Everybody Matters

by Rajendra Sisodia Bob Chapman

'If you're ready for a new way of doing business, this is the book for you' Daniel H. Pink, author of To Sell Is Human and Drive'Bob Chapman is on a mission to change the way businesses treat their employees' Inc. magazineDo you want to boost the morale, loyalty, creativity and performance of your employees?In Everybody Matters , CEO Bob Chapman and bestselling author Raj Sisodia challenge traditional thinking about how to run a business and show you how to lead your company so that everyone feels valued.As CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, Bob Chapman has pioneered a dramatically different approach to leadership that has created a high performing and happy culture. At Barry-Wehmiller, every single person matters, just like in a family. That's not a cliché; it's the bedrock of the company's success.In Everybody Matters , Chapman shows how any organization can stop viewing its employees are simply func­tions, to be moved around, 'managed' with carrots and sticks, or discarded at will. By doing so, disengaged workers begin to share their gifts and talents toward a shared future. Uninspired workers stop feeling that their jobs have no meaning. And everyone stops counting the minutes until it's time to go home.Everybody Matters provides clear steps to transform your own workplace, whether you lead two or two hundred thousand people.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Nonfiction, Self Help, Management, Psychology, Professional Development

272 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2015

Reviews

[Josh Bersin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book but could use more detail

This book is part of a very important trend toward conscious capitalism and people centric businesses. But as I read the book I found lots of great one liners but quite a bit of CEO centric talk about how successful he has been. Most of the practices here are common sense but well grounded.

I took the time to look the company up on Glassdoor and saw that employees are not as passionate about the management as the CEO. So while this is a terrific book to inspire you about being a good leader and thinking about your people in a positive way, it reads as a bit paternalistic. Letting employees drive the CEOs fancy car as an award seemed a little odd, for example.

I greatly respect the conscious capitalism movement and all that Raj Sisodia and others have done. Let's hope this company can share more specifics about their practices as time goes on. I think we can go even further.

This topic is very important for all business leaders.

[Summer · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF, like 90%... (so this may be unfair)

This book has a cool title and beautiful cover.

I thought this would be a book about business management techniques, but it's actually a biography of a dude who has been successful in business. I'm not a huge fan of these, but I've read some good ones. ("Pour your heart into it" and "The Everything Store" are two examples that come to mind. )

I personally have a handicapping prejudice when it comes to biographies. I do NOT want to read about privileged mediocre white people. (Unless they are being funny). The straightforward story of a privileged mediocre white person is, like, MY story and nothing can be more boring.

So this fellow, Bob Chapman, starts by telling us how ordinary his childhood was and I recalled a very funny moment in the movie "Get Hard" when Craig T Nelson's millionaire CEO character wistfully remembers his roots... "I started this company with nothing but these two hands and this computer... and a 6 million dollar loan from my father..."

Bob Chapman inherited an $18 million dollar company from his father. He has grown it. But DUDE. He INHERITED an $18 MILLION dollar company FROM HIS FATHER.

So, ya, I'm sure Bob Chapman is a nice guy and a good enough business man, but he isn't selling anything different than anyone else. He got rich off other people's inventions, other people's work, and frankly he was just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time for lots of stuff. Undoubtedly, he COULD have made a huge mess of things and he DIDN'T, so kudos for him for being smart enough to not screw things up.

But really. No. I don't need to read this this book. This book didn't need written.

[Bruce Rowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Correct principles, then too many examples. You can learn the concepts from this book rather quickly. I just thought the book ran on way too long to give it a higher rating. Near the end, it seemed to self-promoting and too inward focused.

If it was 100 pages instead of 250, I would have highly recommended it to lots and lots of people.

[John Stepper · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I read this, I couldn’t help but think of “Out of the Crisis” by Deming and “Working” by Studs Terkel. The story of the Barry-Wehmiller company offers an example of how to address the issues observed decades ago relating to quality & employee engagement. The examples from the diverse manufacturing companies (different in size, product, and locations) and the quotes from workers are priceless, and a cause for optimism and inspiration.

[Yetta Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looking forward to implementing over the next couple of years

[Lisa Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We measure success by the way we touch the lives of people."

