A Miserable Job Analysis

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In comparing Three Signs of a Miserable Job, A Fable For Managers (And Their Employees) with Influencer, The New Science of Leading Change; it’s important to note that both books address the fundamental issue of employee satisfaction and motivation but from different perspectives. Lencioni approaches the problem from the perspective of the employee satisfaction and what makes a job miserable. Influencer, focuses on the top business leaders in the world and how they affect organizational change. In this paper we will discuss symbiotic relationship the two books share and why are make an excellent pairing for a leadership course. Finally, we will discuss how any leader can have an immediate and lasting impact on any business and its employees …show more content…
According to Lencioni the three signs are anonymity, irrelevance and immeasurement. Being a remote employee located over 1000 miles from my team, I can intimately relate to this feeling. Since moving to Miami nearly four years ago I have had two VP of Sales. The most recent VP has made it abundantly clear that he is not a fan of me working outside remote and often times “forgets” to include me on team emails or conference calls. Were it not for my sheer production, I would be feeling way more stress and in fear of my job security. “People cannot be fulfilled in their work if they are not known. All human beings need to be understood and appreciated for their unique qualities by someone in a position of authority.” (Lencioni, p.221) In addition to feeling anonymous, miserable employees also feel irrelevant. Even though I am leading my team in sales for the year, I have yet to be singled out by our new VP for any personal achievements. According to Lencioni, “everyone needs to know that their job matters, to someone. Anyone.” There are those that would say the money we make is our reward, that if I wanted recognition I am in the wrong business, Lencioni would suggest otherwise. The last factor of the three factors is immeasurement, or the inability to judge one’s results against some …show more content…
For me, Influencer was hands down the most impactful books I’ve read for a college level course. I am a firm believer that if you want to be the best, you must sit down and learn from the best. Having worked and lived in NYC for a number of years, I was excited to see the authors chronicle Danny Meyer, owner of my absolute favorite restaurant. The three reasons causing employees to be miserable dovetail seamlessly into the change model discussed in Influencer. The Influencer change model is about changing behavior to achieve measurable results. The way you set about changing behavior is by changing motivation and ability across the three aspects of social, personal and structural. What I enjoyed most about this model was its scalability across all of life’s challenges from simple fitness goals to eliminating

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