Eldon Johnson & True North Music

Hey there,

I am certainly in a "transitional" period in my life, as many things are changing rapidly for me! (um, let's see--closing on a house next week, getting married at the end of October, having my first child in January)...yeah, I guess you could say that "the times, they are a'changin'!!

In addition to these changes that are coming rapidly, there are other changes that have been developing over a longer period of time. I'm not going to get deep into this topic (well, not right now, anyway), but it brings me to the crux of this blog.

I have a book recommendation for you! Now, for those of you who know me, you might be saying, "Uh, wait a minute--I thought your favorite book was anything that you could watch on TV?!" Well, every so often I get a hankerin' to do some book learnin'! Okay, enough of this dribble--the book that I think you need to read is, "Why Work Sucks And How To Fix It: No Schedules, No Meetings, No Joke--the Simple Change That Can Make Your Job Terrific. The authors are Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson. They actually work for the Best Buy company, and they have developed what is called the "Results-Only Workplace Environment," or ROWE. This concept was borne out of the company's desire to become a preferred employer--they wanted to attract the most talented people, and also learn how to keep them around. The book puts to rest this conceptual myth that productivity at work should be measured by time and place--i.e. you'd better be in the office by 8:00 am, and put in your 40 hours per week. Is this REALLY how an employee's productivity should be measured? Shouldn't you be able to figure out how to get your required work done on YOUR time? Well, if you're like me, you're tired of being treated like a child by your employers--in the sense that you obviously can't be trusted with having control your time, and if you are given any freedom of your time whatsoever, you can't be trusted to get your allotted work done....ugh, I'm so sick of that outdated, archaeic kind of thinking. Take a read through this book and see how the Best Buy Corporation is doing things these days--and why they have some of the happiest and least STRESSED-OUT employees in the nation. By the way, Best Buy is not the only company that uses this--they are just the ones that developed it. They are teaching this method to corporations all over the globe, and it is catching on like wild fire. Caution!! Don't read this book if you are easily disgusted with how stupid most of our workplaces are, and with how much BS we all put up with on a daily basis--though we don't even realize it, oftentimes!! Here is a link to find it on Amazon--but you can pick it up in pretty much any bookstore, also. http://www.amazon.com/Why-Work-Sucks-How-Joke/dp/1591842034#noop.

Once you take a read through it, reply to this blog and let me know what your thoughts are about it!

Peace,

Eldon