off. Leaders with the dedication and drive to succeed are surprisingly common and there are role models like Harley-Davidson and AES for other organizations to follow.

Exciting as this book is, it is not without its flaws. It could have been considerably shorter and several chapters could have been omitted altogether, particularly the one that describes Bakke's religious beliefs. Although interesting, this is written for a narrower audience, and should be published as a separate book. The defense of Bakke's record as CEO through the period of AES's precipitous decline in stock price is also not essential. The protracted defense against just criticism detracts from the main point of the book, which is that work can and should be fun and socially responsible as well as being economically viable.

However, this is a wonderful book and I offer Bakke my profound thanks for what he has achieved at AES and for capturing this achievement in writing. He has provided a great service to all of us, because he has proved that an organization can be created that gives meaningful employment to its people, and that such an organization can be sustained for a substantial number of people, for a substantial period of time. I intend to use at least some of these ideas and I hope that many will follow his example in bringing human values and principles to the workplace and truly creating joy at work.

Graham Lawes

This is the first business book I have read in a long time that gives me practical steps I can do to change my work life for the better! Bakke details concepts that could revolutionize the working world. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone!!!

In my writing about CEO best practices, I've had the opportunity to interview Dennis Bakke and write about AES a number of times over the years. Although I always checked the words with him before publishing, I never felt like I got the story right.

Naturally, I was intrigued when I saw that he had written Joy at Work and wanted to find out what he would say about his approach at AES in a more extended manner. I also wondered what he would have to say about his departure from the firm.

If you want to learn more about AES and Dennis Bakke's perspective on the company, you will find this to be a five-star book. If you want a management guide for creating joy at work, that book remains to be written. In the meantime, I recommend that anyone who believes in human dignity and potential should read this book and consider how its lessons can be employed in other organizations.

Mr. Bakke defines joy using a sports analogy. It's like having the chance to make the winning shot at the buzzer in a basketball game. You're in charge, regardless of what your job is in the organization.

If you speak with any management person, they will probably tell you that they hope to work as a CEO someday. Why? I think the motivation mostly relates to wanting to be able to call the shots about something and see how it all turns out. In that sense, the impulse isn't much different from that of a budding chemist conducting an experiment in a high school lab.

In our authoritarian organizations (which includes almost all of them), very few people have the say on any given decision. It's like being a child all of your life . . . while Dad and Mom decide for you.

Bakke argues for the opposite. Put everyone in charge and have the "higher ups" function as support for those on the line. Get rid of staff wherever possible. Abolish the distinction between "management" and "labor" and treat everyone the same. People have argued this point for years, and many companies have small scale experiments where they work on such principles. Bakke and AES are different. The company was built from the ground up with these concepts in mind.

A major challenge came in that AES acquired most of its businesses, which meant that 80% of its employees learned about the AES way after working in the same electrical generating facility or coal mine in the usual authoritarian way. People soon adjusted to the change. Some liked it so much that they gave up financially attractive retirement offers to keep working in the new AES method. The book's epilogue contains many examples that will interest you.

Why did Dennis Bakke take this approach? It was based on the moral decision, grounded in Scripture, that this is the right thing to do. He specifically argues against taking this approach because you think you will make more money. Maybe you will, or maybe you won't . . . but it has to be values and principle based to work properly. That's his point which he explains in more detail in the book's postscript.

I remember when I founded my first company. I wanted to make it a model of how to treat people well. I tried all kinds of things, and most of them didn't work very well. I suspect that if Joy at Work had been around as a model, I would have done better. I'm glad that young entrepreneurs will be able to read this book and make the choice of whether to lead with their values or not.

If you are caught up in the idea that companies only exist for shareholders' gain, this book is a valuable antidote that you need to sweeten your soul.

May God bless you with a values-led organization!