- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: The Free Press; 1 edition (18 May 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1439127662
- ISBN-13: 978-1439127667
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 16.2 x 2.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 314,520 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working is one of those rare books with the power to profoundly transform the way we work and live.
Demand is exceeding our capacity. The ethic of "more, bigger, faster" exacts a series of silent but pernicious costs at work, undermining our energy, focus, creativity, and passion. Nearly 75 percent of employees around the world feel disengaged at work every day. The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working offers a groundbreaking approach to reenergizing our lives so we’re both more satisfied and more productive—on the job and off.
By integrating multidisciplinary findings from the science of high performance, Tony Schwartz, coauthor of the #1 bestselling The Power of Full Engagement, makes a persuasive case that we’re neglecting the four core needs that energize great performance: sustainability (physical); security (emotional); self-expression (mental); and significance (spiritual). Rather than running like computers at high speeds for long periods, we’re at our best when we pulse rhythmically between expending and regularly renewing energy across each of our four needs.
Organizations undermine sustainable high performance by forever seeking to get more out of their people. Instead they should seek systematically to meet their four core needs so they’re freed, fueled, and inspired to bring the best of themselves to work every day.
Drawing on extensive work with an extra-ordinary range of organizations, among them Google, Ford, Sony, Ernst & Young, Shell, IBM, the Los Angeles Police Department, and the Cleveland Clinic, Schwartz creates a road map for a new way of working. At the individual level, he explains how we can build specific rituals into our daily schedules to balance intense effort with regular renewal; offset emotionally draining experiences with practices that fuel resilience; move between a narrow focus on urgent demands and more strategic, creative thinking; and balance a short-term focus on immediate results with a values-driven commitment to serving the greater good. At the organizational level, he outlines new policies, practices, and cultural messages that Schwartz’s client companies have adopted.
The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working offers individuals, leaders, and organizations a highly practical, proven set of strategies to better manage the relentlessly rising demands we all face in an increasingly complex world.
About the Author
Tony Schwartz is the founder and president of The Energy Project, a consulting group that works with a number of Fortune 500 companies, including American Express, Credit Suisse, Ford, General Motors, Gillette, Master Card, and Sony. He was a reporter for the New York Times, an associate editor at Newsweek, and a staff writer for New York Magazine and Esquire and a columnist for Fast Company. He co-authored the #1 worldwide bestseller The Art of the Deal with Donald Trump, and after that wrote What Really Matters. He co-authored the #1 New York Times bestseller The Power of Full Engagement with Jim Loehr.
Jean Gomes is Managing Director of DPA, a London-based management consultancy specialising in leadership and culture change. For the past 20 years, he has been advising companies like Coca-Cola, Pfizer, Cable & Wireless, Sun Microsystems, Sony, ICL, The Home Office, Nokia and Intel in the US, Japan and Europe. He is also Chairman of The Energy Project Europe.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is one of those rare books that details the wrong ways you're working without making you feel that the situation is hopelessly complex or beyond repair. Tony Schwartz (writing with Jean Gomes and Catherine McCarthy) offers interesting, practical advice to employers and employees alike on how to banish that "gerbil on a treadmill" feeling forever. With case studies from such companies as Ford, Sony and Ernst & Young, as well as helpful charts, graphs and exercises, this highly readable manual will make you think twice about how you and your employees work. Although it mentions lots of insider human resources (HR) methodologies - such as the ones in Gallup's employee engagement surveys - the book never bogs down in jargon. However, the author may need to revise and update it in a few years as the workplace becomes increasingly dependent upon technology. getAbstract suggests this book to frustrated leaders, HR practitioners, overwhelmed employees and anyone who wants more control over his or her working and personal life.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
How to establish and then sustain an energy-efficient, productive, and enjoyable workplace
6 Aug 2010
Format:Hardcover
Marshall Goldsmith wrote a book in which he asserts "What got you here won't get you there." In this book, written with Jean Gomes and Catherine McCarthy, Tony Schwartz takes that insight a step further, asserting "What got you here won't keep you here, much less get you there." He insists, and I wholeheartedly agree, that with very few exceptions - such as the companies that are annually ranked the most admired, the best to work for, etc. - most companies have a workplace that is dysfunctional and perhaps even toxic. He cites the results of a recent global workforce study by Towers Perrin (90,000 employees in 18 countries in 2007-2008) that are comparable with the results of recent research by the Gallup Organization: on average, less than 20% of a workforce are actively and productively engaged, about 40% are capable but not fully committed, and a similar percentage are disenchanted or actively disengaged.
