Customer Reviews

Thank God It's Monday!: How to Create a Workplace You and Your Customers Love

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book shares the same theme as Instant Turnaround!: Getting People Excited About Coming to Work and Working Hard by Harry Paul and Ross Reck (to get the most out of employees, treat them with respect, and motivate them with trust instead of fear). Unfortunately, it shares the weakness, namely oversimplifying the real world, ignoring all other tasks of management other than cheerleading. Beyond that, it attempts to add poor philosophy, making statements such as "gut feelings are never wrong" and that to get enthusiasm, all one needs to do is "just decide to come alive". Further, she states that "there are two kinds of people in life and in business-givers and takers." This is categorically false in a (even somewhat) capitalistic society- there people are traders who trade value for value.

The book also focuses more on addressing symptoms than finding and solving root causes. For example, the book talks about the need to eliminate gossip (without giving detail how to do it other than not to tolerate it), but fails to mention the fact the root of most gossip is an office with inadequate communications.

If you are looking for a book to improve the culture, and hence the output, of a business, I highly recommend Open-Book Management: Coming Business Revolution, The by John Case.

I was looking forward to reading this book: the idea of creating a pleasant and productive work environment is certainly something that the majority of workers could benefit from. Unfortunately, this book adds little to the debate other than insisting chapter after chapter that treating co-workers and customers with dignity, respect and friendliness makes for a better business. This core idea, repeated endlessly through motivational-poster style one-liners told in the style of fictional third-person prose, is great but the book never delves into the practicalities of making this work in a real business environment.

The fictional prose element is really irritating. It makes it hard to find the concrete points that anchor the author's philosophy, and it's simply irrelevant to know that Sophie from Austin - whose father isn't paying child support and hasn't for years - enjoyed the airport because a band was playing and the TSA inspectors were in a good mood, while the wafting smell of authentic Texas barbecue put her in a near-Catatonic state. First, I lived in Texas, and I can tell you that Austin airport is the last place I'd go for anything authentic. But more importantly, this two-dimensional fiction overlaying a business book is completely unhelpful.

The other weakness is that in simplifying the problems of running a business to lack of cheer leading results in conclusions that are just plain wrong or redundant. "Gut feelings are never wrong" according to this author (just look at my gut feeling that this book would be good), and gossiping in offices is unproductive (which is true, but the more important question is how to eliminate it). The series of tall tales 'prove' these points but provide no instructional information on how to migrate your organization towards what she is advocating.

Basically, although I'm sure the author speaks at many of the Fortune 500 companies, the reader is left with no clear steps to become one of the "many businesses [that] double profits and size within three years". My cynical side suspects that this book is a teaser to drive her consulting business, and it's yet another publication from Financial Times Press that is remarkably thin on actionable content.

THANK GOD IT'S MONDAY by Roxanne Emmerich is a small, 176 page book. There are no diagrams or graphs. The book could be subtitled, MANAGEMENT LITE, because of the fact that the writing dwells on easy-to-read descriptions of workplace environments, but provides solutions that are glib and of little substance.

The book is a bit too self-promotional. For example, the author states that she has created "profound change for hundreds of companies . . . many businesses double profits and size within three years." (page 1). Fortunately, the writing after this very early point in the book improves somewhat (but still suffers from severe disorganization problems).

The author is careful to set the context, in describing certain work environments, where the goal is that the reader will more easily understand the recommended solutions. We learn about an automobile repair shop on the rough side of town. However, we also learn that the employees are cheerful, customer-oriented, and technically savvy. The author provides a clearcut takeaway lesson, "Sara's mind begins to embrace the idea that if a place on the tougher side of the highway that fixes broken car windows can be a great place to be, then maybe working where she works can be fun." (page 11).

We learn about management attitudes that lead to good management versus bad management. A poor manager describes his vacation trip to Mexico as a "vacation to get away from his employees." (page 19). The book does refer to poor management techniques, "being controlling, heavy handed, or neurotic" (page 27), but unfortunately fails to provides a concrete example at this point. Later on, we find a description of poor management, "a management style that emulated Simon Legree . . ." (page 75). But this "description" is too nebulous to be informative or to be of any value to the reader. Another, somewhat more successful, description of poor management occurs on the next page ("employees crammed into tiny cubicles where you could hear the next employee sucking his teeth"). And we read about owners roaming from desk to desk at night checking for stolen pencils, or for failure to close window blinds, where the employee was punished by having her phone put in the wastebasket (page 77). It is true that these are all unhappy things. But the author fails to go a step further by providing a solution to these problems. Actually, the author does provide a solution, namely, killing the supervisors ("put the owners' heads on spikes").

Because of the use of glib, chatty narratives, and the failure to provide any concrete solutions, this book could be subtitled, "MANAGEMENT LITE."

