Organizational Integrity: How to Apply the Wisdom of the Body to Develop Healthy Organizations Book

"A special workplace has many ingredients. The feeling that you are part of a team, a sense of community, the knowledge that what you do has real purpose'all these things help make work fun. But by far the most important factor is whether people are able to use their individual talents and skills to do something useful, significant, and worthwhile."

This is the extraordinary story of a guy who left his government job to set up a successful energy company that for decades pioneered a innovative workplace culture based on radical empowerment. More than thirty years later, the company still ranks amongst the Fortune 200 but Dennis Bakke has disappeared from its management and its organizational model has been reshaped along more conventional lines.

The story of empowerment in large organizations has been told a few times, but not very often and as far as I know not at this scale. Not even Ricardo Semler's Semco has every operated at the scale of Bakke's energy giant. Another key difference is the fact that Bakke ran this radical experiment in a publicly traded company. This also became his personal undoing. When the stock market collapsed in the wake of the Enron scandal, company shares plunged to fraction of their peak value and Bakke was taken to task by his board for the debacle. Soon after he left the company to pursue other goals. It is a cautionary tale that reflects the true face of capitalism and explains why, as a rule, working conditions in large organizations today are no more exciting, rewarding, or fun than they were 250 years ago.

Joy at Work tells a subtle and profound story about forging community in a business context. The book is free from the hyperbole that mars most management literature. The author's voice sounds authentically humble. He is unwaveringly loyal to his belief in people's potential to take responsibility and be mindful of the interests of every stakeholder. But he is not afraid to suspend judgment and question some of his decisions. "Where there is success, let there be humility."