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read a book about how everyone matters. I thought this one would be a self-help book. I was surprised to discover it's a business leadership book. It's about making sure everyone in your company feels like they matter. This is a fundamental human need that applies to everyone. I don't own a business. I'm not employed by a business. I almost decided not to read this book. But as I continued reading, I became intrigued. I realized many of the concepts taught are applicable to family life and my social circles.

There are some things I don't prefer. The book has a bit of a selling-something tone which I don't like. It extremely praises the company Barry-Wehmiller to the point where the company sounds extraordinary. Are they currently hiring? Where can I apply?!! But why have I never heard of them if they're so great? So that feels a little weird.

Also, the book is very repetitive. To me it eventually felt like it was beating the same concepts on my head over and over again. I was happy when I neared the end. At the same time, overall, the book is surprisingly worth reading.

Here are some quotes I really like:

(Page 64) "All you have to do to unlock their potential is to share a vision of a better future while letting them know they matter, that you value them as full human beings."

(Page 70) "What do you feel good about in your life?"
I think this is a fabulous question to ask anyone. It could get a really interesting conversation started.

(Page 71) "The greatest gift, the greatest charity we can give back to society is to be truly human leaders who treat the people under our leadership with profound respect and care and not as objects for our success and wealth. In other words, we need to see ourselves as stewards of the lives we have been given an opportunity to lead and influence."

(Page 129) "We believe strong earnings follow a successful vision when it is implemented with meaning, purpose, discipline, caring, and a strong culture. But if you create a business just with the primary intention of driving profits, then you don't quite know what's going to happen in the future. In fact, it could well have the opposite effect."

This makes me think of scriptures like Matthew 6:33-- "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you."

And similarly from one of my faith's scriptures- Jacob 2:18-19, "But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. 19 And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted."
It's a people-first way of going about obtaining wealth.

(Page 175) "Responsible freedom encapsulates two ideas: freedom, the opportunity to exercise personal choice, to have ownership of the work that you do and the decisions you make; and responsibility, ensuring that personal choice is exercised with care and concern for other people and the requirements of the organization. Whatever you call this concept-- empowerment or responsible freedom-- it is fundamental to driving fulfillment in any organization, and it requires two-way trust. Most people are merely compliant at work; their potential remains buried under layers of apathy and cynicism."

I'm glad I read this book. Whew! Now for some lighthearted fiction.

[Westminster Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It is full of real life examples from a variety of businesses, both private and public. Chapman shares his journey of finding ways to make his employees feel trusted, valuable and needed and strives to make each employee feel fulfilled not just in their work but in their home, family and personal life as well. He shows how being caring, empathic, and inspirational can literally turn a work place around, not necessarily for the health of the business but for the health of the people who work there and for the people the company serves. He is on a mission to change the world! It would be a great team read challenge, one every leader should embark on.

Find Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family at Westminster Public Library today!

And if you are in search of new books to read, try our services, What Do I Read Next. Our library staff are standing by to create a personalized recommendation list for you!

[Jerry Summers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everybody Matters is the next Michelle Sutter’s Holland America Line Mastermind book club. I remember being in Las Vegas for a packaging expo while wearing a different career hat and went by the Barry-Wehmiller booth and seeing this this book as a new release. There is an Iowa connection as Bill Chapman lived in Cedar Rapids where I grew up and went to the other Iowa University. I see similarities between the B-W culture and BNI: connections, trust, recognition, and Fun. I love the celebrating silent successes more than putting out fires.

[Edwin Dalorzo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspirational message

A very inspirational message and a great example of how to do things differently, how to abandon the demoralizing status quo and aspire for something better: a world in which our managers are also leaders that genuinely care about us.

My reason to only give it only 3 stars is that the message is somewhat paternalistic, the ideas get repetitive at times and as a result the book is longer than necessary.

But I do believe its message fundamentally changed me, even when the book by itself was not so good for me.

[Bryon Brandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally a good book.
But I didn't like his knocking of LEAN in Chapter 5.

