Posts Tagged: lead

Work rules – loved it, please amend it

I am a happy iphone, ipad, Macbook Pro user that is just in love with Google: the products, the work, the culture(as much as I know about it: Who would not like to ride the bike inside the office?). It is no wander that the next day after I heard this interview with the  SVP, People Operations Laszlo Bock I got the Kindle edition of his book.
Actually “Work rules!” was my non-technical vacation book. (Yes, I read about work rules and how work [can] rule during my holidays ).
One cannot dislike a book in which the sincerity can be felt: Laszlo even admits the doubts he has when he became a Googler. Usually when I read a book/article, that is said to be about team management, I get kind of septic: same old tricks rephrased. Well, that was definitely not the case about “Work rules”. It provides not only lots of results form “experiments” that took place at Google (and as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said: Grown-ups love numbers … ), but also some rules that could be applied in order to achieve having an awesome (Googlish) work place. There were plenty of times when I was asked: “Why are you giggling?” Do not get me wrong it is a serious book about a serious matter, but written in a way that it is easy to read, by inserting anecdotes from Googlers day by day work time.

work-rules

There is something I do not entirely agree with: the cover of the book: It is said that it will change the way one lives and leads. Ok, I know the work is part of our life and the way we work is part of the way we actually live (see the below diagram)

but I felt this is not a book for managers or people that want to become managers/leaders. I felt that this is a book for everyone – no matter of the label she/he has. I am pretty sure that anyone can apply most of the rules stated in its regular working day. So, the amend I would like to do see is the cover to say : “THAT WILL TRANSFORM HOW YOU LIVE, WORK AND LEAD”.

Laszlo, I am looking forward to reading the second edition and hope it has the amended cover!
P.S. I hope the next one has some data analysis in regards to the number of people applying for a job at Google (before and after this book was released).