Mavericks in the Workplace Harnessing the Genius of American Workers

The great competition today is not just for customers, but for American employees. How do you attract the best, keep them happy, and harness their considerable ingenuity and entrepreneurism? Indeed, how do you find common ground at all on which to organize so resourceful yet so individualistic, so diverse, and often so contentious a work force, the most talented of whom are also often the most iconoclastic? Mavericks in the Workplace shows that such traits, once regarded as debilitating weaknesses, are in fact sources of great strength for organizations. The key to tapping them is not Human Resources programs, pilling on more perks, or even pricey compensation programs. The key can be found in a clearer understanding of our social, cultural, and political heritage. William Lee draws on intensive work by historians, who have brilliantly pieced together the puzzle of what makes Americans tick. How do they normally organize, for example, when faced with the most daunting tasks? What bonds them to groups, and to each other? What sort of leadership do they respect and respond to most strongly? Above all, how do they best form into societies (and every business is a small society) that harness their considerable wealth-creating potential? The answers will shock conventional management wisdom--but they will resonate with the employees you want to hire and keep. Even the most diverse and individualistic American workers, Lee asserts, can find common ground in organizations that build on Thomas Jefferson's radical basis for American society itself: "All men are created equal." Mavericks in the Workplace shows companies how to create that common ground and win the contest for American workers.

William Lee is President of William G. Lee and Associates, a Dallas-based consulting firm that helps firms get employees more involved in important corporate goals, such as growth, innovation, or productivity improvement. He is a former vice president of Lee Emmert, a Dallas Construction firm, controller for Glastron, an Austin Manufacturer, and a former official in the Department of Defense during the Bush Administration.