If what you said your LEAN trainer taught you is what he really taught you,
he or she was a misguided or not very good and experienced LEAN trainer.
Because LEAN has much more Caring for People,
than was indicated in the Chapter 5 disparagement.

[Danielle Josephine · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Every day we have the opportunity to show people we care by giving them the chance to be who they are intended to be—allow them to discover, develop, share and be appreciated for their gifts.”

A few weeks ago I took a virtual class called Human Leadership, led by Kristen Hadeed, author of “Permission to Screw Up.” She referenced/recommended this book a few times and I can see why. This book looks at the author’s proven leadership principles that were developed at his company, Barry-Wehmiller. Compassion, trust, communication, transparency, and caring for those whose lives are entrusted to you as part of your team are just a few of the highlights. Highly recommend for aspiring leaders and those who have been leading for decades.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

there were a few gems in here hut it was hard to get through 🙃

[Matt McAlear · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a different way to look at business. It's comforting to know that you can still be successful in business and not be a heartless, ruthless, robot that only cares about profit! I love how the primary purpose of their business is to be for their people. I also love the way that Bob tackles difficult problems and situations. He is not afraid of confrontation and not resistant to try something different. This is also especially a good read if you are in the manufacturing industry and want to think outside the box and look at different ways of doing things.
A few takeaways:
- The church inspires us for less than an hour a week and has a profound impact on our lives. We have our team members for 40 hours a week and as such have an immensely greater opportunity for impact.
- Would I tell my son or daughter only the negative things that they messed up on or would I also find the good in what they did so I can uplift them? The people we manage shouldn't be any different. If we focus on the negative or only what they can improve, we will build a culture and environment that is oppressive and toxic.
- We should strive to balance our constructive criticism and praise towards 50% on either side. Too much in either direction could starve our people of an appropriate perspective contributing to their growth and success.
- A leadership university is a great way to align not only the core values as an organization but also as a way to build context and a roadmap for success within the company.

[Pete Bylone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really more of a philosophy book than a business book, Everybody Matters sets the bar for what a business could be, and argues that it's what it 'should' be. I'm not going to rehash the jacket, but you've got a CEO of a multi-national business that takes the bold step of putting his people's well being ahead of the bottom line. The book outlines the profound change this approach has had in Mr. Chapman's life as well as in the lives of his employees, and is set against the continued success of his company, despite the economic reality of the last 15 years.

I've got two points that really stick out to me after completing this book:

The first, a discussion point: Chapman achieved the role of CEO by non-traditional means, essentially inheriting it from his father. Did this route to leadership make him more open to the concept of putting people first? Are there fewer leaders like him at the CEO level because anyone who would put people first as a middle manager struggles to get promoted by their superiors, who adhere to more traditional business philosophy rules? Were the changes he enacted only possible because he was the CEO? What would his initiatives looked like as a department manager? As a production supervisor?

The second, an observation: It's depressing to read this book when you work somewhere that many people don't feel valued.

Recommended for anyone who aspires to business leadership.

[Martin Olesen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bob has a great story about how extraordinary people can be at work, if you trust them and treat them with the same respect you do your family and friends. Unfortunately this point is re-iterated a bit too many times for my taste making the book a bit long. But still well worth a read, as it goes to show, that many of the principles many modern leadership thinker only writes about, are actually implementable and is good for both people and business.

[Fred Leland · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding and uplifting read on the power of knowing why you do whatnot do. Great ideas on how to lead in the modern world with the focus being on people and how to inspire them. I highly recommend this book.

[John Jennings · Rating 5 out of 5]

FANTASTIC book. One of the best books on business leadership I have read.

[Rhett Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best and most inspirational books I have read! This book has given me such a better outlook on management and making sure to value everyone!

[Steve Perryman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended by a presenter at a seminar I went to. I was skeptical at first but was very surprised at the insight and freshness of a common theme. Very good book.

[Dominic Pelletier · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is basically the most eye opening best leadership book I have ever read so far! Loving every page of it, this book should be a given to anyone who wants to be a leader

[Kevin K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite good, if I can take even a fraction of the stuff from the book and implement it....Game changing.

[Ronn Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

To rate this book in one word, I would say "transformational." It will change the life of anyone who reads it and cares for other people.

