Getting more out of work

REVIEWS BY ELLEN R. MARSDEN

From landing a job and plotting your career to injecting enjoyment into your working life, these four new books offer plenty of tips and inspiration to get you started.

Joy to the working world

Dennis W. Bakke, co-founder and CEO emeritus of the AES Corporation, a worldwide energy company with 40,000 employees in 31 countries, leads his company with radical business values and practices that work. Bakke details his unorthodox philosophies and their implementation in Joy at Work: A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job.

Bakke believes a values-driven, decentralized workplace where all workers feel important will be a joyful workplace. When employees are encouraged to make meaningful decisions and take responsibility for their actions, they can experience true joy at work. Bakke argues that the best decision-making occurs when leaders see their role as serving other employees and delegate most of their decision-making power to the lowest practicable level. And since each person is unique, fairness means treating everyone differently. Additionally, Bakke believes that the purpose of business is not to maximize the bottom line, but to steward resources in an economically responsible way. He offers candid, profound and thought-provoking ideas on life, management and corporate culture in this important read for anyone who can see potential in moving away from business as usual.

Another approach to having fun on the job is offered by Mike Veeck, son of late Hall of Fame baseball club owner Bill Veeck, and president and part-owner of six successful minor league baseball teams. "I want to love my entire life and I want my employees to feel the same way," Veeck says. Along with co-author Pete Williams, he presents the whys and hows of having fun at work in iFun Is Good: How to Create Joy & Passion In Your Workplace & Career.

"Fun is good" means more than spending time at work laughing and joking. Veeck shows how to create the fun, irreverence, creativity and passion that help build positive relationships and create community with co-workers and teammates. That "fun" results in better customer service and makes good business sense. The book is peppered with vignettes from accomplished business leaders who have found that Veeck's philosophy works. Maybe you can make it work for you, too.


First impressions count

Interviewing is like dating: if you don't make a good first impression, you don't get another chance. Michael Farr's latest career book, Next-Day Job Interview: Prepare Tonight and Get the Job Tomorrow is a logical, thorough and easy read that will quickly give you the skills and the confidence to ace any interview. Farr tells you how to identify your skills, find job openings, research companies, give well thought-out answers to interview questions—even the difficult, tricky and sensitive ones—follow-up after the interview and negotiate your salary. Whether you're new at interviewing or are an interviewing veteran, following Farr's advice can increase your chances of getting the right job.


Learning from the best

You've probably wondered how some people become so successful. Entrepreneur and author Peter Han wondered that as well, and sought to find out by interviewing 100 well-known high-achievers to learn how they made the choices that got them where they are today. In Nobodies to Somebodies: How 100 Great Careers Got Their Start, he culls wisdom from the experiences of his 100 subjects to help anyone, especially those just starting out, find a satisfying career.

Han interviewed business and government leaders, writers, artists and entertainers, Nobel Prize winners and nonprofit/organizational leaders. Some of the leaders' traits are what you'd expect—strong work ethic, positive attitude and outgoing personality—but other characteristics common to many of these leaders are more surprising. Of these, Han determined strong self-knowledge—understanding and playing to one's strengths and following gut instincts—to be most important, while at the same time being attuned to the real world and being flexible to change are also crucial to success. These career stories can provide the catalyst for your own career development.


© 2005 ProMotion, inc.
www@bookpage.com