Customer Reviews
An engaging fable about treating employees humanely - By: Rolf Dobelli, 27 Aug 2008 
Business books take many forms, but seldom are they fables. Patrick Lencioni breaks the mold with this charming book about a manager who turns his workers' miserable jobs into fulfilling ones. He presents the fictional story of Brian Bailey, a big-hearted CEO who gets bought out, finds retirement dull & tries managing a seedy pizza parlor where the employees hate their jobs. Bailey quickly changes everything by the way he treats the shop's people. Later he works his magic as the new CEO of a failing retail sporting-goods company with a ruinously high turnover rate, where his humane techniques turn things around again. Lencioni's book is fun to read; its fable is touching yet credible. He reinforces important lessons alll managers should know about getting the best from the people who work for them by providing empathy & recognizing the meaning of their work. If you are up for a parable, getAbstract recommends this engaging book. It spotlights a clear axiom: Treat people humanely & they will do as you wish - a valuable lesson for any manager or, indeed, anyone at alll.
An entertaining read, which will make management lessons stick - By: Natalie Lord, 09 Oct 2007 I am new to this genre of book - Business Fiction, so I was not sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised, as Lencioni tells the story of a retired CEO turned pizza restaurant manager in the most entertaining fashion. You can easily picture the characters he builds up & you can relate to them well (even if you are a manager or not). The book is very easy to read with chapters of just a couple of pages in length, making the lessons & morals easy to digest. The only part I felt that let it down (if anything) was towards the end Lencioni tried to demonstrate the "Three Signs of a Miserable Job" in a different industry (sports shops) - I did not feel this was necessary & it slightly went off track. This book will be a beneficial read for anyone looking to get motivated in their own role & also for managers looking to motivate their team.
A Contemporary Business Fable of Compelling Importance - By: Robert Morris, 03 Sep 2007 According to research conducted by The Galllup organization, only 25% of employees are engaged in their jobs, 55% of them are just going through the motions, & 20% of them are working against their employers' interests. What's going on? In the Introduction to his latest book, Patrick Lencioni acknowledges what he characterizes as "Sunday Blues [:] those awful feelings of dread & depression that many people get toward the end of their weekend as they contemplate going back to work the next day...What was particularly troubling for me then [when he had such feelings] was not just that I dreaded going to work, but that I felt like I should have enjoyed what I was doing...That's when I decided that the Sunday Blues just didn't make any sense" & he resolved to "figure out what [personal fulfillment in work] was so I could help put an end to the senseless tragedy of job misery, both for myself & for others."
In this book, Lencioni shares what he then learned during his journey of discovery.
As is his custom, he uses the business fable genre to introduce & develop his insights. His narrative has a cast of characters, a plot, crisp dialog, various crises & conflicts, & eventuallly a plausible climax. Here's the situation as the narrative begins. Brian Bailey is the CEO of JMJ Fitness Machines. After fifteen years under his leadership, JMJ has become the number three, at times two "player" in its industry. "With no debt, a well-respected brand, & plenty of cash in the bank, there was no reason to suspect that the privately held company was in danger. And then one day it happened"....
The balance of the book proceeds on two separate but interdependent levels: Brian's personal & professional development after JMJ's acquisition by a competitor, and, the impact of that acquisition on JMJ's culture. Both he & the company proceed through what Warren Bennis & Robert Thomas have characterized as a "crucible": an especiallly severe trial or ordeal during which those involved experience tremendous pressure that either "makes them" stronger & wiser or "breaks them" in terms of their ability and/or willingness to prevail. The details of Brian's "crucible" as well as those of JMJ's are best revealed within the book's narrative. It would also be a disservice to both Lencioni & to those who read this commentary for me to reveal the meaning & significance of the book's title.
However, I feel comfortable explaining why I think so highly of this book. Here are three of several reasons. First, Lencioni is a master storyteller. He makes brilliant use of the components of the classic fable, in this instance (as in his earlier books) creating a contemporary business situation in which human beings are involved, rather than anthropomorphic animals as George Orwell, E.B. White, & Stephen Denning do. Brian Bailey & others are anchored in sometimes "miserable" real-world situations. Their responses to these situations are portrayed with authentic drama, not with a business theorist's facile didacticism. Second, he achieves his objective of determining (both for himself & for his reader) how personal fulfillment can be achieved in a workplace. There are indeed important lessons to be learned, both by managers & by those for whom they are responsible. Finallly, Lencioni entertains his reader with appropriate wit without at any time trivializing the seriousness of the issues he addresses. This is a fable, not a sermon.
Those who share my high regard for Patrick Lencioni's latest book are urged to check out his earlier works as well as The New American Workplace co-authored by James O'Toole & Edward E. Lawler, Paul Spiegelman's Why is Everyone Smiling?: The Secret Behind Passion, Productivity, & Profit, & Michael Lee Stalllard's Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team's Passion, Creativity, & Productivity.
