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The Three Signs of a
Miserable Job
A Fable for Managers (And Their Employees)
by Patrick Lencioni
Jossey-Bass © 2007
272 pages
• To keep good employees, help them be happy and fulfilled. Your success depends
more on satisfied employees than on your business tactics.
An employee who feels frustrated and cynical will spread misery in your office.
As a manager, try to erase three symptoms of a miserable job for each person.
These symptoms are: feeling anonymous, thinking that your work does not matter
and having no way to assess your own progress.
Employees must feel recognized as individuals.
They must believe that their work makes a meaningful contribution.
People hunger to know how they are doing. Give them tangible ways to measure
their accomplishments.
If you help your employees fulfill these needs, you will improve productivity, boost
morale and reduce turnover.
Boosting salaries does not automatically make employees more contented.
You can perform immense good by showing consideration, empathy and respect
for your staff. Management is a special ministry.
Rating (10 is best)
Overall Applicability Innovation Style
7 8 7 8
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This summary is restricted to the personal use of Paul Sullivan (paul.sullivan@exel.com)

“It’s diffi cult
to accurately
estimate the
magnitude of the
problems caused by
miserable jobs.”
“Employees hang
onto fulfi lling
jobs as long as
they can, mostly
because they
know that their
chances of fi nding
another are
relatively slim.”
Relevance
What You Will Learn
In this Abstract, you will learn: 1) What are the three primary reasons employees are
miserable at work; and 2) What you as a manager can do to make them happy about
their jobs.
Recommendation
Business books take many forms, but seldom are they fables. Patrick Lencioni breaks the
mold with this charming book about a manager who turns his workers’ miserable jobs
into fulfilling ones. He presents the fictional story of Brian Bailey, a big-hearted CEO
who gets bought out, finds retirement dull and tries managing a seedy pizza parlor where
the employees hate their jobs. Bailey quickly changes everything by the way he treats
the shop’s people. Later he works his magic as the new CEO of a failing retail sportinggoods
company with a ruinously high turnover rate, where his humane techniques turn
things around again. Lencioni’s book is fun to read; its fable is touching yet credible.
He reinforces important lessons all managers should know about getting the best from
the people who work for them by providing empathy and recognizing the meaning of
their work. If you are up for a parable, getAbstract recommends this engaging book.
It spotlights a clear axiom: Treat people humanely and they will do as you wish – a
valuable lesson for any manager or, indeed, anyone at all.
Abstract
The Fable
Brian Bailey never had enough money to attend a full four years of college. Instead, he
went to work in a San Francisco factory that manufactured automobiles. He married
young. He and his wife Leslie had three children. Bailey was a smart, hard worker. The
car company’s COO made him the plant manager when he turned 35. She liked him,
his work ethic and his desire to get ahead. Later, she recommended Bailey for a CEO
position at a nearby exercise equipment manufacturer. He got the job. Board members
liked his friendly demeanor and his ability to communicate. In 17 years at the firm, he
moved it to the top of its field and made it a great place to work. Employee satisfaction
ratings were the highest in the industry. Then one day a larger company bought the firm.
As is typical, CEO Bailey was asked to leave. With the kids grown, Brian and Leslie
retired on his buy-out money, and moved to Lake Tahoe, Nevada, a wonderful retirement
site. Yet Bailey quickly got bored. He loved being a CEO, managing people and events.
He wanted a new challenge. He soon got one, but nothing that he had ever expected.
The Pizza Parlor
It all started when Brian and Leslie ordered Italian food to pick up. They drove to the
restaurant, a tacky, shabby place called Gene and Joe’s. They pulled up to the window,
and waited and waited. Finally, a man with a big tattoo stuck his head out of the window.
He wore a dirty white T-shirt that showed two men smiling. In large red and green letters
it read, “Gene and Joe’s Pizza and Pasta. Here, There, Everywhere.”
“Yes?” the man said disinterestedly. Bailey asked for his order, the man fetched it and
took $20, not even smiling when Bailey gave him the change as a tip. At home, the
The Three Signs of a Miserable Job © Copyright 2008 getAbstract 2 of 5

“More people out
there are miserable
in their jobs than
fulfi lled by them.”
“The Sunday blues
are those awful
feelings of dread
and depression
that many people
get toward the end
of their weekend as
they contemplate
going back to work
the next day.”
“Scores of people
suffer – really
suffer – every day
as they trudge off
from their families
and friends to jobs
that only make
them more
cynical, unhappy
and frustrated.”
“Employees
often fail to fi nd
fulfi llment in their
work because
they place too
much emphasis
on maximizing
compensation or
choosing the
right career.”
Baileys found that the pizza joint had forgotten their salad. Bailey drove back to get it.
