Joy, Inc.

How We Built a Workplace People Love

By: Richard Sheridan

Narrated by: Tim Andres Pabon

The moment you walk into Menlo Innovations, you can sense the atmosphere full of energy, playfulness, enthusiasm, and maybe even…joy. As a package-delivery person once remarked, "I don’t know what you do, but whatever it is, I want to work here." Every year, thousands of visitors come from around the world to visit Menlo Innovations, a small software company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They make the trek not to learn about technology but to witness a radically different approach to company culture. CEO and "Chief Storyteller" Rich Sheridan removed the fear and ambiguity that typically make a workplace miserable. His own experience in the software industry taught him that, for many, work was marked by long hours and mismanaged projects with low-quality results. There had to be a better way.

With joy as the explicit goal, Sheridan and his team changed everything about how the company was run. They established a shared belief system that supports working in pairs and embraces making mistakes, all while fostering dignity for the team. The results blew away all expectations. Menlo has won numerous growth awards and was named an Inc. magazine "audacious small company". It has tripled its physical office three times and produced products that dominate markets for its clients.

Joy, Inc. offers an inside look at how Sheridan and Menlo created a joyful culture, and shows how any organization can follow their methods for a more passionate team and sustainable, profitable results. Sheridan also shows how to run smarter meetings and build cultural training into your hiring process. Joy, Inc. offers an inspirational blueprint for listeners in any field who want a committed, energizing atmosphere at work - leading to sustainable business results.

©2013 Richard Sheridan (P)2014 Gildan Media LLC

Critic reviews

" Joy, Inc. is a marvelous title, sure. But this masterpiece delivers and delivers and delivers. I beg you to keep taking deep breaths and imagining the world that Richard Sheridan reveals. Then...give it the best shot you can. I do truly beg you." (Tom Peters, coauthor, In Search of Excellence)

Wonderful book

Loved learning this! Great stuff. Hilarious mispronunciation by Narrator when you least expect it. E.G. Origami becomes Or-RIG-uhmee

Creating a More Effective Company

A personal transparent view of a unique company where the individuals happiness is given priority over lip service. I struggled with some of his techniques as I think most will. That too is part of the untold story. Change is hard for most of the world. What is offered though is a better way if you are willing to pay the uncomfortable price to be in a better place for you and your team. Definitely worth the investment of your time.

amazing

Amazing story of how work can and should be. I think every software company should read it.

Not everyone who visits gets it.

I have witnessed a rather joyless recreation of these practices. This place is more of an oddity than the rule.

Distracting Mispronounciations

Loved the book and topic, but when the narrator pronounces a word like “origami” as “uh RIH guh mi” it totally pulls my brain out of the writer’s intent.

Loved It

Awesome! Enlighting! I heard about this book from a friend and could not put it down.

Worth your time

Starts slow, but a lot of great ideas and new ways of thought to simple business issues we all face

Joy Joy Joy

The lessons in his book are plentiful. If you are sick and tired of the same old workplace give this a read. it will open your eyes to the different ways work can be conducted and be even more productive and joyful.

Think differently, think effectively.

Would you listen to Joy, Inc. again? Why?

No, a lot of these ideas are pushed out already across multiple readings I've done. It's not that I didn't like the book, it's just that in 2015 I've heard a lot of this before. THAT BEING SAID it's a must read for corporate engineers.

What did you like best about this story?

Solid examples to sit behind every recommendation.

My new favorite book

I will be reading this book many times. it will be one of my business's operations manual.