Weirdos In The Workplace The New Normal
Weirdos In The Workplace: The New Normal – Thriving in the Age of the Individual
Author: John Putzier
FT Press August 2004
Paperback: 224 pages
Finally a book for the weirdos out there who find it hard to fit into a regular working environment and for those of you who work with us. I definitely fall into the “doesn’t do well in a set environment” category, so there is a lot of material in this book I could relate to. The content in this book is also directly related to the next book review I will be sharing with you later this week. Personally I think that if a company doesn’t have at least one or two weirdos in the mix, they aren’t doing things right. Creativity and individuality is what it takes to make the innovation wheel go around, something which many corporations are learning the hard way. Who would’ve thought that weird would be cool in the 21st century.
Throughout this well-researched work, Mr. Putzier lets us know that it’s okay to be an individual in the 21st century. He successfully identifies many personality types and gives tips on how to work with those personalities, thereby helping them to achieve career satisfaction. While I was reading the book, it was very easy to identify myself – and many industry friends – with each turning page.
This handbook is a must for anyone who works with highly creative, highly productive people – and should be a must-read for managers. Mr. Putzier’s ideas are very common-sense, even though at first glance the uninitiated would think he was off his rocker. In this day and age of new work models, it makes sense to strive towards a working environment which is flexible enough to help corporations meet their objectives while keeping their weirdo employees happy and productive.
Weirdos In The Workplace also has ideas for helping those employees who fall into the non-weirdo category cope with the weirdos they share office space with-many of which seem like common sense to me, because I’m one of the weirdos; however to those not used to working with creative people, the suggestions could be a sanity-saver. I would not hesitate in the least to make this required reading for anyone wanting to get into business and/or personnel management, particularly within the creative industry .
