1. When given the opportunity to use our ability to reason, make decisions, and take responsibility for our actions, we experience joy at work.
2. The purpose of business is not to maximize profits for shareholders but to steward our resources to serve the world in an economically sustainable way.
3. Attempt to create the most fun workplace in the history of the world.
4. Eliminate management, organization charts, job descriptions, and hourly wages.
5. Fairness means treating everybody differently.
6. Principles and values must guide all decisions.
7. Put other stakeholders (shareholders, customers, suppliers, etc.) equal to or above yourself.
8. Everyone must get advice before making a decision. If you don’t seek advice, “you’re fired.”
9. A “good” decision should make all the stakeholders unhappy because no individual or group got all they wanted.
10. Lead with passion, humility, and love.
Bakke breaks down #7
Leadership is about humility and serving others. When you put other stakeholders above yourself, you do just that. Humility is at the core of a leader’s heart. Humility is understanding who you really are, regardless of your title or education, your wealth or status. Humility underlies the impulse to make others do better. We all have a tendency toward selfishness and greed. Most of us are tempted by power, money, and fame. Some of us will act in inappropriate ways to get these things. When our mission is to serve others, we don’t think as much about ourselves. Channeling our energy toward worthy pursuits is infinitely more effective in governing behavior than draconian compliance programs.
Apartment Building Example
Creating economic value is a prerequisite to being a viable business, but the value created cannot be limited to shareholders. Shareholders do not “own” a company in the way that I own my house. They are more akin to investors in an apartment building who receive a portion of the rental income after paying for maintenance, heating, security, and other expenses. Other stakeholders in the apartment building—the renters, doormen, and superintendent, for instance—also receive benefits from the enterprise. Likewise, the stakeholders in a corporation deserve returns for the contributions they make to the company’s effort to serve society. Value needs to be created for all major groups that assist the corporation in achieving its purposes. To sustain itself economically, a company needs to generate enough value over the long term to “pay” stakeholders an amount consistent with their contribution to the enterprise. Giving an outsized return to any single stakeholder effectively cheats the other stakeholders.
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FREE DOWNLOAD - Water Cooler Wisdom - Rule #7 printable 8.5 x 11 pdf document
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Want to start a dialogue in your office about Bakke's Top 10? You can download a printable version of Rule #7 and stick it up somewhere it will be seen. (Suggestions - the boss's computer, office door, next to a clock, or anywhere in the cafeteria)
Click on the link below to access the Water Cooler Archive where you can also download Rule #8, 9, and 10.
http://www.DennisBakke.com/pages/watercoolerwisdom
Each month Dennis will answer a variety of work-related questions. Please send your questions to: askdennis@dennisbakke.com
I have just read the article, "The Whole Ball Game" in New Man Magazine (click to download the PDF) The culture and philosophy described in this article is the exact culture and philosophy we are trying to incorporate within our company.
We are a small telecommunications company. We currently have 130 employees. At this time there are 6 "directors", however we would like to do away with titles such as this that tend to make one appear higher than another.
Do you have any suggestions that we could consider for our "upper level" and "mid level" management associates, as well as another option available for a corporate organizational chart? We are currently using the upside down organizational chart but would like to see some other ideas.
--Kentucky
I would eliminate all organization charts. Who needs them? Everyone knows which leader they report to. Organization charts are typically used only to show people outside the company how the company is put together. It is none of their business. If you have to have an organization chart, an upside down one is better since the leaders are supposed to be serving those above them.
Again, titles are more for people outside the organization. I wouldn¹t worry much about them. Remember, however, that leaders are very important and should be highly respected. Don't be afraid of giving them an important sounding title. They are the keeper of the shared values and principles that hold the organization together. If there is a question regarding the values, they have the final authority to decide the issue.
They are the chief cheerleaders and responsible to get people to hold themselves accountable. And they are the people who have to choose the decision maker when it is not evident who that should be.
-- DB
On a recent trip to a local bookstore, I saw your book. The title is intriguing, to be sure. I reviewed the beginning of the book, still intrigued. The book addresses my situation, that I am miserable in my present job. I am creative, dedicated and ready for a change. Yet, I can't exactly determine where or how to define the change I so seriously desire. What do I do now?
