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The Why of Work

How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations that Win

by Dave Ulrich and Wendy Ulrich

McGraw-Hill, 2010

Category: Leadership & Management

The Why of Work
An expansive, inspiring guidebook for meaning-making leaders, the employees they guide and the companies they serve.

In this summary, you will learn

  • Why “making meaning” is a critical leadership competency
  • How to ask questions that challenge employees so you can align them with work assignments that matter most to them
  • How to recharge your workplace, employees and customers

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Why you should read The Why of Work

Dave and Wendy Ulrich’s book about abundance is itself an example of abundance. Dave, a business writer, and Wendy, a psychologist, sweep you up in a tide of leadership ideas, processes, quotations and stories that hammer home a thesis so right and true you might mistake it for common sense: Workers who care about their jobs and understand why they work will exceed your expectations and break the boundaries of their job descriptions. They will better serve customers who, in turn, will bind themselves to the thoughtful firm that produced such an enlightened staff. If this sounds like the yellow brick road, the authors cobble together ample gold paving stones to build a solid path toward fulfilling your firm’s potential. They explain how every person and organization can change for the good, while earning a profit. Along with positive psychology and happiness research, you will find useful grids, summaries and assessment tools to help you shift staid cultures and motivate stale staffers. Some of the advice is soft and general; the authors acknowledge that they skim the surface of various disciplines. Yet when the Ulrichs become specific about how to build relationships or cultivate creativity, they show you concretely how to nurture a firm where business results and human development work together. getAbstract recommends this book to executives, managers and human resources personnel who hope to serve their customers and the world through deeper service to their employees.

About the Authors

Dave Ulrich, a professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and a partner at the RBL Group, has written 23 books. Psychologist Wendy Ulrich founded the Sixteen Stones Center for Growth.

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  1. September 5, 2010 Chan Kah chee
    Competencies, skills and abilities need to be clearly understood, i.e. the why of work.
    The ability to define the why of work is crucial to detrmine the skills (short-time), competence (can be adapted) and ability (the competence that grow aith experience).
    1. September 7, 2010 Yessenia Batista
      Hi Chan, great points! Here we learn the importance of leaders within an organization understanding the "why of work" for their employees. But we must wonder, to what extent are the employees responsible for also building abundant organizations. Does it narrow down to the quality of who you are hiring?

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