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1-Page Summary of Joy Inc.

Overview

This book talks about the history of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios, as well as Ed Catmull’s journey to becoming a successful manager. He also offers advice on how to become a great manager by making your employees creative superstars.

Everyone wants to be happy. It’s a great emotion that makes people feel good and inspires them to do great things.

Imagine if you could be joyful at work. You would enjoy your commute and find working hard a joy rather than a chore. It’s possible based on the practices of Menlo Innovations, which is an innovative software company that makes it easy to turn any workplace into a joyful center where employees thrive.

In the following points, you’ll discover why a software company would support bringing babies to work and how wearing Viking helmets can help promote openness.

Big Idea #1: Joy motivates people; it makes them work harder and longer, and they also work better together.

Most people want to be happy, and those who aren’t grumpy like Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol” are usually pretty happy.

People are happier and more productive when they’re feeling good. So why don’t we incorporate joy into the workplace? It will drive people to seek a higher purpose and leave a lasting impact on the world. Joy can be a valuable motivator in business, where it manifests as a desire to work towards something larger than yourself and belong to a supportive community. You’ll find that joyful people work longer and harder than ever before because of their motivation to achieve such goals. Consider the difference between Samuel Pierpont Langley’s airplane project, which was motivated by fame and fortune, with Wilbur Wright’s dream of flying for fun (and not for profit).

The Wright brothers were motivated by the pursuit of joy. They not only won, but they soared to new heights in their field. Bringing joy into a business will help create unity and shape your company’s culture.

When the author invites clients to his software company, Menlo Innovations, he asks: If half of the employees are happy with their work and the other half isn’t, which would you rather work with? Of course, it’s always better to work with happier people.

While it is true that joyful employees are more productive and engaged in their work, we’ve learned that companies who try to create a joy-driven culture actually get better results. We also know that these companies have happier employees who set higher goals for themselves. It turns out though, not all companies understand what this looks like. Let’s find out more about this in the next passage.

Big Idea #2: In order to be more productive, you need to have a fun office space that’s flexible. Gray cubicles and stuffy offices are not conducive for creativity or productivity.

Would working in a dank, windowless office make you feel happy? Probably not. The design and layout of your office can have a huge effect on how your employees feel when they’re working. I learned this firsthand from my company’s redesign, which created an open space where employees could see each other and work together. This open environment feels more like a lively restaurant than an actual office!

Menlo has made sure that its office space can be easily redesigned. It uses electrical wiring that’s easy to cut and move around, and furniture is lightweight so it can be moved without hassle.

The author believes that Menlo Park’s work environment is unique because employees are able to freely move around the office. This gives them a chance to change their point of view and be more creative. The ability to rearrange furniture allows people from different teams to sit together, which helps collaboration. Also, moving things around is just a fun way for employees to have some freedom in the office space.