[Samuel Marete]

Quite simply, this book belongs in a genre of one. One. It is the most important business book I will ever read; everything I have caught in glimpses throughout my career about how to run a team, a department, or an organisation and about what really gets people engaged and driven to give their manifold and phenomenal gifts to a cause is in this book. Reading it has been like emerging from a forest, where shafts of sunlight would occasionally gleam through, into the open field where now everything is clear.

I had been reading Drive in an attempt to understand why the best moments of my career were not necessarily those that were the best-paid or the ones that advanced my career the most. Drive points out that assuming remuneration is fair – not even necessarily great – people are motivated more by intrinsic factors (autonomy, mastery, and purpose) than by extrinsic factors.

In terms of the level of its thinking, Drive is like entry-level, and Everybody Matters is application-level. I do not mean this in a bad way – Drive is a very important book. Taken to its logical conclusion, an organisation that rigorously applies Drive thinking should, if it doesn't stop, eventually end up operating at the level where, er... Everybody Matters.

However, it may not happen.

Or it might take the organisation 20 years to do so.

The value of Everybody Matters, therefore, is in demonstrating the end-game. It demonstrates what an organisation built to operate on Drive principles, other principles like Lean, but principally on the foundational premise that organisations should primarily care about taking care of all the people connected with the organisation could end up looking like.

Everybody Matters outlines how to build organisations where the people who work inside them – first – as well as external stakeholders such as customers, suppliers – and shareholders – are the primary reason for the existence and continuation of the organisation. It's worth pausing to think through that. In other words, people don't exist for the organisation. The organisation exists for the people. And not the owners. The people, the staff.

Here is one staggering quote:

Companies routinely refer to people as their most important assets. In most cases, what that really means is that they focus on people so that people will produce for them. We believe that we need to succeed for our people. ... Most businesses use people to build products and make money; we use our products to build people. [Paradoxically, Barry-Wehmiller makes good money doing this.]

I think that this quote, in essence, captures the essence of the book. What does it mean?

First, everyone reading this should feel the urge, as I have, to raise both fists in the air and exult triumphantly that they are not crazy. Too long has rumour grown of a shadow in the East; too long have whispers of a nameless fear pervaded our thinking about financial success and how to achieve it in the current world. Turns out – people matter. All of them! Even the surly ones that claim they don't care and don't want to be cared for – these people matter too. A caring form of business leadership is not inimical / diametrically opposed to financial success. Instead, financial success can and does follow when leadership genuinely and utterly cares for the lives of the people entrusted to it. Unfortunately, to put it mildly, putting people first is a very odd way to run a business. More accurately, running organisations in such a way that people come first is now actually radical. The reasons for this are as old as the Industrial Revolution: upon visiting a factory in Manchester in 1835, de Tocqueville said:

“Here humanity attains its most complete development and its most brutish; here civilization works its miracles, and civilized man [the factory worker] is turned back almost into a savage.”

Couple this with a greed-imbued, Wolf-of-Wall-Street economic model that says businesses must be run solely in the interests of shareholders, or that profit is the main if not sole aim of all business and – Bob's your uncle – you achieve much of the drear corporate workplace dysfunction that exists today. This is a book about a business that has chosen to say "Our people come first, and in fact the main reason we run a financially healthy business is so that our people can "feel safe, trust that they can build a career with us, that they can buy cars and houses and send their kids to college and make other important life decisions and commitments with reasonable financial security." On top of this, these same people should continue to live meaningful lives both at home and at work.

More of what this means and how Barry-Wehmiller has achieved it – in such a cut-throat sector as American manufacturing, no less! – is the story of this book.

A truly phenomenal read.

