Winner of the CMI Management Book of the Year 2011 in the Digital Management Book Category

What the judges said...

'The Future of Work is a book by an acknowledged master in the field, an author who treads the same path as Charles Handy and Richard Leyard, someone who realises that the nature of our working lives and the satisfaction or otherwise that we gain from them are subjects too important to be left to the writers of dusty textbooks.'

'The judges also described it not only as full of inspiration and thoroughly relavant to modern managers but also, even, a page turner. That is no mean feat of writing. I have read a lot of management books in my time and I can tell you that there are only a handful which you could call, hand on heart, page turners. There are many great stories and big ideas in business and management, but very few writers can make them come alive as well as Richard Donkin'

Lines from the Book   

What's wrong with work 

"The underlying source of anguish for many people in work today is an antiquated system of employment and management designed for an industrial age." 

The ugly side of management

"Today we are experiencing a new form of ugliness - the ugliness of process-driven modern management; ugliness in the jargon it has adopted; ugliness in its reporting structures and pettiness; ugliness in its physical structure - its cubicles, screens and sterile, cold and boxy plate-glass offices. Much of modern work lacks beauty and that's such a shame. But there is no place for beauty on a balance sheet." 

Organisations of one  

"While some people will continue to work much as before there will be far more opportunities in future for people to engage in fulfilling vocations, sometimes as self-employed artisans, marketing themselves as an organisation of one through the world wide web or its evolved inheritor."   

Changing attitudes 

"Like hermit crabs seeking larger shells, people today are yearning for more accommodating arrangements in which to undertake their work." 

Age of the search engine 

"If we look back at the 19 th century as the steam age and think, as we should, of the 20 th century as the age of the internal combustion engine, I wonder if our grandchildren will view the early part of the 21 st century as the age of the search engine? It would be a fitting epithet since the power and ubiquity of information retrieval is as formidable as any that multiplies the combined energy of harnessed horses."   

No collar work   

"It is no longer satisfactory, if ever it was, to make white collar and blue collar distinctions that assume a superiority of white collar work. Hundreds of blue collar jobs today are highly skilled. If we must insist on collar-type in considering the new work it is better to describe it as no collar work. They don't have dress codes at Google."  

Employee engagement  

"Employee engagement - the one trick pony of modern management."   

A greed for people  

"Just as there is a greed for money in today's society, there is a greed for people. Business must learn to share their people. Companies do not own the lives of their employees. If they need any confirmation they need only look at their balance sheets. People may be regarded as assets by HR directors but, without a radical change to the accounting system, finance directors will always book them as a cost." 

Antiquated system of employment  

"Like hermit crabs seeking larger shells, people today are yearning for more accommodating arrangements in which to undertake their work.

"Their quibble is not with work itself. We all understand the need to undertake work in order to improve our lives and provide for our dependents. No, the underlying source of anguish for many people in work today is an antiquated system of employment and management designed for an industrial age."  

Planted desires  

"The more we can remove the distortions of planted desires the more we can discover and pursue our true ambitions which surely must be to live fulfilling lives."  

Health  

"Healthy balance sheets are more attractive than a healthy workforce for those who think of a number when asked to imagine a figure."      

The Future of Work - read about it here