Mavericks in the Workplace: Harnessing the Genius of American Workers

By William G. Lee

The great competition today is not just for customers, but for American employees. How do you attract the best, keep them happy, and harness their considerable ingenuity and entrepreneurism? Indeed, how do you find common ground at all on which to organize so resourceful yet so individualistic, so diverse, and often so contentious a work force, the most talented of whom are also often the most iconoclastic?
Mavericks in the Workplace shows that such traits, once regarded as debilitating weaknesses, are in fact sources of great strength for organizations. The key to tapping them is not Human Resources programs, pilling on more perks, or even pricey compensation programs. The key can be found in a clearer understanding of our social, cultural, and political heritage. William Lee draws on intensive work by historians, who have brilliantly pieced together the puzzle of what makes Americans tick. How do they normally organize, for example, when faced with the most daunting tasks? What bonds them to groups, and to each other? What sort of leadership do they respect and respond to most strongly? Above all, how do they best form into societies (and every business is a small society) that harness their considerable wealth-creating potential? The answers will shock conventional management wisdom--but they will resonate with the employees you want to hire and keep.
Even the most diverse and individualistic American workers, Lee asserts, can find common ground in organizations that build on Thomas Jefferson's radical basis for American society itself: "All men are created equal." Mavericks in the Workplace shows companies how to create that common ground and win the contest for American workers.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195116569
• ISBN13: 9780195116564
• Release Date: November 1998
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.1" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

"what makes us tick"

"With everybody going on and on about technology these days, Lee's focus on the social aspects of leadership and organizations is a welcome relief. His argument -- that much of the blather that's been written about leadership is simply out of touch with our own culture --- is a great insight, and convincingly argued. I'm fascinated by history, so his use of formative events in American history to provide insight into our culture -- into "whatmakes us tick" as he puts it -- was my cup of tea. His chapter on leadership, using the American founding fathers as a model -- and they were quite different from the "transformational leader" model everyone touts today -- was fascinating. He gets a little repetitive in places, and sometimes "dumbs it down" a bit too much -- but this one gets 5 stars from me."

Intriging perspective on improving employee effectivness

Mr Lee utilizes a unique approach for corporations that are truly interested in more effectively utilizing one of their most critical assets: their employees.This book draws interesting parallels between true 'American Ingenuity' as displayed by early americans with methods that corporations can/should utilize to harness those traits in within todays' workforce. I particularly enjoyed the historical reflections and discussions of early americans' distinctive traits and the 'original entrepreneurial spirit'....