In his earlier book, The Power of Full Engagement co-authored with Jim Loehr, Schwartz offers a number of sensible recommendations that will help to increase the number of actively and productively engaged workers in a given organization. Perhaps his most important insight is that energy must be managed effectively. As have Malcolm Gladwell, Geoff Colvin, Daniel Coyle, and Matthew Syed in their books, Schwartz cites research conducted by Anders Ericsson and his associates at Florida State University to explain the relationship between natural talent and superior performance. "Great performers, Ericsson's study suggests, work more intensely than most of us do but also recover more deeply. Solo practice undertaken with high concentration is especially exhausting, The best violinists figured out, intuitively, that they generated the highest value by working intensely, without interruption, for no more than ninety minutes and no more than 4 hours a day."
This revelation has profound implications for increasing productivity wherever people are involved (e.g. workplace, schools, colleges, universities). Schwartz suggests that there are four categories of energy needs that must be accommodated for people to work at their best: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Only by fulfilling these generic needs can we fulfill corresponding needs: sustainability, security, self-expression, and significance. The illustration of all this on Page 9 bears at least some resemblance to Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs."
The challenge for work supervisors as well as for those for whom they are responsible to (1) recognize and understand various multidimensional needs; (2) respond effectively to those needs with prudent but sufficient expenditure of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual energy; (3) remain acutely aware of the impact and consequences of what they say and do; (4) think inclusively while respecting differences; (5) avoid or overcome what James O'Toole characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom"; (6) rest to re-energize ("sleep or die"); (7) sustain commitment to regular exercise and proper nutrition; (8) create a environment that is "energy efficient" is terms of its workers' physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health; (9) provide leadership to ensure the energy efficiency of that environment; and (10) define a set of shared values and a purpose beyond profitability that unites everyone involved.
Re this last point, that is precisely what Dave and Wendy Ulrich so eloquently recommend in The Why of Work: How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win as does Simon Sinek in Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Those who are thinking about reading this book need to keep in mind that most people prefer a "known devil" to an "unknown devil": Their fear is not really of change but of what is unfamiliar. Most change initiatives fail because initial expectations are unrealistic (with all due respect to what Jim Collins calls "BHAGs" or Big Hairy Audacious Goals), ultimate benefits are over-sold, and those who will be most affected by the changes have little (if anything) to say about what will be changed and by what process.
Of course, Tony Schwartz is well aware of all this and wrote a book, this one, in which he offers a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective/energy-efficient program in which almost everyone within a given enterprise will become and then remain actively and productively engaged. They will demonstrate what Lao-Tzu suggests in my favorite passage from his Tao Te Ching:
"Learn from the people
Plan with the people
Begin with what they have
Build on what they know
Of the best leaders
When the task is accomplished
The people will remark
We have done it ourselves."
In his earlier book, The Power of Full Engagement co-authored with Jim Loehr, Schwartz offers a number of sensible recommendations that will help to increase the number of actively and productively engaged workers in a given organization. Perhaps his most important insight is that energy must be managed effectively. As have Malcolm Gladwell, Geoff Colvin, Daniel Coyle, and Matthew Syed in their books, Schwartz cites research conducted by Anders Ericsson and his associates at Florida State University to explain the relationship between natural talent and superior performance. "Great performers, Ericsson's study suggests, work more intensely than most of us do but also recover more deeply. Solo practice undertaken with high concentration is especially exhausting, The best violinists figured out, intuitively, that they generated the highest value by working intensely, without interruption, for no more than ninety minutes and no more than 4 hours a day."
This revelation has profound implications for increasing productivity wherever people are involved (e.g. workplace, schools, colleges, universities). Schwartz suggests that there are four categories of energy needs that must be accommodated for people to work at their best: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Only by fulfilling these generic needs can we fulfill corresponding needs: sustainability, security, self-expression, and significance. The illustration of all this on Page 9 bears at least some resemblance to Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs."
The challenge for work supervisors as well as for those for whom they are responsible to (1) recognize and understand various multidimensional needs; (2) respond effectively to those needs with prudent but sufficient expenditure of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual energy; (3) remain acutely aware of the impact and consequences of what they say and do; (4) think inclusively while respecting differences; (5) avoid or overcome what James O'Toole characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom"; (6) rest to re-energize ("sleep or die"); (7) sustain commitment to regular exercise and proper nutrition; (8) create a environment that is "energy efficient" is terms of its workers' physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health; (9) provide leadership to ensure the energy efficiency of that environment; and (10) define a set of shared values and a purpose beyond profitability that unites everyone involved.