For those interested in more concrete examples of bad management, I recommend CRYSTAL FIRE by Riordan and Hoddeson, which details the abusive management techniques of William Shockley (Nobel Prize winner and co-inventor of the transistor). I also recommend THE TRUTH ABOUT MIDDLE MANAGEERS by Osterman, which describes various types of abusive management techniques, for example, requiring employees to fill out forms at the end of the week, detailing how all their tasks were fulfilled (page 87 of Osterman).

Eventually, the author provides the reader with more concrete management techniques where the goal is to improve business, "how your phones are answered, how you greet visitors, the speed with which things are done, the accuracy of transactions . . ." (page 23), eliminating redundancies (page 26), followup plans for new customers (page 26).

Unfortunately, we are not provided with any concrete examples of these management techniques. The book could be subtitled, "MANAGEMENT LITE."

Roxanne Emmerich's book is sometimes too glib, that is, stating that certain problems, which in real-life are often impossible to overcome, can be easily overcome or solved. For example, we read that "you can be as miserable or as joyful as you choose." (page 37). The reviewer can name a couple of employers where assault and battery was used as a management technique. I do not find that this is a situation where anybody can be as "joyful as you choose."

To give another example of glib advice, the author recommends that we should all not shoot down ideas unless we propose ideas for further progress. (page 38). I agree with this suggestion 100%. However, what the author fails to understand is that many supervisors have no interest in listening to ideas. In part, the reason is that many "supervisors" are not technically savvy enough to understand the technology that they are supposed to be supervising.

Here is yet another example of glib advise -- easy to say but impossible to implement in many workplaces. This is the recommendation for "open communication . . . it's about being more open, honest, and direct." (page 42). The author fails to understand that many employers prefer to supervise on the basis of preconceptions and false "information."

And yet more glib advice is found on page 66, "Conflict should be worked through daily and directly . . . ask better questions and listen better . . . state all things in the positive." Once again, this is easy to say but often not possible to implement. The book CRYSTAL FIRE, cited above, provides one well-known example of a dictatorial supervisor where the resulting misery cannot likely be overcome by any advice found in THANK GOD IT'S MONDAY.

The author repeatedly recommends that managers provide "lavish praise at least five times a day" (page 67) "trusting others more," and "uplifting feedback." (page 72). However, the author fails to take into account of the fact that many managers are incapable of understanding the technical details of their supervisees, and are therefore incapable of providing "uplifting feedback."

Actually, I did find exactly one piece of insightful advice, namely that where a supervisor chooses to praise an employee, "there was a fine line between being patronizing and [meaningful praise]." (page 78).

To conclude, we find lots of advice, but some of the advice is just too obvious to be considered advice, e.g., be cheerful, while the rest of the advice is too glib to be workable in any real-life situation. Overall, this "book" might reasonably be characterized as being mediocre.

Now here's a great way to get yourself fired from you job - have THE conversation with your boss. Emmerich advocates the following on page 145, "I'm so excited about where our team is going. I could be wrong but my sense is you don't share that excitement. And that's okay. Because maybe this isn't your thing. But if this isn't your thing, you need to go find your thing!"

Then on the next page she says, "If you're thinking your boss or coworker needs to hear this, no problem. You can have this conversation at any level."

Yeah, right. Try telling your boss that, and let me know how well that works for you.

Yawn. I had high hopes for this book, especially when I saw an endorsement by the author of FISH. The book introduces a shocking concept (cough, cough). Happy, productive employees are good for business. You need someone to write a book about that. Reminds me of my old employers health care program: don't get sick.

The ideas in this book are great. Get 360 degree buy in by employees, managers, owners and then implement the change. Using "real world" examples the author talks about a management consultant coming into a company resistant to change and after hard work got buy in.

Great. Hire your own consultant and you too can get these results. She leave untouched how stuck organizations can get unstuck to implement these changes. If only it were that simple. Wake up on a Monday and change your business 180 degrees. From a consultants perspective it's easy!


Nothing in the book is untrue or unhelpful, it's just not easily implemented especially without outsiders who can peer in to your organization from the inside out. And if her ideas of positive attitude were so easily implemented, the book wouldn't be needed. The book presupposes use of an outside consulting firm. And if you are using an outside consulting firm, why buy a self-help book.

Why could I just see this on Bill Lumbergh's desk...yeah.

When I ordered this book, my fiancée groaned. "There are so many bad books like this out there," she said. I wasn't aware of that, but I am now.

I'm a big fan of Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People." So, apparently, is Ms. Emmerich, because there's not much in this book that he didn't say - and say more clearly and concisely. The case studies are superficial - after a while they all sound alike. And Ms Emmerich's plan about how to berate your abusive boss for not showing enthusiasm sounds doomed to failure. What kind of Pyrrhic victory can be won this way?

The worst problem with this book is that it doesn't know who it's written for. Is the reader the boss? Middle management? HR? The lowest administrative assistant? The janitor? Apparently everyone in the org is supposed to behave the same way.

I didn't find it very useful. For workplace tips, I'd recommend, first of all, reading Dale Carnegie, and second of all, find a book directed at people who hold the same position you do.

