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 A great read for middle managers Feb 12, 2010
I think Five Dysfunctions of a Team is still Lencioni's best. But Three Signs of a Miserable Job is almost as good, still a must read for Lencioni fans. He's a master story teller, and reads quick. Perfect for time strapped middle managers like myself. I will do my best to apply what I've learned from this book. I've already loaned my book to the HR Director.
 Meaningful measurement and personal fulfillment for any job Dec 19, 2009
I have read two other of the author's business fables and really enjoyed them, but this is my favorite from him so far. Lencioni takes on many tough questions that are very timely in today's business climate. How do you motivate people in a job that appears to be dead end by most popular standards? How can I or anyone else add meaning to my current job so it becomes more interesting and meaningful, especially to me? How should a manager act if he/she really cares about people? How should he/she act if he really does not care about others? Is management with meaning and purpose fulfillment just soft management that favors weaker employees while holding back the really good ones? Is any of this touchy feely talk about people and meaning in work really good for the bottom line and if so, how exactly?
If you feel like just another cog in the wheel at your job, or manage others who feel that way, this is the best book I know of for re-orienting your mindset to a more positive place. I have started implementing some of the ideas in my personal tasks and the broader projects I manage. I have found it refreshing and motivating. The book shows how any job can become miserable or meaningful and life fulfilling; it all hinges on three pretty simple factors the story illustrates very memorably. Don't expect anything complex here - it's meat and potatoes how to treat people with intelligent concern and simultaneously manage better. And the story is not all flowers and pixie dust - one guy gets fired, investment bankers exploit people for opportunities - but everyone is human.
Nicely written, enjoyable story done in a style readers want today - excellent back-to-basics message for managers - with profound importance.
3 Signs of a Miserable Job Nov 30, 2009
I found the book to be a fast, easy and interesting read. I don't agree with all of his points, but for the most part, he is right on! It is very important for managers to connect to their employees and find out what is important to them.
 Sounds Good -- But Is It Really This Simple? Nov 13, 2009
I'm not usually a reader of business or management books, but since I was just promoted to be the branch manager of a public library, I figured I should start dipping into some of the more accessible literature out there. This "fable" (ie. business lesson dressed up in fiction) by a well-known management "guru" (for lack of a better term), seeks to address the fact that most people aren't happy with their jobs. The idea is that even those with seemingly perfect jobs (high-paid athletes, actors, models, etc.) can often express just as much job dissatisfaction as the lowliest burger-flipper. The author seeks to get to the bottom of this workplace problem by outlining the causes and possible solution in the breezy fictionalized story of a retired manufacturing CEO who decides to get involved in running a small Italian restaurant.
This likeable CEO-turned-restaurant-manager refines his beliefs of employee job satisfaction into three principles:
Anonymity: Employees who aren't known and individually appreciated by their managers will not be fulfilled in their jobs.
Irrelevance: Employees who don't know how their work impacts the lives of others will not be fulfilled in their jobs.
Immeasurement: Employees who can't assess their own level of performance and success will not be fulfilled in their jobs.
He then tests these principles at the restaurant, trying to improve the highly ineffective staff (and yes, not everyone will be left standing at the end). It's all handled at a pretty basic, simplistic level, but it's hard not to feel like he's on to something. (As an aside, an interesting novel to read in conjunction with this is Stuart O'Nan's excellent Last Night at the Lobster, which is about the mostly disaffected staff at a Red Lobster franchise.) Lest anyone be skeptical of the theory's application to the world of "real" business, following his success with the restaurant, the semi-retiree is headhunted to be the turnaround CEO of a sporting goods retail chain. There, after assessing the situation on the ground, he rolls out his job satisfaction solution and demonstrates the kind bottom-line results that make true believers out of everyone.
In the end, I'm torn. While I am a big believer in some of the importance of some of the "touchy-feely" aspects of management, and appreciate this high-profile attempt to delve into one of those areas, I'm also suspicious of any simple fix. I can actually see how I could apply this to my new staff and try it out, but at the same time, I instinctively feel that the issue of job dissatisfaction is much more complex than this fable makes it out to be. Still, there's something here to chew on, and the presentation is reasonably well done, so I guess if this is a topic that interests you, check it out.
Readable, But Not Helpful Oct 08, 2009
As a non-supervisory employee, I thought I might find some insight into trying to make a miserable job not so miserable, or to find affirmation that I do need to move on to a different job. The book is highly readable; I finished it in two days. However, the three items that the author highlights as being the reason people are miserable in any job, regardless of its glamour (or lack thereof) or pay rate, are certainly not reasons that I have found for making me miserable at a job, and I find it hard to believe that these would be reasons for other people to be miserable in spite of all the other characteristics of their job: irrelevance, immeasurement, and anonymity. If I were writing this book, I would tell managers and employees these three reasons that make people miserable (and it's not just me; this seems to be a repeating complaint of other people I have known who are either co-workers at my miserable jobs or people at other jobs who complain of being miserable): inconsistency, dishonesty, and unreasonable expectations. If you are a manager, there is no point in your reading this book because even if you implement what the author suggests, you won't make any difference to the misery level of your employees. If you're an employee, there's no helpful advice here either. You will probably think of how you can write a better book about what actually constitutes a "miserable" job and what managers should do to amend it.
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