He went inside. Only a few customers were eating. The carpet was torn. The paint was
peeling. “Help wanted – cook, delivery driver, weekend manager” read a sign beside the
cash register. Bailey asked for his salad. “You sure you didn’t get it?” the tattooed man
quizzed Bailey. “Of course, I’m sure,” Bailey said. A large balding man ordered the cook
to get Bailey his missing salad quickly. He introduced himself as Joe, one of the owners,
and gave Bailey a coupon for a free pizza to make amends. Bailey took his salad and
coupon, thanked Joe and left. Later, he called the restaurant and asked if he could come
talk to the owner again. That call changed Bailey’s life.
The next day, he applied for the job as weekend manager. At first, Joe thought Bailey
was kidding. But he knew Bailey was serious when he offered to invest $12,000 in the
restaurant. The man quickly hired Bailey, warning him that the restaurant’s turnover
was terrible. Bailey thought he might be able to do something about that. Then he went
home and told Leslie what he had done. She asked if he’d gone crazy. He told her he
would relish the opportunity to make a difference and to manage people again, especially
people who seemed so miserable. He thought he might be able to make a difference. He
began the next weekend. First, he met the employees: Joaquin, the main cook; Kenny, a
prep cook; Tristan, who handled the cash register; Salvador, the dishwasher; Carl, the
drive-through window man; Harrison, who handled deliveries; Joleen and Patty, the
waitresses; and Migo, a young guy who did a little bit of everything.
After his first few days, Bailey told his wife the place was like a morgue. It drew few
customers, the employees all seemed unhappy, nobody ever smiled and no one seemed
to care about their work. Bailey soon shook things up. One day, he scheduled a meeting
with the employees a half hour before the normal starting time. He opened the meeting
by asking how many people liked their jobs. No one responded. He then asked how many
people felt excited about coming to work. Again, no one said anything, although a few of
them snickered. Bailey told them seriously that his job was to make them feel good about
their jobs, and he was going to start right away.
As a CEO, Bailey had discovered three important rules that applied to managing
employees, engaging them and making them feel valued. First, people need to feel
appreciated. Second, they need to feel that their work matters. Third, they need some
tangible ways to measure their progress. Bailey put these principles to work. He told
the employees that he was instituting a two-month test. During that period, he would
pay everyone $1 more hourly, if they would all support his new program and give it a
fair chance. He explained that anyone who didn’t want to try could quit and that all the
employees would be in this together. If even one person stopped cooperating, everyone’s
salaries would revert back to the old wage. The workers agreed to try things his way.
Later that night, Bailey spent a few minutes with Carl, the pick-up window man. “Let’s see
if we can make your job more measurable,” Bailey said. They agreed that Carl could track
his progress on cutting down on wrong orders. Getting a customer to smile would be a plus
that Carl could measure. A laugh would count as four smiles. Carl was skeptical, but said
he would give it a try. Bailey then helped the other employees establish their own individual
measurables so they could track their own progress. It didn’t happen on the first day, or
the second, but after a few days, a new mood became evident. The employees were more
excited about what they were doing. They would huddle with each other briefly to compare
their measurables. Tips were up for the waitresses and fewer customers complained. The
employees were actually smiling at work. Things were beginning to change.
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“Great employees
don’t want their
success to depend
on the subjective
views or opinions
of another
human being.”
“To be the kind
of leader…who
can help people
discover the
relevance of their
work, a person
must have a
level of personal
confi dence
and emotional
vulnerability.”
“To manage
another human
being effectively
requires some
degree of empathy
and curiosity about
why that person
gets out of bed in
the morning, what
is on their mind
and how you can
contribute to
them becoming a
better person.”
“People want to
be managed as
people, not as
mere workers.”
Bailey called another meeting and asked the employees to consider who depended on
them and whom they depended upon. No one understood, so he told them what he had
observed. He praised Joleen, the waitress, for playing with a cranky baby so its mom
could eat. He told Salvador, the dishwasher, that his work was essential. He made sure the
restaurant always had clean dishes and silverware. Salvador glowed with pride. Bailey
told Migo that he couldn’t function as a manager without the young man’s help. Bailey
pointed out how important each employee was to the restaurant and to the staff.
Clearly touched by Bailey’s little speech, the employees developed a newfound respect
for themselves and for each other. It showed in their work. Business continued to improve.
Bailey spent his time learning about what made each employee tick. He discovered that
Salvador and Migo played Saturday mornings on an amateur soccer team. He went and
watched a few of their games. They were immensely proud that their boss was in the
stands. He learned that Patty’s daughter had a food allergy, so he and Joaquin found
Patty an inexpensive source of allergen-free food. For the first time, the employees felt
that someone cared. It made a lot of difference. Joe and the staffers were happy. Receipts
and tips were up. Bailey’s experiment had worked.
