What do you think?
Rate this book
The Cubicle Manifesto
Published in paperback by Ebury Press, an imprint of Random House.
Cubicle dwellers of the world unite....
Office worker Mayukh is overworked and overstressed. He puts in absurdly long hours at work, neglecting his family, friends and any semblance of a social life. When he's not at work he is glued to his Blackberry, compulsively checking and sending emails to his colleagues. However, one day Mayukh's computer is infected by a virus that has other ideas about his work-life balance. It starts a revolution that changes the way Mayukh works forever...
This exciting new business parable speaks to everyone who spends more time at the office than they should - or with someone in their life who does. It sets out a new way of working that goes against the digital age's culture of stress, teaching how to get a better balance in your life and yet still achieve success. Refreshing and incredibly readable, The Cubicle Manifesto is sure to make you reassess your life and change the way you work for the better.
So cubicle dwellers of the world- unite in discovering the secrets of The Cubicle Manifesto. You have nothing to lose but the tyranny of your cubicles!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mainak Dhar is a cubicle dweller by day and author by night. After an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, he has spent more than fifteen years in the corporate world, and currently works at a senior level with a leading multinational. At the same time, he has been a prolific writer with twelve books to his credit including titles published by leading publishers like Wiley, Random House and Penguin. Learn more about him and contact him at mainakdhar.com.
Cubicle dwellers of the world unite....
Office worker Mayukh is overworked and overstressed. He puts in absurdly long hours at work, neglecting his family, friends and any semblance of a social life. When he's not at work he is glued to his Blackberry, compulsively checking and sending emails to his colleagues. However, one day Mayukh's computer is infected by a virus that has other ideas about his work-life balance. It starts a revolution that changes the way Mayukh works forever...
This exciting new business parable speaks to everyone who spends more time at the office than they should - or with someone in their life who does. It sets out a new way of working that goes against the digital age's culture of stress, teaching how to get a better balance in your life and yet still achieve success. Refreshing and incredibly readable, The Cubicle Manifesto is sure to make you reassess your life and change the way you work for the better.
So cubicle dwellers of the world- unite in discovering the secrets of The Cubicle Manifesto. You have nothing to lose but the tyranny of your cubicles!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mainak Dhar is a cubicle dweller by day and author by night. After an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, he has spent more than fifteen years in the corporate world, and currently works at a senior level with a leading multinational. At the same time, he has been a prolific writer with twelve books to his credit including titles published by leading publishers like Wiley, Random House and Penguin. Learn more about him and contact him at mainakdhar.com.
- GenresBusiness
128 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 20, 2011
2 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Mainak Dhar
58 books277 followersAfter finishing his schooling at Modern School, Barakhamba Road and his under-graduation at Hindu College, Delhi, Mainak Dhar graduated from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He has spent two decades in the corporate sector — starting with Procter & Gamble in India. He spent eighteen years with P&G, fifteen of them outside India across the Asia Pacific region. In 2014, he moved back to India as the CEO of the India operations of a major consumer products multinational.
A self-described cubicle dweller by day and writer by night, Mainak is also the author of over a dozen books, some of which have been bestsellers in India and abroad. These books have been translated into Turkish, Vietnamese, Japanese, French, German and Portuguese. He lives in Mumbai with his wife, Puja, and their son, Aaditya. When not at work or with his family, he can usually be found working on, or thinking about his next book. Learn more about him and contact him at www.facebook.com/AuthorMainakDhar.
A self-described cubicle dweller by day and writer by night, Mainak is also the author of over a dozen books, some of which have been bestsellers in India and abroad. These books have been translated into Turkish, Vietnamese, Japanese, French, German and Portuguese. He lives in Mumbai with his wife, Puja, and their son, Aaditya. When not at work or with his family, he can usually be found working on, or thinking about his next book. Learn more about him and contact him at www.facebook.com/AuthorMainakDhar.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 8, 2018
Mayukh, Group Manager, Marketing, at a top multinational is a professional who pushes himself to the maximum,and believes that the more you slog, the better work you produce.
As he slogs his life away in a cubicle, with a stop over at home just to sleep and be back in his cubicle, a strange turn of events force him to change his way of working. A mysterious force, which Mayukh suspects to be a virus, starts taking over Mayukh's laptop and instructs him how how to go about. Initially irritated at this, Mayukh reluctantly follows the instructions only to find out that an alternative path may also work, sometimes much better.
A self help book packaged as a simple story. Good succinct read.
