SPIRITUAL FOCUS ON BOOKS August 1, 2005 Issue

'A JOY-FILLED WORKPLACE'

KIM SHIPPEY. SENIOR WRITER

JOY AT WORK, as its title implies, is a book that invites readers to imagine a company where people love coming to work every day, are highly productive, and see their company turn a profit. Employees are encouraged to take the business equivalent of the game-winning shot, even when it's not a slam-dunk.

Forget the imagining. From the first page of the book, you know that such a company really does exist, because author Dennis Bakke, a Harvard Business School graduate, co-founded one in 1981 and served as its president and CEO from 1994 to 2002. Within two decades, this corporation, AES (Applied Energy Services), became a worldwide energy giant with 40,000 employees in 31 countries and revenues of $8.6 billion.

Bakke makes it clear that he is a practicing Christian whose trust in God undergirds his approach to business, although he never allows this to intrude. He confines his deepest beliefs to a 31-page postscript titled "Enter Into the Master's Joy," in which he lets it all hang out.

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