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.

For readers who share Bakke's faith, the challenging postscript would have been an ideal starting point for the book: "Like Daniel, I am called to steward the resources entrusted to me, both to meet my own needs and the needs of the world around me. In all of this work, I am charged with using my talents and skills to glorify God. Dare to be a Daniel and enter into the Master's joy!"

For all its inspirational messages, this is more a business manual than a religious book. It is strengthened by clear chapter headings and lots of call-outs and bullet points. Yet it remains a cozy, friendly manual, filled with fun, laced with fresh ideas drawn from Bakke's personal experience, and firmly based on life Principles and values—words he uses to describe key concepts he would like to see more prominent in workplaces and in business transactions.

Bakke doesn't hesitate to include his family in his book. One touching story describes an occasion when he arrived home to be greeted by his then-12-year-old son, Peter, who had recently visited his father's businesses in Argentina, Brazil, England, Hungary, Pakistan, Uganda, and in the United States.

Peter proudly presented his dad with a rubber-band ball that he and his sister had created. He pointed out that the different colors and sizes of rubber bands represented the different abilities and cultures among the staff serving his dad's worldwide organization (see dust jacket picture).

Peter then bounced the ball off the kitchen floor. "Dad, it does what it's supposed to do. It bounces." He took one of the rubber bands off the ball and threw it on the floor. "You see, it doesn't bounce by itself. It only works when the rubber band is stretched around all the other rubber bands. That makes it bounce."

Bakke was proud of his son's insight. Peter had figured out that in his dad's organization people from different cultural backgrounds, with unique talents, skills, and aspirations, had stretched and bound together to serve the world.

Bakke uses God-centered advice cautiously but meaningfully. For example, without suggesting that the world is a garden of Eden, he explores the Genesis story just enough to support his conclusion that God intended the workplace to be beautiful, exciting, and satisfying. "Work was to be filled with joy," he writes. "Work was a major reason for our creation. It was intended to be an important act of worship. It was one of the most significant ways in which we could honor our Creator."

He also uses the word love cautiously, simply because of its romantic connotations, but says he feels compelled to use it in one of its secondary meanings—the unselfish and benevolent concern for the good of others.

He observes: "It is love that allows us to give up our power to control. It is love that allows us to treat each person in our organization with respect and dignity. Love sends people around the world to serve others. Love inspires people to work with greater purpose. ... love is the final and crucial ingredient in a joy-filled workplace."

One suspects that many Sentinel readers would agree with Bakke, though they might choose to capitalize the L and view this as the love of Love—God Himself.