As he slogs his life away in a cubicle, with a stop over at home just to sleep and be back in his cubicle, a strange turn of events force him to change his way of working. A mysterious force, which Mayukh suspects to be a virus, starts taking over Mayukh's laptop and instructs him how how to go about. Initially irritated at this, Mayukh reluctantly follows the instructions only to find out that an alternative path may also work, sometimes much better.
A self help book packaged as a simple story. Good succinct read.
May 23, 2022
My cubicle manifesto:
I choose not to be a slave to Cubicle Tyranny.
My primary employer is You Corp and I will do what is right for it’s stakeholders.
The NPV of Happiness means I will act now when it comes to You Corp.
My calendar is my tool, not my master, and I will prioritize appointments for myself.
To think out of the box, I will take myself and my people out of the box.
I will cut off the leash of the blinking red light when I leave my cubicle.
I will connect to remind myself of what I am and who I was outside my cubicle.
I will bring my personality into my cubicle to show who’s in charge here.
I choose not to be a slave to Cubicle Tyranny.
My primary employer is You Corp and I will do what is right for it’s stakeholders.
The NPV of Happiness means I will act now when it comes to You Corp.
My calendar is my tool, not my master, and I will prioritize appointments for myself.
To think out of the box, I will take myself and my people out of the box.
I will cut off the leash of the blinking red light when I leave my cubicle.
I will connect to remind myself of what I am and who I was outside my cubicle.
I will bring my personality into my cubicle to show who’s in charge here.
May 17, 2014
Hm. I was expecting a satirical essay'ish manifesto telling me about the stupidity of cubicle work. Instead I got a short story about Mayukh who works all the time. He has no time for lunch and he's always too late for dinner with his wife and kid. That's no good.
All until his computer and Blackberry starts giving him clues on how to live his life. Spend less time at work, more time with the family. That sort of stuff.
The virus (for it appears to be a virus who's doing the typing) tells our protagonist fortune cookie gems like 'To think out of the box, take yourself out of your box'. The 'quotes on love and life'-stuff you'd normally find at a site like Pinterest, dominated by women (true story). You get the picture, right?
I was more in the 'two stars'-area, but I decided to add a third star, because it is rather well written and you get into a pretty good rhythm reading it.
All in all, it's a nice little story. But if you find that it's a real life changing experience for you to read it, you're probably in so deep shit that it'll take more than a 114 pages long (or short, if you will) book to help you. Just saying.
All until his computer and Blackberry starts giving him clues on how to live his life. Spend less time at work, more time with the family. That sort of stuff.
The virus (for it appears to be a virus who's doing the typing) tells our protagonist fortune cookie gems like 'To think out of the box, take yourself out of your box'. The 'quotes on love and life'-stuff you'd normally find at a site like Pinterest, dominated by women (true story). You get the picture, right?
I was more in the 'two stars'-area, but I decided to add a third star, because it is rather well written and you get into a pretty good rhythm reading it.
All in all, it's a nice little story. But if you find that it's a real life changing experience for you to read it, you're probably in so deep shit that it'll take more than a 114 pages long (or short, if you will) book to help you. Just saying.
October 12, 2012
Hm. I was expecting a satirical essay'ish manifesto telling me about the stupidity of cubicle work. Instead I got a short story about Mayukh who works all the time. He has no time for lunch and he's always too late for dinner with his wife and kid. That's no good.
All until his computer and Blackberry starts giving him clues on how to live his life. Spend less time at work, more time with the family. That sort of stuff.
The virus (for it appears to be a virus who's doing the typing) tells our protagonist fortune cookie gems like 'To think out of the box, take yourself out of your box'. The 'quotes on love and life'-stuff you'd normally find at a site like Pinterest, dominated by women (true story). You get the picture, right?
I was more in the 'two stars'-area, but I decided to add a third star, because it is rather well written and you get into a pretty good rhythm reading it.
All in all, it's a nice little story. But if you find that it's a real life changing experience for you to read it, you're probably in so deep shit that it'll take more than a 114 pages long (or short, if you will) book to help you. Just saying.
All until his computer and Blackberry starts giving him clues on how to live his life. Spend less time at work, more time with the family. That sort of stuff.
The virus (for it appears to be a virus who's doing the typing) tells our protagonist fortune cookie gems like 'To think out of the box, take yourself out of your box'. The 'quotes on love and life'-stuff you'd normally find at a site like Pinterest, dominated by women (true story). You get the picture, right?
I was more in the 'two stars'-area, but I decided to add a third star, because it is rather well written and you get into a pretty good rhythm reading it.
