Work Like Your Dog - by Luke Barber & Matt Weinstein (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Having more fun at work isn't a fantasy.
It's a smart and savvy strategy to becoming a more creative, productive, and dynamic employee.

Work Like Your Dog is an inspiring call to "come out and play" at work. Dogs seem to have endless energy and tackle tasks with enviable enthusiasm, and Matt Weinstein and Luke Barber believe that most people could take a course from their ca-nines. By learning to play more at their jobs, workers can "lick" difficult challenges, take pleasure from tasks previously dreaded, reduce their levels of stress, and recharge their creative side.

People spend more time working, thinking about work, and traveling to and from work than all other waking activities combined. Employees are asked to do more for less--making their work lives more exhausting and less satisfying. More hours are far from the answer; honing a sense of frolic and fun is. This book is a launching pad for fifty fun lessons about frolicking your way to success:

Don't be afraid of being the fool. Be prepared to take risks; your new experiences may well lead to new contacts or new accounts and, if nothing else, will make you feel wonderful.
Celebrate every success, not just your own but your coworker's new account, brilliant idea, or anniversary.
You'll help release tension, underscore positives, and keep people aware of challenges conquered.
Use humor to solve problems. Create a swearing room, where you and coworkers vent frustrations. Use a joke to diffuse verbal abuse from a customer. Humor can help you stay focused on the most important aspects of your job and prevent the worst aspects from getting the upper hand.
Why choose stress? Almost every situation can provoke either stress or laughter. If you choose the highway of humor, your job will be more enjoyable and you'll work more effectively.
And many more suggestions, stories, and ideas to unleash your playful professional and keep you from barking up the wrong tree.

Weinstein and Barber's advice comes from seminar attendees and hundreds of corporate clients, such as American Express, IBM, Federal Express, and AT&T. This book shares the wisdom from these employees and from twenty-plus years of helping people enjoy their way to success.

Review Quotes

Praise for Matt Weinstein's Managing to Have Fun

"Matt Weinstein mixes business with pleasure, and you and I are the winners. I love this book and am using it in my own organization. Managing to Have Fun is good therapy and good business."
--Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence

"Managing to Have Fun is a fun read, but don't let its playful tone fool you. This is an important book about a serious subject, a must-read for any manager."
--Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager

"I can't remember when I've had more fun reading a business book, and at the same time, I've learned things that I could put into practice the very next day."
--Jack Canfield, coauthor of Chicken Soup for the Soul

"The tools included in Matt Weinstein's book could improve human satisfaction in the workplace by huge multiples. I wish every company implemented at least half of his techniques. His philosophies and tips for fun-making thoroughly delighted me." --Laurie Beth Jones, author of Jesus CEO

About the Author

Matt Weinstein is founder and Emperor of Playfair, Inc., an international management consulting company that presents innovative team-building programs to more than four hundred clients each year. One of the most widely requested speakers on the corporate lecture circuit and a nationally acclaimed expert on the use of play in the workplace, he is the author of Managing to Have Fun. He lives in northern California with his wife, Geneen Roth.

Luke Barber is a professor of philosophy at Richland College in Dallas, Texas, where he teaches both philosophy and ethics. His in-novative teaching has earned him recognition by the National Institute of Staff and Organizational Devel-opment as a master teacher. His previous careers as a child evangelist, a navy seaman, and a 100-mile ultramarathon endurance runner have given him a unique perspective on learning to laugh and play with life's problems.