While we nod our heads at positive examples to emulate, we all know the 9-to-5 world doesn’t always allow us to practice enlightened work habits. That’s where When Smart People Work for Dumb Bosses by William Lundin, Ph.
D. and Kathleen Lundin comes in. It features dispatches from the dark side of the office, where dictatorial bosses break people’s spirits and shoddy management practices dominate. The authors write, “. . . dumbness at work deserves as serious a study as smartness.” What’s offered here is a host of testimonials by employees to the wrongheaded policies of their superiors. After each case study, the authors offer a short analysis of the negative dynamics at play. Authors William Lundin and Kathleen Lundin, who are consultants and the founders of Worklife Productions, roam across a host of industries to uncover dysfunctional scenarios. They document the resulting downside when today’s management trends don’t work, from the use of teams to employee empowerment to flatter hierarchies. They also ruminate about why some people stay in bad work situations for long periods of time. Sometimes the only answer is to move on.
Reviewed by Neal Lipschutz.