All in all, it's a nice little story. But if you find that it's a real life changing experience for you to read it, you're probably in so deep shit that it'll take more than a 114 pages long (or short, if you will) book to help you. Just saying.
February 10, 2014
Well, a marketing manager by day, who spends his waking hours working in a cubicle and leads a miserable life at a personal level by not even being able to pay attention to his wife and kid, turns a new leaf with the help of a computer virus. How does that happen and how does his life as well as that of his family and his immediate reports change is the crux of the story.
Very well written and lucidly presented, this short novel, if I may say so, is so entertaining and down to earth that any cubicle dweller would be able to relate to the content.
As the story progresses you begin to realize that you are the protagonist and the life that unfolds is that of yours. That is because of the manner of narration and sequencing of the events and real world situations that modern workers a.k.a. ‘Slaves’ undergo in the corporate world.
A must read for everyone in the corporate world irrespective of the position that one might be in. You will cherish the time spent in reading this book and who knows your life might be changed too, sans the virus.
The author ,Mainak Dhar , deserves a great round of applause from the cubicle dwellers of the world.
Very well written and lucidly presented, this short novel, if I may say so, is so entertaining and down to earth that any cubicle dweller would be able to relate to the content.
As the story progresses you begin to realize that you are the protagonist and the life that unfolds is that of yours. That is because of the manner of narration and sequencing of the events and real world situations that modern workers a.k.a. ‘Slaves’ undergo in the corporate world.
A must read for everyone in the corporate world irrespective of the position that one might be in. You will cherish the time spent in reading this book and who knows your life might be changed too, sans the virus.
The author ,Mainak Dhar , deserves a great round of applause from the cubicle dwellers of the world.
October 3, 2012
Like Spencer Johnson’s Who Moved My Cheese, this quick to read and engaging little book is a parable that sets out to shift the reader’s attitude to their work, life and management style.
In fact, it’s something of a modern day, office-set fairy tale, with a benign computer virus playing fairy godmother to protagonist, Mayukh, a marketing manager for an electronics company.
Mayukh works late most nights, lunches at his desk, misses family events or spends them typing frantically into his Blackberry. He faces health issues due to a lack of exercise, and has lost his creative spark and the respect of his staff.
The Cubicle Manifesto virus forces Mayukh to rethink his priorities. It shuts down his laptop at 6pm, inserts Mayukh-time (for paying bills and running errands) and “connect” time (to keep in touch with old friends) into his calendar, and locks him out of his Blackberry during family time. The impact on his health, relationships and career is instant.
In fact, it’s something of a modern day, office-set fairy tale, with a benign computer virus playing fairy godmother to protagonist, Mayukh, a marketing manager for an electronics company.
Mayukh works late most nights, lunches at his desk, misses family events or spends them typing frantically into his Blackberry. He faces health issues due to a lack of exercise, and has lost his creative spark and the respect of his staff.
The Cubicle Manifesto virus forces Mayukh to rethink his priorities. It shuts down his laptop at 6pm, inserts Mayukh-time (for paying bills and running errands) and “connect” time (to keep in touch with old friends) into his calendar, and locks him out of his Blackberry during family time. The impact on his health, relationships and career is instant.
November 16, 2013
This is a great book for corporate types burning the midnight oil for their organizations. Mainak raises the importance of a work-life balance and how it is important to also give time to your near and dear ones, and not forever be in pursuit of that next promotion or bonus.
While personal preferences may vary and some people may just be happy slogging away, this book does raise some pertinent points to put the rat race in perspective.
While personal preferences may vary and some people may just be happy slogging away, this book does raise some pertinent points to put the rat race in perspective.
July 6, 2014
This book, a short story about a man who is bound to his work and his cubical is a quick read with several simple, yet profound reminders for the busy professional. As this was a freebie from Amazon, I found the ROI to be quite high and have already implemented several of the principles suggested.
Read
July 9, 2014I learnt a lot, especially the use of the calender to organize and slot those activities that seem impossible to accomplish on weekdays. i now take time off to have lunch, read the newspaper and a book, am yet to start on the exercise part. Very insightful
Read
December 7, 2013False
January 9, 2015
A quick read on how to maintain a balance between ur professional and personal life, how to outperform and think out of the box.
A must read for those who say 'they are too busy to do this n that'.
A must read for those who say 'they are too busy to do this n that'.
January 15, 2016
Good attempt but quite plain with no surprises. Characters names could have been more global so that the parable can have more relevance to all readers.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews