Customer Reviews

Smiling for Profit: Good-bye, employment. Hello, entrepreneurship on the job

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I just have read a small but amazing book Smiling for Profit. I would call this book "How to Gain Twice from Your Enterprise" because it is a very practical "how to" book. It is also written by an easy-going intelligent person who gives you insights on economics and politics, history and evolution. First and foremost, the author makes a brilliant contribution to the workplace psychology and economics of enterprise. Communists had ignored human nature and fell on their face. Do you think that capitalists have ever used its full beneficial potential? Think again. Then read Mr. Perel's book and implement some ridiculously simple rules of the game. Within months, you will transform your lazy employees into the friendly, eager and thoughtful partners!

An interesting idea - make your employees your partners in running your business. And no, it is not the old profit sharing. But is this idea feasible? Why has it not been put in place somewhere already? Is it the fear of having your books available to just everybody the major obstacle? The author thinks that it is doable and makes an intelligent and cogent argument along the pattern of "... for dummies". The presentation is funny and quite far reaching with an excellent elucidation of the ills of the socialist/communist system. The author also thinks that if the idea was widely implemented it would have the potential to cure the current ills of the capitalist economy. Well, in the light of the recent economic meltdown perhaps it could be worthwhile to give it a try. Perhaps the implementation at GM, Ford etc. would be cheaper and had better prospects than the planned bailout.

To set the scene for the book, the author reminds the reader that employment, namely working for a wage, has been with us for less than 300 years. Like former modes of labour utilization, the employment mode passed various stages: boon to workers and employers, with a concomitant rise in wealth, improved health, a flourishing culture; a stable rise in productivity; and finally a depressing working place with steadily falling human productivity and declining moral and cultural values. The author concludes that it is high time for employers to proceed to the next mode of labour utilization, namely the entrepreneurial mode, in which a worker would invest his labour for personal profit rather than sell his labour to the employer for a wage.



In the university environment in which I work, earnings are a small part of the motivation to do work, in fact, to do it well. The work itself motivates us to achieve success. Apparently, at production and service workplaces, earnings are a major motivator. If earnings will consist of wages that the worker invests with a view to making a profit, several positive outcomes would occur. The gnawing feeling of being exploited would vanish, which should end the adversarial worker/employer relationship. Workers would join their employer as a team for a common goal - profit maximization.



These ideas make a lot of sense to me. Read the book and see for yourself. It is an easy read, given the novelty of the topic. I enjoyed reading it. It made me think of a whole range if issues around the employer/employee relations.

This book, as the title says, is about making "Profits," with a capital P. The author describes a new concept in an almost utopian world, where workers will take part in an elaborate plan, that will transform them into entrepreneurs in their own workplace. Everyone will be smiling while making profits from innovation and increased efficiency. This is an interesting, easy reading book, leading the reader step by step towards implementing the author's innovative theory. It promises a better and happier world for all involved, workers as well as shareowners, and society as a whole. The author describes, with a good sense of humor, how he tried to find a single company that will implement his ideas, and why it did not work. The reader will certainly ask after reading this interesting book, "if it is so good and simple, why no one wants to join, or at least give it a try"? A partial answer is that "Smiling for Profits" applies mostly to manufacturing, but not to other parts of the modern economy, like services, high tech, financials, or health industry. Maybe the capitalist society is not ready yet for such changes. And in our fast changing world, the uncertainties of globalisation, and the loss of millions jobs to third world countries, the chances of "Smiling for Profits" to succeed look even less rosy.
In this book, every chapter's title is phrased as a question, and then the author answers it by presenting his views about a broad range of topics, that are all related to the title of the book. The use of math in the book is minimal, thus making it easier to read for the broader public, and the illustrations are quite funny.