As an administrative assistant, I am no longer challenged. During a recent staff meeting, the office manager asked support staff to be available for assisting in putting old files in alphabetical order. While I don't mind being a team player (it may not really sound like it though), I don't feel I went to college to sort files A-Z. There is a country song that is popular now that says, "there's gotta be something more." I sure hope so.
--Bob
You need a good boss who will see you as a person not a machine. The way you find one or “develop” one is through random acts of responsibility. Don’t wait for assignments. Look around the workplace and start working on things that you think need to be done. Your boss will likely see your work and start giving you more opportunities to think and to act like a human being. If not, look for another boss who will.
--DB
My company is embroiled in administrative overhead from trying to be compliant with SOX regulations as imposed by auditors. I'm halfway through your book, and I love the ideas presented - but how would a company in the midst of implementing IT controls (segregation of duties, approval of changes to production IT systems, etc) be able to apply your principles and have fun again??
--Bellevue, WA
Most of these rules were designed when someone did something wrong? There is this belief in firms that you can design systems that will reduce or even eliminate such mistakes. Government is especially guilty of this false doctrine. There may not be much you can do except civil disobedience using the logic that the new compliance approach treats people as untrustworthy.
It is a waste of time and dehumanizing. Sometimes, however, you put your thinking cap on and come up with solutions that meet the technical aspects of the law without totally making the workplace miserable. One plant manager came to me with a problem on environmental compliance. He said the government required that a vice president or other officer of the corporation sign off on all environmental reports. He wanted the people responsible for generating the reports and operating the equipment to sign the reports. We decided to make those people Officers of the corporation so they could sign the reports. Try some of that kind of thinking to get around the harmful effects of most compliance procedures.
--DB
I have just read and been thrilled by your book - so firstly let me say thank you for your honesty, humility, integrity and vulnerability.
Why do you speak of joy at work, but require it to be fun. With the benefit of hindsight, would it have been wiser to stick to the biblical “joy”, rather than the secular “fun”?
--United Kingdom
I started with fun and only later realized that joy better described what I was after in the workplace.
--DB
Again, with the benefit of hindsight, do you think you went too far with your principles, or, perhaps, not far enough? And did this allow other Directors to be fellow-travellers only as long as it suited them financially, without ever really getting “joy”?
It was a difficult path to follow. It would not have done much good for me to shove my definition of the values down the throats of the board and other leaders of the organization all at once, thus being sent packing from the organization 10 or 12 years earlier before I had a chance to teach the values and bring many folks along in their understanding. In addition, I was learning new things and applications regarding the values every year. I am not sure I would have been able to be more definitive and act any stronger regarding the principles that much earlier.
--DB
How does what you advocate in Joy at Work for private enterprise compare or contrast to what sounds remarkably similar coming from the socialists in Venezuela?
--Alexandria, VA
I am not familiar with the Venezuelan brand of socialism, but I can assure you that my views do not fit neatly into any “ism.” Most socialists favor public capital, rather than private capital from investors, in creating and operating companies that deliver social services. Some socialists believe almost all corporations from oil companies to utilities should be “owned” and funded and controlled by the public or government. I believe almost all companies, including those noted above, should be investor “owned”, funded (capitalized) and operated by private individuals and institutions. Private capital is much easier to obtain, more reliable, more economically disciplined, and less corrupt resulting in lower costs to consumers than most publicly owned and operated enterprises.
Like some socialists, however, I do believe that all organizations, both those that use profits to pay investors a risk adjusted fair return and those that are organized on a not or profit basis have exactly the same primary role in society. They both are incorporated by the State to provide a service or product that is needed or wanted by society. That should be the primary goal for every organization. It is essential for both kinds of organizations to be economically sustainable and that means making a return to investors commensurate with the risk undertaken. A public corporation should pay that back to the citizens who provided the capital through taxes. The private company pays it to investors who provided the capital for the enterprise.
--DB
