Work Like Your Dog

Rating:
Summary: Fabulously enteraining AND educational.
Review: Do you want to improve YOUR working environment? Buy a copy of this for your CEO or manager. Have a singing messenger deliver it, and watch your place of business turn into a place you WANT to go to. These examples and stories are useful even outside the workplace...in your everyday life. In an period of low unemployment, where employee retention is difficult, these ideas can give your company an edge on your competition.

Rating:
Summary: Take it from a student!
Review: I've just returned from a reading of this book by my philosophy professor, Dr. Luke Barber. Although he only read from a couple chapters, it was easy to figure out that this book is definitely a must have for anyone who loves life (or would like to learn how). Containing good, useful (not to mention funny) stories, you will be able to relate to the text easily and effectively! I plan on purchasing this book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested (and even those that are not!).

Rating:
Summary: Take it from a student!
Review: I've just returned from a reading of this book by my philosophy professor, Dr. Luke Barber. Although he only read from a couple chapters, it was easy to figure out that this book is definitely a must have for anyone who loves life (or would like to learn how). Containing good, useful (not to mention funny) stories, you will be able to relate to the text easily and effectively! I plan on purchasing this book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested (and even those that are not!).

Rating:
Summary: how-to guide for being a goofball at work
Review: Work Like Your Dog contains some nuggets of wisdom, and lots of advice on how to play at your job, approaching it as if it were a game. I LIKE many of the ideas, such as treating your employees even better than your customers, but I can't imagine applying them in my own straight-laced, uptight work environment. Unless you're the president or the CEO (and perhaps, even if you are), implementing most of the ideas in this book would likely undermine your credibility. For example, the authors suggest things like decorating coworkers old shoes with glitter and plastic flowers, and wearing the "fun" shoes at work. One of the authors attached the metal runner statuettes from all of his running tropies to the roof of his car, creating a "race" car -- and suggests that similar activities create a fun environment. (Yes, but if someone drove such a car into the parking lot where I work, they'd be dubbed hopelessly crazy.) The authors also suggest that acting like a fool in the middle of a heated argument can be particularly effective -- In suggesting ways to turn fights into frolics, they suggest cracking a raw egg against your forehead in the middle of a domestic dispute. Some of the advice is funny -- One Shell trainer created a "swearing room" next to her office, a place where her coworkers could sound off. She then gave prizes for the most impressive swearing (which was "Gods' bees, and scrunties alight!) The book is a fun, creative, quick read. How applicable it is to you & your work environment depends, in large part, on you & your work environment. I'm not sure these techniques would get you very far in a large corporate environment, but they'd be great if you run your own business.