Work Rules Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live & Lead

From the visionary head of Google's innovative People Operations--a groundbreaking inquiry into the philosophy of work and a blueprint for attracting the most spectacular talent to your business and ensuring the best and brightest succeed.

"We spend more time working than doing anything else in life. It's not right that the experience of work should be so demotivating and dehumanizing." So says Laszlo Bock, head of People Operations at the company that transformed how the world interacts with knowledge. This insight is the heart of WORK RULES!, a compelling and surprisingly playful manifesto with the potential to change how we work and live.

Drawing on the latest research in behavioral economics and with a profound grasp of human psychology, Bock also provides teaching examples from a range of industries--including companies that are household names but hideous places to work, and little-known companies that achieve spectacular results by valuing and listening to their employees. Bock takes us inside one of history's most explosively successful businesses to reveal why Google is consistently rated one of the best places to work in the world, distilling 15 years of intensive worker R&D into delightfully counterintuitive principles that are easy to put into action, whether you're a team of one or a team of thousands.

Cleaving the knot of conventional management, some lessons from WORK RULES! include:

• Take away managers' power over employees
• Learn from your best employees--and your worst
• Only hire people who are smarter than you are, no matter how long it takes to find them
• Pay unfairly (it's more fair!)
• Don't trust your gut: use data to predict and shape the future
• Default to open: be transparent, and welcome feedback
• If you're comfortable with the amount of freedom you've given your employees, you haven't gone far enough

WORK RULES! shows how to strike a balance between creativity and structure, leading to success you can measure in quality of life as well as market share. Read it to build a better company from within rather than from above; read it to reawaken your joy in what you do.

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From the visionary head of Google's innovative People Operations comes a groundbreaking inquiry into the philosophy of work-and a blueprint for attracting the most spectacular talent to your business and ensuring that they succeed.
"We spend more time working than doing anything else in life. It's not right that the experience of work should be so demotivating and dehumanizing." So says Laszlo Bock, former head of People Operations at the company that transformed how the world interacts with knowledge.
This insight is the heart of WORK RULES , a compelling and surprisingly playful manifesto that offers lessons including:

• Take away managers' power over employees
• Learn from your best employees-and your worst
• Hire only people who are smarter than you are, no matter how long it takes to find them
• Pay unfairly (it's more fair )
• Don't trust your gut: Use data to predict and shape the future
• Default to open-be transparent and welcome feedback
• If you're comfortable with the amount of freedom you've given your employees, you haven't gone far enough.

Drawing on the latest research in behavioral economics and a profound grasp of human psychology, WORK RULES also provides teaching examples from a range of industries-including lauded companies that happen to be hideous places to work and little-known companies that achieve spectacular results by valuing and listening to their employees. Bock takes us inside one of history's most explosively successful businesses to reveal why Google is consistently rated one of the best places to work in the world, distilling 15 years of intensive worker R&D into principles that are easy to put into action, whether you're a team of one or a team of thousands.
WORK RULES shows how to strike a balance between creativity and structure, leading to success you can measure in quality of life as well as market share. Read it to build a better company from within rather than from above; read it to reawaken your joy in what you do.

Laszlo Bock leads Google's people function, which includes all areas related to the attraction, development, and retention of "Googlers." He joined Google from the General Electric Company, where he held various executive leadership roles within GE Capital. Before GE, Laszlo was a management consultant at McKinsey and Company, serving clients in the technology, private equity, and media industries on a wide range of strategic and operational issues, including growth and turnaround strategy. Earlier, he had worked at another consulting firm, a start-up, as an actor, and co-founded a non-profit organization working with at-risk youth.

Laszlo is a member of the Board of Trustees of Pomona College and an advisor to several venture capital-backed companies. Laszlo has testified before Congress on immigration reform and labor issues; provided counsel to the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board and the Office of Personnel Management; and been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and on the Today Show. In 2010 he was named "Human Resources Executive of the Year" by HR Executive Magazine. He (briefly) co-held the world record for Greek Syrtaki dance along with 1,671 others. Laszlo earned a bachelor's degree in international relations from Pomona College and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.