{"product_id":"9780976268628","title":"Joy at Work: A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job","description":"\u003cp\u003eImagine a company where people love coming to work and are highly productive   on a daily basis. Imagine a company whose top executives, in a quest to create   the most \"fun\" workplace ever, obliterate labor-management divisions and push   decision-making responsibility down to the plant floor. Could such a company   compete in today's bottom-line corporate world? Could it even turn a profit?\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eWell, imagine no more. In Joy at Work, Dennis W. Bakke tells the true story   of this extraordinary company-and how, as its co-founder and longtime CEO, he   challenged the business establishment with revolutionary ideas that could remake   America's organizations. It is the story of AES, whose business model and   operating ethos -\"let's have fun\"-were conceived during a 90-minute car ride   from Annapolis, Maryland, to Washington, D.C. In the next two decades, it became   a worldwide energy giant with 40,000 employees in 31 countries and revenues of   $8.6 billion. \u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eIt's a remarkable tale told by a remarkable man: Bakke, a farm boy who was   shaped by his religious faith, his years at Harvard Business School, and his   experience working for the Federal Energy Administration. He rejects workplace   drudgery as a noxious remnant of the Industrial Revolution. He believes work   should be fun, and at AES he set out to prove it could be. Bakke sought not the   empty \"fun\" of the Friday beer blast but the joy of a workplace where every   person, from custodian to CEO, has the power to use his or her God-given talents   free of needless corporate bureaucracy. In Joy at Work, Bakke tells how he   helped create a company where every decision made at the top was lamented as a   lost chance to delegate responsibility-and where all employees were encouraged   to take the \"game-winning shot,\" even when it wasn't a slam-dunk.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003ePerhaps Bakke's most radical stand was his struggle to break the stranglehold   of \"creating shareholder value\" on the corporate mind-set and replace it with   more timeless values: integrity, fairness, social responsibility, and, above   all, fun. And Bakke doesn't shrink from describing the assault on his leadership   when AES was sucked into the Enron downdraft and faced a plunging stock price.   At this moment of crisis, influential colleagues and directors distanced   themselves from the values that had made AES one of the most celebrated   companies in the world.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eJoy at Work offers a model for the 21st-century company that treats its   people with respect, gives them unprecedented responsibility, and holds them   strictly accountable-because it's the right thing to do, not just because it   makes good business sense. More than any book you've ever read, Dennis Bakke's   Joy at Work will force you to question everything you thought you knew about   corporate success.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eDENNIS W. BAKKE was raised in Saxon, Washington, and graduated from the   University of Puget Sound, Harvard Business School, and the National War   College. He co-founded The AES Corporation in 1981 and served as its president   and CEO from 1994 to 2002. He is now president and CEO of Imagine Schools, a   company that operates elementary and secondary (K-12) charter schools in 10   states. He and his wife, Eileen, live in Arlington, Virginia.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PVG","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47023854780656,"sku":"9780976268628","price":27.27,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780976268628_p0.jpg?v=1763879968","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780976268628","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}