Lab rats: Micro Review
Lab Rats by Dan Lyons is one of the first book in my last year that I read in 1 sitting :) It was spirited, engaging and a good dose of counter to many books I have read in the last year.
Halfway through the book, I was actually reminded of “People’s history of United States” by Howard Zinn. Rab Lats could have had a less fancy title — “People’s History of Corporate America”. While there many books that talk about the great CEOs, management gurus and big companies, there are few good books on the havoc that some of them have caused on their employees. This is that book.
Dan has done a great job of highlighting the plight of employees caused by various passing management fads (including Agile, he called SAFe — Sh***y Agile for Enterprise) as well as Shareholder Capitalism.
The last part of his book talks about the higher level solutions — “The no-sh** Sherlock School of Management”, Impact investing & the social enterprise movement.
It’s a must read to counter all the other management books you will read.
A phrase from the book that we must keep reminding ourselves of — “The tools we have used have changed, but human beings haven’t. Dignity, respect, stability and security still matters.”
Thanks Balagopal Madhusoodhanan for the book !!!
