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| | | | |  | Greetings, Welcome to the September Joy at Work Journal. This month, we'll look at how principles and values must guide our decisions. I tried to make our principles central to all of our hiring decisions, acquisition discussions, editorials in the company newsletter, annual reports, values surveys, compensation decisions, new business launches, investor meetings, and business review sessions. Listing the key principles of an organization on a wall plaque will never make them part of a company’s collective thinking. If values and principles are to set the tone for organizations and guide their decisions, they must become part of every task, plan, discussion, and operation. Most employees make corporate decisions on the basis of what they believe their leaders value. How do they determine what their leaders think is important? They pay attention to criteria used for determining compensation. They read company presentations to shareholders and banks. They consider what factors their bosses use in making decisions. They watch how leaders live their private lives. If shared principles are not discussed when making important budgeting decisions—cutting costs, allocating capital, devising strategy—everyone will quickly understand that the company’s real priority is not values and principles, even if they are extolled in the CEO’s annual letter or on the corporate Website. As an old rhyme puts it, “Methods are many, principles are few. Methods change often, principles never do.” Dennis Bakke www.DennisBakke.com Note: e-mail your questions about the book to askdennis@dennisbakke.com. I'll respond to them in next month's Journal. 
"It's more important to do the right thing than to do things right." -- Peter Drucker
Listen to Joy at Work on your Ipod> If you don't have time to sit down and read, check out Joy at Work on CD, Audio Cassette, or MP3. Download the book for your Ipod at www.audible.com/joyatwork. Joy at Work Bible Study--Now Available>
Join Dr. Raymond Bakke, Brad Smith, and Bill Hendricks as they explore what the Bible says about the purpose of business and your right to a joyful workplace. No matter where you spend those 50 or 60 hours during the week, God intends for you to find joy in your work. Visit the Bible Study Home page to read excerpts and to watch the Bible Study Trailer.
Executive Summary> Only have a few minutes? Read the synopsis of Joy at Work online for an overview of the key concepts. Executive Summary
JOY AT WORK Video Seminar--Now Available>Watch a free preview of the Joy at Work Video Seminar on DVD--a must for any leader who wants to bring principles, purpose and fun to the workplace. Click here to watch a preview
E-MAIL YOUR BOSS > Get your friends and coworkers involved in the Joy at Work revolution! Send your boss an anonymous e-mail or add a personal note. E-mail boss
 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. Dennis Bakke breaks down #6: Principles and Values
Principles are the bottom line. They are meant to be ends in and of themselves, not techniques to create value for shareholders or to reach other financial goals. They should be a significant part of an organization’s definition of success. Principles should drive and shape the business regardless of its size, complexity, or age. Principles mean something only when they affect everything we do, every day of the week. If values and principles are to set the tone for organizations and guide their decisions, they must become part of every task, plan, discussion, and operation. We should attempt to live according to a set of unchanging shared ethical principles, because it is the right way to live--not because it works. Don't be tempted to follow the principles in order to improve your bottom line. There are three things you need to know: First, living by shared values and principles does not automatically lead to financial success or make a “great” company. Second, linking values and principles to economic success will most likely lead to eventual rejection of these same values and principles by board members and other leaders of the organization. Third, linking principles and the bottom line diminishes the company in the eyes of its employees. We all know the principle of basic logic that says: If A, then B. If not B, then not A. If A (certain principles and values), then B (financial success). If not B (financial success), then not A (it’s time to junk principles and values). In other words, if a company links values to high profits and share price, it should logically reject these values when the stock price or profits fall. Because all companies experience financial fluctuations, this logic would require them to adjust their values and principles every time they experienced a downturn. As I said above, principles should be your bottom line. -- D.B. 
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FREE DOWNLOAD - Water Cooler Wisdom - Rule #6 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 #6 and stick it up somewhere it will be seen. (Reminder: Click here to send your boss a note about the book)
Click on the link below to access the Water Cooler Archive http://www.DennisBakke.com/pages/watercoolerwisdom 
“Joy at Work is a remarkable book about a remarkable company told by a remarkable man. For almost 20 years, AES defied most conventional management wisdom as it built a culture in which people were treated as adults, leaders were truly servant leaders, and fun was a core value that became actualized in the day-to-day lives of AES people, not something just hung on the wall to be talked about. The lessons of this journey are captured by Dennis Bakke in a brilliantly written, frank, and honest account of the ups and the downs. In a world in which fear often seems to have replaced fun, the search for profits has replaced the pursuit of purpose; conformity and following the crowd have replaced the courage to do the right thing and live by principles; and widespread corruption has replaced the conviction of ideals, this book offers both the recipe for a better way of organizing and being in an organization and the inspiration to try. Never has a book such as this been more needed, more important, or more welcome.”
— Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior, Stanford Graduate School of Business  Contact Us:
Questions for Dennis Bakke: askdennis@dennisbakke.com
General Inquiries: info@dennisbakke.com
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The Joy at Work Video Seminar on DVD is ideal to be shown during weekly meetings, or as a full seminar program allowing for great discussions and team learning. You can begin to experience JOY AT WORK with this remarkable series, as Dennis Bakke shares his insights with you. |
Water Cooler Wisdom |
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