REVIEW: Bob Nelson and Mario Tamayo — Work Made Fun Gets Done! (BOOK)

Bob Nelson and Mario Tamayo succeed in the leadership advice nonfiction sub-category because they’re able to simultaneously give you the facts, but in a house style similar to the guy you crush a couple of beers with. There’s no proverbial horsing around with the release of their new book, Work Made Fun Gets Done!: Easy Ways to Boost Energy, Morale, and Results. It’s decidedly not overly articulate, forsaking a slick design plan for an in-your-face and to-the-point sincerity about what Nelson and Tamayo preach. Work Made Fun Gets Done! compliments Nelson and Tamayo’s research-backed descriptors for enabling a healthier, more fluid workplace that is representative of the times in which we live.

BEST PRACTICE INSTITUTE: https://www.bestpracticeinstitute.org/

ABOUT ROB NELSON: https://drbobnelson.com/

As far as they’re concerned, it’s high time to do away with the idea of work being a killjoy, regardless of the necessities previously mandating this state-of-affairs. In a similar argument to the top-to-bottom articulation, Nelson and Tamayo stress that one’s business churning out results is dependent upon a universality of goodwill and genuine enjoyment everyone in the theoretical enterprise is able to partake in. In a statement they made entitled Fun Work is Contagious Nelson and Tamayo write, “Ultimately, fun works best when it is openly encouraged throughout the organization and becomes an expected and anticipated part of everyone’s role and experience at work.” They go on to elaborate, “This doesn’t tend to happen by accident, but rather from a systematic application and appreciation of the topic by a significant portion of its members

Ideally, top management would encourage and support fun in the work environment, even participating in the process. But creating a fun-oriented organization does not have to be dependent solely on its senior leaders. Fun at work starts with every individual, initially in how they think about the topic and then in how they apply fun to their everyday work tasks, responsibilities, and interactions with others at work. If you want your work to be more fun, you need to make that a priority and have a playful, fun-oriented attitude about the topic, look for opportunities, and seek to embed fun in different ways in your daily work activities.”

TAMAYO GROUP: https://www.tamayogroup.com/

It’s specifically through this sort of corporate psychology, tailored for each and every theoretical employee’s characteristics and specificity, that highlights the modernness from which Nelson and Tamayo draw their conclusions — hypothetical, and otherwise. Concepts like what they promote in Work Made Fun Gets Done! aren’t within themselves inherently novel. It’s rather the branch of thought they derive from said conceptual analyses that makes for what sets Nelson and Tamayo apart. For once, the idea of ‘fun at work’ isn’t reserved for slackers, low-rankers, or the branded ‘unserious’ professions. If anything, it’s proving to be mandated for environments boasting just the opposite.

AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1523092351/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_9W8VRJYY2SSY4DW819WN

The more one has on the line, the more enthusiasm and sense of adventure is mandated for each and every employee. It’s an inspiring mindset, and a welcome change when one thinks about the traditionalist approach to business and industry that has dominated the corporate jungle for the last couple centuries. As Nelson and Tamayo summarize themselves, “You can easily choose to make work fun, get better at doing so, and help create a fun work environment for yourself and others you work with. As a result, you’ll find that you’ll tend to enjoy your work more, excel at it more easily, and complete it faster, and you’ll be more likely to advance in your career.”

Colin Jordan