12Joy at Work
When Deming criticized the top-down command-and-control approach to management, one of his most passionate arguments was that it destroys people’s natural inclination to find pride and joy in their work. In this chapter, we’ll learn about how joy at work was established as the founding principle of a thriving software firm.
A NEW KIND OF LEADERSHIP
Menlo Innovations CEO Rich Sheridan, who we met in Chapter 3, is one of the most vocal critics of corporate hierarchies and their tendency to interfere with people’s innate desire to do their best work. Menlo, a thriving custom software developer and consultancy based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was founded with the purpose of building a company where people can gain joy and satisfaction from their work.
Many people know Sheridan through his bestselling books Joy Inc. and Chief Joy Officer, and for his numerous public speeches, podcasts, and TED talks. He began his career as a coder working for a small entrepreneurial software firm based in Ann Arbor. That firm was soon acquired by a larger software company, Interface Systems, and Sheridan was exposed to the culture and mechanisms of software creation in a hierarchical corporate environment. He also became conscious of his own career and began to have concerns about how the corporate ladder operates.
“I had noticed something early on that really stuck with me,” says Sheridan. “When you’re going up the career ladder, it’s pretty natural to look at the people who are two ...
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