Get Weird! 101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work [Paperback]

John Putzier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 21, 2001

This little book has a serious purpose: it is filled with dozens of easy, creative ways to recruit, retain, train, motivate and reward employees. The philosophy behind "Get Weird!" is lighten up, have some fun and make your company a "great" place to work. Included are 101 techniques for motivating, innovating and problem-solving, organized into logical components, such as: winning today' talent; the care and feeding of talent; changing a company's culture; rewarding through perks, pay and pats on the back; and enhancing your company image to customers and prospective talent. Readers should enjoy stimulating their own creativity by perusing and using some of these crazy ideas, for example: "get out of jail free" card; opportunity knocks; homecoming celebration; bozo filters; headhunters hostage pay; galloping gourmets; rock me baby!; chain letters; camp MED; and more. The need to recruit and retain good people remains the "key" for employers as unemployment remains at a 30-year low.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is a funhouse of creative, inexpensive, offbeat ideas for getting the best from employees! -- BizLife December 2001

“Nurturing Your Company’s Inner Child: Let There Be Fun!” “the reiterated message .... ‘work and fun are not opposites.’” -- New York Times October 2001

Review

"Get Weird! is the only book I've ever seen that actually has as many great ideas for creating a culture of fun and innovation as we do. If we had written a how-to book on out-of-the-box best practices for high performance, this would have been it!""

--Libby Sartain, SPHR, Vice President of People, Southwest Airlines and Chair of the Society for Human Resource Management

""This book is a perfect reflection of Putzier's creative and captivating teaching and speaking style. He has managed to compile an incredible array of unusual yet theoretically sound tips, tools, and techniques for today's managers.""

--Dr. Harry Faulk, Dean Emeritus, H. John Heinz III Graduate School of Public Policy and Management and founder of Executive Management Programs, Carnegie Mellon University

"Get Weird! is both powerful and easy to read at the same time. Putzier's down-to-earth style, combined with his depth of knowledge in organizational behavior, has resulted in a must-read for the next generation of managers and leaders.""

--Gerry Crispin, SPHR, co-author of CareerXRoads, the best-selling directory of job and resume sites on the WWW

""Two thumbs up! A fun read with ideas you can use immediately. John Putzier has been there and done that and offers innovation on every page. A delight and a must-have for a competitive edge in business.""

--Steven Solomon, Sr. Vice President and General Manager, FUJI Computer Products"

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 17 and up
  
• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 1 edition (May 21, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814471145
• ISBN-13: 978-0814471142
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #459,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great insights--full of meat and fun to read, June 1, 2001

By 

Joe Healey "Joe Healey" (Virginia Beach, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Get Weird! 101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work (Paperback)

You will very quickly realize that this person is a veteran who is not talking theory. There is very serious substance and great ideas that can make a difference in the workplace.

I must add that it was delightful to read in terms of being a fun book I did not want to put down.

Worthwhile investment of time!

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good conversational thought-provoker, October 28, 2001

By 

Roger E. Herman (Greensboro, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Get Weird! 101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work (Paperback)

When John Putzier was a child, his mother told him he was weird. For most kids, being told they were weird might be traumatizing. Not John. He prided himself on being weird-different. Over the years of his career in human resource consulting, professional speaking, and college teaching, he has prided himself on being weird-just a little bit different, off-beat. The power of being off-beat is encapsulated in a quotation I learned in my growing-up years, "It's the usual thing, done in the unusual way, that captures the attention of the world."

John certainly has captured the attention of the world with his work. And how he shows us how to make this happen in our lives as executives, managers, and human resource professionals.

Weirdness is doing things differently. The results can be very positive, both in your confidence and in the results you can achieve. Putzier spends the first part of the book explaining this and setting up the reader to receive and consider 100 thought-provoking ideas. This section is titled Tapping Your Natural Weirdness, aka [also known as] Creative Thinking and Problem-Solving. The double title theme continues through the other parts of the book, enabling the reader to comfortably transition between Putzier's weird titles and terminology that will be more familiar.

One hundred ideas are presented in the balance of the book, categorized in seven sections. Titles of those sections are Weird Ideas to Win Today's Talent, aka Recruitment; Weird Ideas for the Care and Feeding of Today's Talent, aka Retention; Weird Ideas for Changing Your Company, aka Fun & Games with a Purpose and a Profit; Weird Ideas for Perks, Pay, and Pats on the Back, aka Recognition and Incentives; Weird Ideas for Educating Today's Talent, aka Training and Development; and Weird Ideas for Enhancing Your Company Image, aka Sales, Service, Public Relations & Personal Satisfaction. Idea 101 is in Part 8, where the author suggests that you have other ideas in your head that you can add to his list. Remember, Putzier is endeavoring to stimulate your thinking, not just give you pat answers or magic pills.

There are several additional features that add value to this book. The Table of content includes a phrase under each idea listing to quickly explain what the idea entails. An alphabetical list of ideas appears at the end of the book as an unusual, but helpful, index.

The book is easy to read and serves as a fine read-through in addition to a good reference book for follow-up.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Deal, April 14, 2002

By 

John P. Fixmer (Atlantic, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Get Weird! 101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work (Paperback)

As an insatiable consumer of business books, I can confidently say that "Get Weird!" is the most engaging, entertaining, yet useful business book I've ever read. It's chock full of great ideas guaranteed to make your workplace the one people on the outside want to get into. Putzier's humorous writing style and knack for knowing a great idea when he sees one make this one of the most enjoyable and beneficial business books you'll ever buy. I've recommended it to hundreds of people and will continue to for the rest of my career.