Re this last point, that is precisely what Dave and Wendy Ulrich so eloquently recommend in The Why of Work: How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win as does Simon Sinek in Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Those who are thinking about reading this book need to keep in mind that most people prefer a "known devil" to an "unknown devil": Their fear is not really of change but of what is unfamiliar. Most change initiatives fail because initial expectations are unrealistic (with all due respect to what Jim Collins calls "BHAGs" or Big Hairy Audacious Goals), ultimate benefits are over-sold, and those who will be most affected by the changes have little (if anything) to say about what will be changed and by what process.
Of course, Tony Schwartz is well aware of all this and wrote a book, this one, in which he offers a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective/energy-efficient program in which almost everyone within a given enterprise will become and then remain actively and productively engaged. They will demonstrate what Lao-Tzu suggests in my favorite passage from his Tao Te Ching:
"Learn from the people
Plan with the people
Begin with what they have
Build on what they know
Of the best leaders
When the task is accomplished
The people will remark
We have done it ourselves."
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
44 reviews
76 of 83 people found the following review helpful
Why The Way We're Working Isn't Working Really Works
21 May 2010
Format:Hardcover
Think Rule #5.
Alan Webber, co-founder of Business Week, wrote that change is a math formula. Change happens when the cost of status quo is greater than the risk of change. C(SQ) > R(C).
Tony Schwartz has written a provocative book that takes a serious look at the one area in business that seems immune to change -- the human costs of doing business in the digital age, Schwartz, the co-author of The Power of Full Engagement provides a proven prescription for making positive changes in the way we work.
The Way We're Working Isn't Working makes a compelling case that we're neglecting four core needs that energize performance. The book is an extension of the ideas Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy introduced in the Harvard Business Review in 2007. (Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time.)
Their premise is deceptively simple: "The furious activity to accomplish more with less exacts a series of silent costs: less capacity for focused attention, less time for any given task, and less opportunity to think reflectively and long term."
In other words, less energy. And perhaps more importantly, less sustainable energy.
The insights that Schwartz and his colleagues at The Energy Project bring to The Way We're Working Isn't Working are based on their experiences working with such organizations as Wachovia, The Cleveland Clinic, the LA Police Department, Sony and Ernst & Young and IBM.
Like Dan Pink's book, Drive, this book challenges the notion of what truly works in today's business environment. While Pink focuses on motivation, Schwartz challenges the idea of how to enhance the performance of employees -- and much of it is counter-intuitive to how we do business.
"A growing body of research suggests that we're most productive when we move between periods of high focus and intermittent rest. Instead, we live in a gray zone, constantly juggling activities but rarely fully engaging in any of them -- or fully disengaging from any of them."
Within the first 10 pages, Schwartz makes a persuasive case. "Most organizations enable our dysfunctional behaviors and even encourage them through policies, practices, reward systems and cultural messages that serve to drain our energy and run down our value over time.
An increasing number of organizations pay lip service to the notion that `are our greatest asset.' But even among companies that make that claim, the cast majority off-load the care and feeding of employees to divisions known as "human resources," which are rarely accorded an equal place at the executive table. As a consequence, the needs of employees are marginalized and treated perquisites provided through programs that focus on topics like `leadership development,' `wellness,' and `flexibility' -- all largely code words for nonessential functions."
Again, think rule #5.
How willing are executives today willing to change the status quo? Products are being made. Services are being rendered. But at what cost?
The four core areas that energize great performance are sustainability (physical needs) security (emotional) self-expression (mental) and significance (spiritual). Schwartz makes the case that we're at our best, not when act like computers running at high speed for long hours, but when we pulse rhythmically between expending and regularly renewing energy across each of our four needs.
The value of the book is enhanced by downloadable tools to help you evaluate your current situation and how to begin addressing the four core areas to enhance the ability of your company to harness the energy of all your employees.
If you want to make positive change in your organization and want to move beyond the status quo, The Way We're Working Isn't Working -- is a working blueprint for any company's future. I highly recommend it.
Alan Webber, co-founder of Business Week, wrote that change is a math formula. Change happens when the cost of status quo is greater than the risk of change. C(SQ) > R(C).
Tony Schwartz has written a provocative book that takes a serious look at the one area in business that seems immune to change -- the human costs of doing business in the digital age, Schwartz, the co-author of The Power of Full Engagement provides a proven prescription for making positive changes in the way we work.
The Way We're Working Isn't Working makes a compelling case that we're neglecting four core needs that energize performance. The book is an extension of the ideas Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy introduced in the Harvard Business Review in 2007. (Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time.)
Their premise is deceptively simple: "The furious activity to accomplish more with less exacts a series of silent costs: less capacity for focused attention, less time for any given task, and less opportunity to think reflectively and long term."