This book is just doesn't help

In the beginning, it repeatedly says something like it's possible, you can make change, make work more rewarding / efficiently, There are places in which.... (the title).

And the action advices? really not helping for the reader, such as "commit with your heart", "don't let little thing take you out", "show your care", or "celebrate every win", "keep success visible", "use positive language", "set a high goal / vision, and get planned ahead on how to break through every possible obstacle", and so on.

These are not wrong, but just not helping for reading it. Maybe they can just shorten the book to some slogan like "do things more efficiently", "keep positive thinking", "always being energetic and active"... or something similar.

Thank God It's Monday is a fun quick read full of great insights into building a positive work place. The basic premise is that we are in control of our attitudes and actions. Leadership is about helping people commit to being their best self at work. The book is full of short stories of successful individual and business changes, all starting with a 100% commitment from each individual to changing their own attitude and behaviors.

While it is an enjoyable read, the ideas are somewhat simplistic, though they might be effective. Some are simple common sense: stop gossiping, be honest, focus on the client, make sure you are taking the time to be with your family so you can be at work without regret, celebrate success, and help people do their best work. I felt, however that something was missing. The book makes is sound very easy with only a few details on how to deal with resistance and focuses on surface issues. For a business that has moved from initiative to initiative, this can be experienced as just one more management idea. I would tend to make the personal changes in my leadership style without the hoopla team and kick-off event.

Some of the stories in the book are inspirational even though the suggestions are so simple. Each of us can make a choice to love our workplace and treat each other well. We can make the choice to build a good life and take responsibilities for our actions.

My boss loves these kind of books and when she finishes with them, she drops them on random employees. This book is much better than most of those books. Far too many books like this are nothing more than "Managment Porn", written by managers for managers to make them feel better.

This book is different, it points out first and formost that everybody at a business has to be involved if that business is to change, from the CEO to the janitor. And the ideas presented here are a good way to do that, but there are a few things I do have a problem with.

The idea that you should have Fun at work and actually enjoy your job in not a revolutionary idea. but one thing the author skips over is that "fun" is a subjective concept. I am a gardener, I can spend hours pulling weeds, digging and planting while others can't last 5 minutes just watching me work. One person's fun can be another's torture, in fact some people have fun with torture (see Bondage S&M). It should have been mentioned that the business in question needs to put people in jobs where they will have fun. Square pegs go in the square holes.

I can really agree that changes and new policies do need to be maintained, my bosses alway lose intrest in new projects within a month or two and all benefits are usually lost. But one other aspect of this book that really needs to be expanded is how you deal with those that don't participate or sabotage your changes. All the book says is that they need to go elsewhere. Firing an employee because they will not smile or be a cheerleader will only lead you to lawsuits. It is obvious the author is a extroverted personality (and probably a former cheerleader), but some of us are introverted personalities and we do not resond well to being forced into the spotlight. Again this goes back to what a person considers "fun".

Lastly, there is one subject this book completely fails to deal with, the one thing you cannot avoid and the one thing you can never change, Customers.

Nothing can ruin your "fun" faster than dealing with some of the customers that come to your busisness. The are many websites dedicated to bad customers and the people who have to deal with them. But that is one subject that is missing from this book and since they are the reason your business exists, it really should have been addressed.

But overall, this book is a good read and it does open the door to some good ideas. And I would be interested in reading more from this author.

Emmerich has written some good pieces of advice in "TGIM." Unfortunately, the good advice tends to be tucked between layers of fluffy anecdotes and pie in the sky, unrealistic optimism about how much can be done with a positive attitude and a smile.

The good:
There are a lot of common sense ideas in the book. For example, when everyone in a group is held accountable for their responsibilities, it fosters better morale and higher productivity, etc.
The hoopla teams aren't as flakey as they sound. When I read the name I thought they might be office party planners, but they are actually teams of rotating members from multiple levels and departments who work on fresh suggestions for improving the workplace.

The bad:
Emmerich doesn't seem to acknowledge or believe that it isn't always possible to fix everything with a smile and cheerful outlook. Requesting deadline extensions after widespread layoffs and/or reduced hours (paycuts via unpaid vacation for example) seems reasonable. However, Emmerich doesn't address how to renegotiate realistic goals in a changing economy and reduced workforce. Instead, she advocates setting *unrealistic* goals and recommends achieving these goals through visualization techniques and refusing to "give yourself an out" for any obstacle. This just doesn't strike me as realistic.

The boot camps for workers who "slip up" and are less cheerful at work than expected seemed a little disturbing. They almost sounded like reeducation camps.

Bottom line:
Even though I found some of the advice to be creepy or unrealistic, I do appreciate the basic points that Emmerich was making. Workplaces can be more fun and productive when people bring a sense of enthusiasm to work, treat coworkers with courtesy by committing to accountability, and make an effort to anticipate needs of customers, etc.