List $30.00

Written by Dennis W. Bakke - Narrated by Dennis W. Bakke - Unabridged Nonfiction - 8 RETAIL EDITION COMPACT DISCS - 9 hours, 30 minutes

Publisher, PVG (March 2005)

NOTE: RETAIL EDITIONS are packaged in attractive, compact cardboard or jewel-case shrink-wrapped boxes, with full-color art.

"A timely and inspiring book that challenges us to rethink the purpose of business in society. It is all the more important because Dennis Bakke's personal life mirrors the principles he advocates."–President Bill Clinton

"A must-read book for anyone who wants to make work fun, fulfilling, and financially rewarding." –Jack Kemp, former HUD secretary and vice presidential candidate

Dennis W. Bakke's passion is to make work exciting, rewarding, stimulating, and enjoyable. While most business books focus on top executives, Joy at Work is aimed primarily at the working life of the other 90 to 95 percent of people in large organizations. According to Bakke, co-founder and CEO emeritus of the AES Corporation, a worldwide energy company with 40,000 employees and $8.6 billion in revenue by 2002, a better measure of an organization's success than the bottom line is the quality of work life.

In Bakke's view, successful business people should be guided by principles and purposes "meant to be ends in and of themselves, not techniques to create value for shareholders or to reach financial goals." He is disturbed that society's preoccupation with economics often leads people to calculate their worth as individuals based on their salaries or wealth and to judge their leaders more on financial results than on values.

Bakke views winning—especially winning financially—as, at best, a second-order goal. Yet, most business books do not go beyond this objective and thus fail to define the ultimate purpose of an enterprise. Bakke challenges us to broaden our definition of organizational performance and success beyond dollar value. The "timeless values and principles" he advocated during his tenure at AES, he says, stand on their own merits, whatever a company's share price. Bakke and AES partner Roger Sant redefined the basic operating structure for organizations and created an unconventional global success story. At AES, said senior executive Tom Tribone, "We try it out in practice and then see if it works in theory."

About the Author: Dennis W. Bakke co-founded The AES Corporation in 1981 and served as its president and CEO from 1994 to 2002. He is now president and CEO of Imagine Schools, a company that operates elementary and secondary charter schools in 10 states. He and his wife, Eileen, live in Arlington, Virginia.