[Bill Pence · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first heard of Bob Chapman, CEO of Barry-Wehmiller Companies (BW), a St. Louis based manufacturing organization, in Simon Sinek’s 2013 book Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t. Sinek writes the Foreword to this inspiring book about how BW does business. Sinek states that nearly every CEO says that their people matter. With Bob Chapman at BW, this is actually true.
The book is about “what happens when ordinary people throw away long accepted management practices and start operating from their deepest sense of right with a sense of profound responsibility for the lives entrusted to them”. It is the story of BW’s organizational and leadership culture, based around what they call “Truly Human Leadership”, and is sprinkled throughout with stories about the people and programs of BW.
Chapman tells his personal story – he grew up in Ferguson, Missouri. After his girlfriend got pregnant, he got serious about his education, getting his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Indiana, his MBA from the University of Michigan and his CPA. His father was the President of BW. He asked Bob to join the company, eventually reaching the position of Executive Vice President. He initially turned things around significantly and then went through a difficult nine months before there was a very successful public offering. Since that time, BW has acquired, or as they say it “adopted”, 80 other organizations.
The authors write that BW’s culture changed in 1997. That’s when BW’s “Guiding Principles of Leadership” were created. Those principles state that BW measures success by how they touch the lives of people.
BW aims to inspire behavior resulting in value creation. Trust is very important in their culture. They see leadership as stewardship. Leaders at BW are committed to helping team members find fulfilling and meaningful work.
The authors talk about business as family and discuss the similarities between parenting and leadership. They are concerned about not only how work impacts their team members but their team members’ families as well.
The authors discuss BW’s Lean (the core idea of lean is to maximize customer value while minimizing waste) journey. They added a human aspect to traditional Lean. While traditional Lean looks at eliminating waste, BW’s Lean model looks at eliminating frustration. One of the aspects of continuous improvement is the Kaizen (Japanese for improvement) event. I found it interesting that I was reading about BW’s experience with Kaizen on the same day that I was participating in a Kaizen event in the organization I work at.
BW’s Living Legacy of Leadership is the convergence of the Guiding Principles of Leadership and Lean. To date, BW has completed 500 process improvement efforts, involving more than 3,000 of their team members.

The authors state that we shouldn’t judge an organization’s culture during the good times. I found of particular interest how BW did business during the 2008-09 business downturn. They approached it by saying “What would a caring family do”? They implemented across the board measures, so there was shared sacrifice. They rebounded within 9 months and went on to record success in 2010.

Part two of the book is about applying the BW Playbook in your organization. They authors discuss BW’s “Ten Commandments of Truly Human Leadership” and their BW Leadership Institute.

Their Ten Commandments of Truly Human Leadership are:

Begin every day with a focus on the lives you touch.
Know that leadership is the stewardship of the lives entrusted to you.
Embrace leadership practices that send people home each day safe, healthy, and fulfilled.
Align all actions to an inspirational vision of a better future.
Trust is the foundation of all relationships; act accordingly.
Look for goodness in people and recognize and celebrate it daily.
Ask no more or less of anyone than you would of your own child.
Lead with a clear sense of grounded optimism.
Recognize and flex to the uniqueness of everyone.
Always measure success by the way you touch the lives of people.
The authors state that visioning is the most powerful tool in leadership. Their version of empowerment is called “Responsible Freedom”, which requires two-way trust. Recognition and celebration are also important to their culture. Important to the BW culture is caring, inspiring and celebrating.

[Paul Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bob Chapman - Everybody Matters

This book is worth reading. I think it is one of the most inspiring books on workplace culture I've ever read. It is well written, but more importantly, it addresses big questions like how can the workplace be healthy for everybody; how did capitalism lose its way and what can we do to re-humanize the way we do business and the way we treat our employees and coworkers?
The first half is the story of personal and corporate transformation. Changes in the leader that led to changes in methods and philosophy and eventually permeated the company culture. 20 years later, people love to work for the company, and it has grown to be a multi-national success story where ‘everybody matters’. 28 acquisitions in 20 years and no one laid off!!
The Barry Wehmiller companies have developed a neat twist on ‘Lean’ – Traditionally, Lean removes waste from the process and this allows reduced cost or increased speed of process improvement or product development. This is a financially focused picture, helpful, but it leads to unintended consequences like people fearing if the process becomes too lean, maybe they will be the next ‘waste’ to be eliminated. But Bob Chapman has redefined what Lean focuses on: not the process or the product, but on the people: Lean means reducing or removing worker frustration!
The second half of the book covers the 'how to' transform your place of work; how Barry Wehmiller did it and how anyone could also. What from this book could you use to transform your workplace?

