The Three Signs of a Miserable Job

A Fable for Managers (and their employees)

By: Patrick Lencioni

Narrated by: Dan Woren

Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins

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.

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.

Very good to self improve

I never thought of this way, anominity and what not, it certainly is a better way to think in order to perform better. I notice sometimes the narrator forgot to change his voice 😆

Must read if you are an employee or an employer

If you're genuinely looking to make an impact in your business and team, then this will help you tremendously. Love the performance. Love the story. I can relate to it.

Interesting hypothesis

A contrived story that could be true. Would motivate emotional people at the bottom of the food chain.

Leadership team improvement paradigm shift

This was an incredible book, of course I appreciate all of the author's works but this one was simple fun and a great conversation piece for my leadership team to take meaningful action.

Powerful message for managers and non-managers

I highly recommend this book! It opened my eyes to how we over complicate simple things that can have such a positive impact on people’s lives.

So many managers are miserable in their jobs because they were promoted out of an individual contributor position and no longer have a strong grasp on the three factors outlined in this book.

Many individual contributors are miserable in their jobs because them and/or their managers don’t grasp these three factors.

There are several action items I have taken from this book that I am sure will improve the lives of the people who report to me and the people I report to.

This was a really great book

I love where I work, but when some plans got delayed I had a dip in motivation. This book is really very good. It is written like fiction so that you can 'experience' what is going on. The story is told from the bosses perspective but it really does help and it helped in my relationships with colleagues as well. Highly recommended.

Every true leader should read this.

first hand account on creating a passionate team. if you're unable to follow this book you really shouldn't be leading.

Excellent

Excellent book on management, meaursables and creating a culture your team will want to be a part of.