In other words, less energy. And perhaps more importantly, less sustainable energy.
The insights that Schwartz and his colleagues at The Energy Project bring to The Way We're Working Isn't Working are based on their experiences working with such organizations as Wachovia, The Cleveland Clinic, the LA Police Department, Sony and Ernst & Young and IBM.
Like Dan Pink's book, Drive, this book challenges the notion of what truly works in today's business environment. While Pink focuses on motivation, Schwartz challenges the idea of how to enhance the performance of employees -- and much of it is counter-intuitive to how we do business.
"A growing body of research suggests that we're most productive when we move between periods of high focus and intermittent rest. Instead, we live in a gray zone, constantly juggling activities but rarely fully engaging in any of them -- or fully disengaging from any of them."
Within the first 10 pages, Schwartz makes a persuasive case. "Most organizations enable our dysfunctional behaviors and even encourage them through policies, practices, reward systems and cultural messages that serve to drain our energy and run down our value over time.
An increasing number of organizations pay lip service to the notion that `are our greatest asset.' But even among companies that make that claim, the cast majority off-load the care and feeding of employees to divisions known as "human resources," which are rarely accorded an equal place at the executive table. As a consequence, the needs of employees are marginalized and treated perquisites provided through programs that focus on topics like `leadership development,' `wellness,' and `flexibility' -- all largely code words for nonessential functions."
Again, think rule #5.
How willing are executives today willing to change the status quo? Products are being made. Services are being rendered. But at what cost?
The four core areas that energize great performance are sustainability (physical needs) security (emotional) self-expression (mental) and significance (spiritual). Schwartz makes the case that we're at our best, not when act like computers running at high speed for long hours, but when we pulse rhythmically between expending and regularly renewing energy across each of our four needs.
The value of the book is enhanced by downloadable tools to help you evaluate your current situation and how to begin addressing the four core areas to enhance the ability of your company to harness the energy of all your employees.
If you want to make positive change in your organization and want to move beyond the status quo, The Way We're Working Isn't Working -- is a working blueprint for any company's future. I highly recommend it.
43 of 50 people found the following review helpful
A Must Read to Living an Extraordinary Life!
13 May 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
There are countless books written on how to improve your performance at work, be healthier, and live a better life. 'The Way We're Working Isn't Working' should be at the top of the reading list. Tony presents a compelling case on how our current approach to life (going flat out) is harming us, our families, and our organizations. He also shares a multitude of simple, pragmatic and powerful tips on how to build your capacity to better deal with the many demands we face every day. I have seen his ideas radically transform many friends and co workers who are more energized, engaged, and enjoying life than ever before.
38 of 45 people found the following review helpful
The Key to Success in the 21st Century
31 May 2010
Format:Hardcover
I am often asked to review and blog about new business books coming to market, and only rarely do I oblige. When Tony asked me to review his new book, I said yes immediately. His ideas around managing energy as opposed to time resonated with me years ago after reading, The Power of Full Engagement and play a big role in my own consulting practice. The energy management concept, if explored to its full potential, can do more to transform an organization than any other single component.
The great thing about Tony's new book is that it is full of sound research that reinforces what Tony is teaching and helps us to really understand why we do the things we do, even when they are counter productive to our goals. More importantly, he provides practical advise on how to begin the process of change that will work for anyone in any stage of their career, or any organization at any level of health. Not only will you find great information to help you become a better employee, leader, or manager, but you will also find that this book will help you become the person, spouse, parent, child, and sibling that your heart desires.
If any of the following statements resonate with you, buy it NOW
* I always feel like I am behind in my work and will never catch up
* I want my team to be more productive
* I desperately want to find balance between my work life and home life
* I want my team to be more accountable and responsible
* I struggle with the daily distractions of email, phone calls, and endless request for my time and can't get any of my own work done
* My company does a poor job of retaining employees
The great thing about Tony's new book is that it is full of sound research that reinforces what Tony is teaching and helps us to really understand why we do the things we do, even when they are counter productive to our goals. More importantly, he provides practical advise on how to begin the process of change that will work for anyone in any stage of their career, or any organization at any level of health. Not only will you find great information to help you become a better employee, leader, or manager, but you will also find that this book will help you become the person, spouse, parent, child, and sibling that your heart desires.
If any of the following statements resonate with you, buy it NOW
* I always feel like I am behind in my work and will never catch up
* I want my team to be more productive
* I desperately want to find balance between my work life and home life
* I want my team to be more accountable and responsible
* I struggle with the daily distractions of email, phone calls, and endless request for my time and can't get any of my own work done
* My company does a poor job of retaining employees
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