Starting a Positivity Revolution: My Review of Making Work Work

Making Work Work opens with the author, Shola Richards, describing their suicide attempt after years working for a horrible company. Shola had "officially became one of the company's soulless zombies who would mindlessly support its mission until [he] was too old and broken down to do it anymore". Luckily for all of us, Shola was able to recover and start a new mission: to help people treat each other better at work.

I hope none of you have ever been pushed to that level, but I think we can all empathize with feelings of hopelessness and depersonalization at work. I appreciated Shola's frank way of describing the problems that incivility can cause at work. In a nutshell, workplace incivility is "the constant rudeness, thoughtlessness, and passive-aggressiveness that sucks the life out of you and makes you question your faith in humanity." You may be tempted to dismiss incivility as not that serious, but over time it can have major consequences.

The book is part self-help and part guidelines for introducing positivity to work. Shola defines "positivity" as the act of consistently using kindness and mutual respect to create improved outcomes. Many people think that you can't be nice in business and that being positive is the equivalent of sticking your head in the sand. The reality is that over two-thirds of US workers are disengaged at work and as many as 65 millions Americans have to deal with workplace bullying. Not only does this lead to issues with productivity, it can cause health issues as well. We can't afford not to be nice at work.

Here are just a few of the practices that Shola recommends in the book:

• Relentless Respect: consistently showing respect while communicating, respecting individuals, and respecting teams

• Build relationships that last. When people like you, they will help you.

• Connecting to your "hire" self. Hold yourself accountable to your ideal self that you showed during your job interview.

One memorable section of the book deals with what Shola calls the ABCs of work: asshats, bullies, and complainers. We need to be positive even in the face of these workplace drainers. Shola offers good ways to be assertive and stand up for yourself in a respectful way. I liked how Shola marks the difference between venting and complaining: "[Venting is] appropriately releasing your negative feelings (anger, frustration, annoyance, and the like) about the situation and once you're done you let it go." Venting is healthy, but complaining is not.

I recommend this book if you're looking for ways to create a more positive environment at work.