Work 2.0: Rewriting the Contract

by Bill Jensen

Book Overview

With a new preface by the author, in Work 2.0, Bill Jensen introduces us to a new breed of managers and organizations that are maximizing productivity, developing leaders at all levels, constantly... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738205699
• ISBN13: 9780738205694
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Perseus Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Work, Life, Control: Condensed and Clarified

Bill Jensen has researched how we all work for more than a decade. I know: I participated in part of his study ten years ago.Here's what I've learned both from his two books and his research...* HIS SKILL is as an aggregator, simplifier, and clarifier.I laugh at reviews that are obviously searching for the next big thing:("Nothing new here. So-and-so said that back in...") He openly covers ideas that others cover. But he integrates them all together, and finds the patterns and overlaps between dots that we couldn't otherwise connect.* HE IS PASSIONATE about respect for the individual.Work 2.0 and Simplicity are not about *business* success. They are about people issues, and finding more ways for each individual to succeed.He's holding leaders accountable for employees' time, energy, andpassion that they waste. When he wrote "It is no longer acceptable to say that there's *work* and there's *life* and it's up to employees to balance the two," he was taking a stand for all the thousands of people he's heard from during his research. Again, I was one of those he stood up for.* HE ASKS tough questions.Do not buy his books unless you're willing to look in the mirror. While he includes checklists and writes in a very accessible way, he is definitely not about mice-moving-cheese, or fish-throwing, or Five Steps to Eternal Bliss. He's seen our personal foibles and the stupidity in our workplaces, and he tells the truth.* HE POKES a finger in the eye of those in power, then winks at us.* HE RESPECTS his readers.Sure, he gets some things wrong. I don't agree with all his findings or recommendations. But at the end of the day, he respects us to think more deeply and come up with better solutions because he played truth-teller and dots-connector. He sees his role as witness, reporter, clarifier, and provocateur. He figures we're smart enough to figure out the rest.For me, that's more than good enough.

One of Year's Ten Best: Sleeper Hit!

This sleeper hit will turn out to be one of this year's ten mostimportant books. Published at the very moment scandals exploded and markets imploded, Jensen saw the need for us to take more control of our own future, and shows us how.2.0 looks at work, with in-your-face truthtelling. For example, nowhere will the CEO & Guru authors of "Execution" tell you that "the leaders of great workplaces must accept accountability for life's precious assets" (how our time gets spent/wasted every day), or that today's leaders "must be willing to be challenged on, and address, work-level details." Jensen backs up those ideas with examples, and new ways work and have a life too.Among the ideas and tools I found most helpful:* A chapter on how to redefine our relationship w/ our employers* A tool, The SimplerWork Index, that provides completely new measures for great places to work* New examples of how to build operations to meet the needs of workers and customers* An unheard-of-commitment to personal productivity: Corporate commitments to helping each individual, not just the business, get more done with less resourcesI believe that this book is ten-best-important because, at the very moment when marketplace and corporate foundations are being shaken, 2.0 asks completely new questions of us, of our relationship with those companies, and of what it takes for us to be our best. It shapes a completely new conversation about work, life, and what we want from each.

I Learned How to Count What Counts

>From page 76: "Work 2.0 employees know that, of all the numbers that matter to you [leaders] and them, one is immutable: 1440. That's the number of minutes in a day. Whatever percentage of those minutes they spend with your company, they want more out of what they invest, with less waste."<p>Enron has taught all of us a lot about numbers. How companies can shape and control our future with them. 9.11.01 taught us what truly matters: that life is so precious. That day, reporter Diane Sawyer picked up a piece of paper blown out of the towers and thought: "Until a few hours ago, somebody thought _this_ was really important."<p>This book opened my eyes like those other events did. I realized how many ways the companies I've worked for have stolen many of my 1440 minutes. They did it unintentionally. But still, they did. I was struck when Jensen wrote: "It's no longer acceptable to say that there's _work_ and there's _life_ and it's up to employees to balance the two." I still figuring out how to change<br>that. But at least now I know I have to.

Great Buy! A new map for uncertain times...

The dust will settle soon. Wrenching uncertainty may not go away, but we will have progressed. Or will we?Jensen wants us to stop first, and ask new questions. Like: What returns should we expect for all that we invest into an employer? He states flat out that "for most employees, the more they invest in their company, the more they lose control of their own destiny." He details a new and different covenant. And tells the stories of a few companies who have started.Just one page (77), his SimplerWork Index, and the instructions on how to use it, are worth the price of the book. When the Index asks us to respond to statements like, "My company is respectful of my time and attention, and is focused on using it wisely and effectively" -- Wow! It stops the platitudes, and energizes new debates about what it means to be in a "great place to work."What makes Work 2.0 so useful and important is not that Jensen gets everything right. (I'd quibble with a few of his points.) It's that he's taken the conversation about work/life balance and the war for talent to excitingly new places. Get this book! Get lots, and give the other copies to people who need to "get it."

Manifesto for More Effective Workplaces

Jensen has done an excellent job of redefining the notion of a "Best Place to Work." Instead of focusing on perqs, he talks about what people really need to do their jobs well. And he does it with the characteristic Jensen writing style: concise, candid, and humorous.What I particularly like about the book is that Jensen forces people at all levels in a hierarchy to take responsibility for creating effective workplaces. It's not just up to leaders and it's not just up to the people who work with them to recreate a better work environment. He gives advice and concrete tools to both groups. The quick quizzes and mini case-studies in this book are particularly useful. The work on social networks is simplified, but very accessible and practical.Full disclosure: I had a review copy and I am a colleague of Bill's.