Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Why do so many Americans hate their jobs? From New York Times bestselling author Dan Lyons, Lab Rats is a groundbreaking, incisive examination of how the internet--and ideas championed by Silicon Valley powerbrokers--changed the way we work, damaged our brains, and left us poorer and insecure.In the months following the publication of Disrupted, Dan Lyons was astonished as hundreds of readers wrote to him with their own harrowing stories of discrimination, fear-mongering managers, and companies denigrating employees in pursuit of quick profit. The letter writers felt helpless, confused, and victimized.Lyons began to understand how the problems he had identified in the start-up world are infecting virtually every kind of job in America. Paradoxically, the misery index is soaring at a time when companies are giving more lip service than ever about finding ways to make employees happy. What happened to work in America? Who is responsible? And does any company have a model for doing it right?As Lyons ventured across America in pursuit of answers, he came to understand how a cluster of ideas enabled by the internet and promoted by Silicon Valley companies spread to workplaces across the country and the globe. These new notions about work have broken the social contract that once existed between companies and their employees, making us poorer, insecure, and subject to constant change and dehumanizing technologies that have altered our very psychology. A few companies, however, get it right. With Lab Rats, Lyons makes a passionate plea for business leaders to understand this dangerous transformation and shows how profit and happy employees can indeed coexist.
Synopsis
"A fascinating, thought-provoking, hilarious, and sometimes harrowing account of current work culture."
---Gretchen Rubin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project Why do so many people hate their jobs? Lab Rats is a groundbreaking, examination of how the half-baked ideas of Silicon Valley and its "new oligarchs" have changed the way we work, damaged our brains, and left us poorer and insecure. After publishing
Disrupted, his bestselling memoir of his disastrous experience working for a young tech company, Dan Lyons watched, astonished, as hundreds of readers wrote to him with their own harrowing stories of discrimination on the job, fear-mongering managers, and companies denigrating employees in pursuit of quick profit. The problems he had identified in the start-up world, Lyons realized, are infecting virtually every kind of job in America--at a time when companies are giving more lip service than ever about happy employees.
What happened to work? Who is responsible? And does any company have a model for doing it right? As Lyons ventured across America in pursuit of answers, he came to identify "Four Factors," a series of ideas that have broken the social contract that once existed between companies and their employees. These new, often dystopian notions about work have made millions subject to constant change, dehumanizing technologies, and even health risks. A few companies, however, get it right. With Lab Rats, Lyons makes a passionate plea for business leaders to understand this dangerous transformation and offers a way out--"an approach to work and business that puts people first, profitably serves customers, and makes the world a little bit better in the process" (Tom Peters, New York Times bestselling author of In Search of Excellence).
Synopsis
New York Times bestselling author Dan Lyons exposes how the "new oligarchs" of Silicon Valley have turned technology into a tool for oppressing workers in this "passionate" (Kirkus) and "darkly funny" (Publishers Weekly) examination of workplace culture.At a time of soaring corporate profits and plenty of HR lip service about "wellness," millions of workers--in virtually every industry--are deeply unhappy. Why did work become so miserable? Who is responsible? And does any company have a model for doing it right?For two years, Lyons ventured in search of answers. From the innovation-crazed headquarters of the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, to a cult-like "Holocracy" workshop in San Francisco, and to corporate trainers who specialize in ... Legos, Lyons immersed himself in the often half-baked and frequently lucrative world of what passes for management science today. He shows how new tools, workplace practices, and business models championed by tech's empathy-impaired power brokers have shattered the social contract that once existed between companies and their employees. These dystopian beliefs--often masked by pithy slogans like "We're a Team, Not a Family"--have dire consequences: millions of workers who are subject to constant change, dehumanizing technologies--even health risks. A few companies, however, get it right. With Lab Rats, Lyons makes a passionate plea for business leaders to understand this dangerous transformation, showing how profit and happy employees can indeed coexist.