Make Work Great

Make Work Great, McGraw Hill, 2010 by Ed Muzio is a very inspiring, liberating book that can be highly recommended for all employees who want to take initiative to improve the world where they work.

The central message of this book we are free to choose to make our workplace great. Muzio shows that everyone influences everyone else in a culture, even without intending it. The behavior of every individual can make a difference, even if by influencing only one colleague at a time. For example, if you have a negative attitude, always blaming some mysterious "them" for everything that annoys you, the culture around you will become negative. You are like the bad apple that spoils the bunch. Conversely, if you choose to behave in a positive way, you can just as readily influence those around you to feel, think and behave in a more positive way too.

Many employees are unhappy in their jobs. So, they complain about how bad things are in their company and quit. But what does this do for your self-respect? You actually need to place even more blame on others just to pump yourself up to preserve your self-esteem. But, you could take another path. There is really nothing but your own will power and attitude standing in the way of taking small steps to change the culture where you work. Think how much stronger would be your sense of self-respect and achievement if you could turn around a large ship that seems otherwise immovable!

The idea is to see yourself as a leader, where leadership is defined, not as a role, but as the ability to influence others to behave differently. Being by looking around yourself for "leadership opportunities" - not positions to fill, but things that could be improved where you can improve them directly by setting a better example or by influencing your colleagues to behave differently. As a role-model you might inspire others around you to show similar leadership.

Start by reading Ed Muzio's book for the inspiration to get you started.