[Eduardo Padilla Mejia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Estamos destruyendo a la gente y aniquilando nuestra cultura porque enviamos a los trabajadores a sus casas después de tratarlos como objetos y funciones en lugar de preocuparnos por ellos como merecen . Queremos que estén más comprometidos porque deseamos que sean más productivos . Queremos que sean más productivos porque eso genera más beneficios y asegura un mejor futuro para la empresa , pero no nos preocupamos de ellos en tanto personas . La buena noticia es que podemos cambiar esta tendencia y empezar a arreglar las cosas . Sólo debemos comprometernos en corazón y alma con una forma de entender el liderazgo que reconozca el valor de cada persona , una perspectiva en la que todo el mundo es importante.

La gente llega a este mundo con unas capacidades y unos talentos determinados , llenos de posibilidades y un potencial que debe ser desarrollado . Nuestra responsabilidad en tanto líderes es ayudarles a descubrir esas posibilidades , los talentos y la bondad que reside en su interior , y animarlos a que se conviertan en lo que están destinados a ser . La función de un líder es ayudar a los demás a descubrir su destino , tanto individualmente como formando parte de un equipo o de la sociedad en su conjunto .

Debemos medir el éxito por la forma en que mejoramos la vida de las personas . No por el poder . No por el puesto de trabajo . No por el dinero . No por el crecimiento . El liderazgo verdaderamente humano mide el éxito por la forma en que las vidas humanas son mejoradas.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book and explanation of how leadership and businesses should embrace the number one value are "We measure success by the way we touch the lives of people".

Bob talks about the lows and highs of his career, and how he was able to turn his way of thinking for putting people first and the human side to the business.

Bob talks about Truly Human Leadership – a philosophy that puts people front and centre! His key values revolve around treating employees not just as workers, but as valued human beings, akin to family members.

Bobs' Key Values & Principles are about caring for People. He believes businesses should care for their employees’ well-being and dignity as well as empathy and compassion.
Bob advocates for empathy in leadership, fostering environments where employees feel safe and valued.
Recognition and Celebration. Bob stresses recognising and celebrating employees’ contributions genuinely and memorably through initiatives like the *High Five Award.

Chapman promotes balancing personal choice with accountability; employees should have “freedom to” innovate and express themselves.
Authentic Vulnerabilityì: Leaders sharing their challenges fosters trust and cooperation

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this. very inspiring.

[Andreas Konstantinou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everybody Matters is the story of Bob Chapman, CEO of Barry Wehmiller, a $3B manufacturing company, and how he embraced a culture of caring for his people as the purpose of the company. Chapman advocates the family-centric view of a business, i.e that “every single person is someone’s pressious child” and so should be cared for rather than treated as a resource or a function for the company’s success. For Chapman, a culture of caring is for a company what the quality of gas is for the car. The higher quality gas you put in a car, the faster it will go, and the better care it will take of the engine. When taking over a unionised company, Chapman characteristically responded: “I don’t give a damn about your union, I care about you”. He’s applied the same recipe in every one of the 130+ companies Barry Wehmiller has acquired: taking a financially distressed manufacturing business, turning it around, and instilling a culture where every single person matters. The book is a lens into a rare entrepreneur with a heart of gold, a modern-day evangelist for business as potentially the greatest force for good in the world.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

It may look like I took a long time to read this book, but actually I’ve been using it almost as a primer for team development and so kept coming back to it over time. I also had the immense privilege of meeting Bob two or three times as he advised me on how to enact his philosophy in my professional life and I have to say he is an incredibly inspiring human and leader, and a damn good businessman to boot. There’s so much in this book to admire, not just in the way Bob built his business, but in the practices he suggests for building other businesses. The idea that our primary focus should be on creating happiness and out of happiness will come greater productivity and more reward is just, in many ways, a no brainer. It’s just a real shame that so many corporate leaders don’t see this as the goal. The bottom line at the cost of people rather than to the happiness of people and for the benefit of people, I’d really recommend this book to anyone who’s interested in building culture at work, or in any organisation.