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Wednesday, June 21, 2006

company
i just finished reading company by max barry. this book is a must read! if you liked office space, this book takes similar corporate lingo and situations and puts it in a quick page-turning, 2-page segmented, hilarious novel that makes it perfect for a commuting corporate monkey like me.

the book follows a new grad, jones, as the "new chimp" who never asks questions, starts asking questions about a company which he realizes doesn't know what it does. the book has many twists, which i will not mention here otherwise ruining the key storylines in the book, that make you think about how corporations work, especially with regard to management.

the book covers terms like the golden handshake (bonus upon signing), the golden parachute (severance pay) and the golden handcuffs (staying on because of a promise of a bonus). but more importantly (for me), it covers situations like the dreaded "re-org."

now being exposed to a recent re-org of late, barry's take on a re-org is definitely implausible, but does expose some issues of a re-org. the excitement of what it may bring, employees getting the boot, chaos ensuing after its implementation, and the the "shake-out," where employees that are put into meaningless positions leave the company. all of this is easy to relate to, which made the book a much more interesting read.

the best parts though are the interactions between the characters. my favorite character was the main character jones because of his youthful naivete and drive. i found that i really wanted to strive to be like him -- to challenge the corporate structure and make my place in the company; to not be the chimp that does things because that's the way things are done.

barry makes some great observations of corporate life, such as how projects are managed. if four people are put in a room and are not allowed to leave until they complete a task, but their tasks change every few hours, will they ever finish? no!

i am inspired by this book, but i'm not sure what to make of it. only time will tell. just a disclaimer -- if you work with me and read this, don't read to much into it. but do read this book. ;-)


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