Dennis Bakke
Dennis 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 12 states. He and his wife, Eileen, live in Arlington, VA.
Dear Readers:
Thanks for visiting DennisBakke.com. I am pleased that you have sought out more information on Joy at Work and trust that this site will be helpful.
Joy at Work is about two of my passions: To create the most fun workplace in human history and to teach the world the real purpose of large organizations, including businesses. It is the story of my journey, warts and all, to create a workplace where people can use their ability to reason, make important decisions and hold themselves responsible for the results in an effort to help their organizations serve the world in an economically sustainable manner.
Along the way, I realized that none of this can happen unless leaders, including me, drastically restrain their use of power, so that most important decisions can be made by people who do not hold official leadership positions. Thus, the most important characteristic of a leader in a joyful workplace is humility.
In most of the modern world, we enjoy the freedom to choose our political leaders. We have the freedom to purchase the goods and services that are needed for our family and ourselves. However, when 90% of the working people enter their places of work, they experience almost no freedom to make important decisions that affect the organization's mission and economics. Bosses and financial technicians control our lives. We are pawns fated for situations that lead to miserable work environments.
Joy at Work is my attempt to change all that. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I have.
Enter Into the Master's Joy,
Dennis Bakke
