M. Lee Smith Publishers President Dan Oswald reviews the book It’s Called Work for A Reason! Your Success Is Your Own Damn Fault by Larry Winget. Review explains how company president found book’s lessons about work and motivation so important he paid employees to read it.
Thief! Liar! Those are just a couple of the aspersions that will be cast your way if you read Larry Winget’s It’s Called Work for a Reason!: Your Success Is Your Own Damn Fault
Get used to the exclamation points if you plan on reading this book. The author is screaming at you from the very first page of the book and doesn’t stop until you reach the back cover. There is nothing staid about Mr. Winget and his approach. He’s proclaimed himself “The Pitbull of Personal Development,” and he works hard to live up to the name he has given himself. His style of delivery is meant to grab the attention of the reader — and for the most part he does.
I could argue that there is nothing really new or earth shattering for the reader in this book. Did I find any real insights or ideas that I had not previously considered? None come to mind. But yet, I offered $100 to any employee at the company who would read the book and come to a meeting to discuss it.
I did this because I think the book has real value in the workplace not for what it says, but how it says it. It’s the delivery that sets this book apart from most self-improvement books. His delivery of the unvarnished truth is what makes this book worth reading. He doesn’t beat around the bush or deliver a politically correct version of the relationship between employee and employer. He says the things that we all know to be true but are reluctant to say ourselves.
Here’s an example. Winget spends no less than seven pages on the idiots that we all have to work with every day. He names them all (Cryer, Bully, Gossip, etc.) and even has an entire subcategory he call the asses (Smart-Ass, Hard-Ass, Kiss-Ass). We can all see our coworkers or even ourselves in some of his descriptions. In fact, if you read one of his descriptions of the various types of idiots, I’ll bet one of your coworkers’ names will immediately jump to mind. Is this the typical “pump-you-up and send you back out to conquer the world” type of message so many of these books contain? It’s not even close. But it does ring eerily true to the reader.
Is the book controversial? Yes. Does the book over-simplify what is a very complicated relationship between employee and employer? Yes. Does the author exaggerate his points in order to deliver his message? You bet. Did I consider that my employees would resent the message that the book puts forth and might want my head on a platter after reading Winget’s rantings? Definitely. But it was worth the risk because I believe this book causes the reader to reflect on his own actions in the workplace — and that is what makes this book worth reading.
There are hundreds if not thousands of books that tell you how wonderful you are and how you can do even better. This one shakes you hard, slaps you in the face, and makes you take a hard look in the mirror. And self-reflection can be a very healthy thing.
On a scale of one of to five, I give this book 3.5 exclamation points!
Dan Oswald is president of M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC. The Nashville-based company publishes more than 70 newsletters, most of them state-specific legal newsletters and many of them jointly with law firms. Dan was previously president of Lawrence Ragan Communications, Inc., publisher of newsletters in the fields of public relations, corporate communications, human resources, interactive media and IT manuals, reports, audio conferences and Webinars, and sponsor of seminars and conferences for communications executives. Prior to joining Ragan in 1995, Dan spent four years with Aspen Publishers as a marketing manager and three years with Center for Management Systems, a privately held information company based in Iowa. Dan serves on the boards of directors of the Newsletter & Electronic Publishers Association (NEPA) and the Newsletter & Electronic Publishers Foundation (NEPF), and he is the immediate past president of NEPA.