Igniting the Invisible Tribe: Designing An Organization That Doesn't Suck

by Josh Allan Dykstra

Why is it that so many of us toil away in jobs we hate, being treated like machines, doing things that will eventually ruin the planet? Is this really the best we can do with our work and our lives? Concluding a massive research project spanning the fields of behavioral economics, future trend analysis, and management science, Josh Allan Dykstra elegantly shows how the world of work is evolving-and that the competitive advantage of business is shifting towards something much more life-giving than where we've been.

Genres: Business

310 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2012

Reviews

[Victoria Hanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book we need coworkers and supervisors to read YESTERDAY! But tomorrow is a new day. I can dream.

[Anastasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book as it was both inspiring and energetic. It reads more like a manifesto than a guide, but this perspective is definitely worth exploring. The language used was easy to comprehend and the content was well-concentrated on each page.

Despite the book's clear structure of the perspective on organizational thinking, it came across to me as more of a pastor's speech than a concrete guide.
Ideas are not entirely new - to think of organizations horizontally, to avoid focusing on function and do whatever needs to inspire people and provide for them a value of working, as well as for customers a value of the product and for leadership value of revenue.

It sounds like it should work, but I am not sure that this might be applied to corporates like Microsoft or Meta as it has too many directions, business units, and departments.
I would appreciate further research from the author on how these ideas could be applied to different types of organizations.

Overall, this book has provided a promising start to my own research and I'm excited to delve deeper into the topic.

[Naturegirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a great book about business. Josh is writing about how organizations can find ways to make their workplaces more inspiring and have more meaning for the people who work there. It's about encouraging creativity and opening doors to new ways of thinking. I think a good quote to sum up the heart of the book is, "Emerging generations don't know anything but constant change...we don't even have to teach these individuals how to be this way. What we will have to do, however, is to reimagine how to structure our organizations to initiate an atmosphere of continual growth, so these extraordinary individuals will be able to keep swimming."

Another part of the book I found especially significant was about how we value different types of work and the people who do that work. He talks about "dignifying the detail doers" and as someone who was a detail doer for many years before I landed where I am now, I understand what it's like to be "just the assistant." I enjoyed being an assistant because I knew it would lead to greater things, but even among the upper ranks of my company, assistants are still seen as the little guy, the insignificant doer. "In the emerging economy, it is essential for us to allow others the freedom to create meaning in whatever kind of work they see fit...In order to succeed in the emerging marketplace we must fight the urge to project our own tastes on others, because we need those people who are different, now more than ever!"

I would really recommend this book for someone thinking about starting their own company, or for someone in the upper ranks of corporate America because it challenges the ideas that traditional corporate America is run on.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dykstra's concepts for a well-functioning business---& for life!!!---are refreshing and brought me hope for future, which can be actualized NOW!!