The Three Signs of a Miserable Job

Publisher's Summary

In his sixth fable, best-selling author Patrick Lencioni takes on a topic that almost everyone can relate to: the causes of a miserable job.

Millions of workers, even those who have carefully chosen careers based on true passions and interests, dread going to work, suffering each day as they trudge to jobs that make them cynical, weary, and frustrated. It is a simple fact of business life that any job, from investment banker to dishwasher, can become miserable.

Through the story of a CEO turned pizzeria manager, Lencioni reveals the three elements that make work miserable: irrelevance, immeasurability, and anonymity. And he gives managers and their employees the keys to make any job more fulfilling.

As with all of Lencioni's books, this one is filled with actionable advice you can put into effect immediately. In addition to the fable, the book includes a detailed model examining the three signs of job misery and how they can be remedied. It covers the benefits of managing for job fulfillment within organizations, increased productivity, greater retention, and competitive advantage, and it offers examples of how managers can use the applications in the book to deal with specific jobs and situations.

©2007 Patrick Lencioni (P)2007 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Insightful, simple look at all employee's needs

Patrick once again has written a very insightful and entertaining book regarding leadership. In this case, he concentrates on how management can change the culture, increase output and productivity, and improve employee commitment and retention. He identifies the important traits/needs of everyone, and provides some great tools and examples of how to utilize these in motivating and working with your employees. By applying these, it would appear that drastic improvements of employee morale can be attained. To think that it is just three factors: Irrelevance, Immeasurement and Anonymity, that destroy our framework for working effectively in our jobs is just brillant, but so simple. This book is an easy and must read for all that manage people.

25 of 25 people found this review helpful

Another gem

Would you listen to The Three Signs of a Miserable Job again? Why?

Yes - The fable format works for me, making the concepts memorable.

What other book might you compare The Three Signs of a Miserable Job to and why?

Anything else by Patrick Lencioni. Everything he writes has some gems. He simplifies complex issues and yet keeps focused on organizational health.

Any additional comments?

The three signs are anonymity, irrelevance and lack of measurement. In other words, to enjoy a job, we must feel a personal connection, know that our work has meaning and know how to measure it.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Disappointed

Raw crude humor foul language, not my thing. Disappointed couldn’t finish the book. Dont recommend it

great, like always.

another great, riveting story with tons of practical applications. if you have people reporting to you at work or elsewhere, it's for you.

Brilliant and Necessary

Every manager needs to read this book. Every person needs to read this book! Because of what I learned here I quit my miserable job of 12 years and I'm applying these principles to my freelance work.
As someone with degrees in management, HR, counseling, and spiritual formation, I cannot recommend this work enough. Why has it taken so long for someone in a position of power to recognize the impact of a miserable work culture?
We cannot afford to ignore these problems in our lives and in our culture. Read this book now. Seriously. Now.

A very important book.

Very good idea to present the theory while using stories. You learn how yo apply it in practice.
Every human who is involved in managing should definitely read this book.

Paper offers organization

This book has a summary in the back that can be very helpful for a reminder of the key points when you want to put it into practice. The Audio book doesn't offer this.

eye opening for management

This is the greatest leadership book out there learned so much about myself and others

More of a story than anything....

I felt the book was lacking of a solid intro/overview of what to expect. All of a sudden the book talks about this CEO, and the hurdles he overcame and how he overcame them. This somewhat forced you to extract the gems of wisdom from the storyline or waiting until the last hour. Info was a ok, but it could have easily been condensed.

Eye opening and refreshing

As a manager this book was an incredible tool handed down to me by an upper management member. I am incredibly happy I took the time to indulge and cannot wait to apply some of the things I have learned.