Shortly thereafter, a foundering retail sporting-goods company recruited Bailey to become
its CEO. On his last night at the restaurant, the employees threw him a good-bye party.
Afterward, Bailey took Joe aside and suggested Migo for his managerial job; Joe agreed.
The Sporting Goods Store
Bailey found that the sporting-goods firm had the same basic problems as Gene and
Joe’s – unhappy employees. He quickly taught his regional and store managers how to
get employees to feel good about their jobs. Things turned around just as quickly as they
had at the restaurant. After six months, profits were up and turnover was down. The
business was moving ahead.
One weekend about a year later, a small package came for Brian Bailey. Inside was a
brand-new white T-shirt. It showed two smiling men shaking hands. Underneath, in red
and green letters, it read, “Migo and Joe’s Pizza and Pasta. Here, There, Everywhere.”
Lessons Learned
People can be unhappy at their jobs, no matter how great the job sounds, from highly
paid CEOs and big-time entertainers to famous professional athletes…or the waitress or
dishwasher at the corner bistro. Miserable jobs often share these three characteristics.
1. Anonymity – You can’t feel good about your job if you feel unknown to management.
Employees need to believe that the company cares about them. Otherwise, they feel
anonymous and invisible. When they do, invariably they are unhappy at work.
2. Irrelevance – Believing that your work matters is a giant step toward feeling happy
at work. Employees need to feel that they make a significant contribution. This
could be on behalf of their customers and colleagues, or some greater good.
3. Lack of measurement – People need a tangible way to quantify their work. Without
that, they will feel nervous, uneasy and ultimately unsatisfied. For salespersons, this
could be the dollar amount of their sales. For a major-league baseball pitcher, it
could be the number of strikeouts he achieves. For a CEO, it can be an increase in
shareholder value. The inability to quantify and measure their achievements is a
primary reason that many people hate their jobs. The reward for full participation
should be substantive and measurable. If employees feel that they have no material
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“Great managers
and companies
don’t let the initial
appearance of
silliness prevent
them from doing
what is ultimately
meaningful and
differentiating.”
“Employees
can smell a
false attempt
at ‘employee
bonding’ from a
mile away.”
“All managers can
– and really should
– view their work
as a ministry.”
way to gauge their work achievement – that any assessment depends instead on some
supervisor’s arbitrary benevolence or malevolence – they will feel demotivated.
Miserable Employees Equal Miserable Performance
Unhappy, unfulfilled, demotivated employees are not productive. People who are miserable
in their jobs tend to cut corners and to do as little as possible to achieve the company’s goals.
Indeed, they may be secretly pleased if the firm does not attain its objectives. This bad
attitude will infect other employees and destroy morale. Many managers do little to make
their people feel valued at work. Managers often keep their workers guessing as to whether
they are doing a good job. Instead, they should treat their employees like individuals, take
an interest in them and show that someone at works cares about them.
Do these simple things and your employees will crawl through broken glass for you.
Don’t do them and your employees will be miserable, with all the negative implications
that portends. Unfortunately, many managers find it difficult to treat their workers as
human beings. The reason is simple: They become nervous, embarrassed and uneasy
when they try to act like caring people in the work environment. That sounds silly but
it is, nevertheless, a fact. You cannot act humanely toward others without first acting
human yourself. This requires self-confidence, humility and a willingness to open
yourself up to others. Unfortunately, some managers have a hard time living up to those
standards. As a result, their staff feels unappreciated, unimportant and ignored, and thus
grows discontented and disaffected. In short, their people become miserable.
Many managers and their companies don’t recognize that they have a serious problem
with unhappy employees until people start to quit. That’s when management quickly
adopts short-term solutions, such as better salaries and benefits. The HR department
begins to conduct increased training for managers. Everyone becomes more proficient
at filling out work evaluations, establishing performance goals and so on. Despite all
this effort, however, the underlying problem remains: The employees are miserable at
work. Management doesn’t do anything to meet their bedrock human needs. Fortunately,
management can turn things around quickly. It just takes willingness. The payoff is
happier employees, which translates to increased production and stronger profits. In
today’s marketplace, with its “ubiquitous technology” and speedy spread of information,
standing out is increasingly difficult. The best way is to have a satisfied workforce.
A Special Ministry
Management is like a ministry. You can help your employees feel good about themselves
and the work they do. See that they feel important and know that they are contributing.
Give them some tangible means for marking their own progress. If you do these things,
you will have an immeasurably profound positive impact on your employees’ lives. They
will feel better about themselves, which will make everyone around them feel better. To
create this happy, productive environment just treat the people who work for you like
human beings. It’s really that simple.
About the Author
Patrick Lencioni is the author of numerous business books, including the bestselling
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Lencioni is the founder and president of a businessconsulting
firm that helps organizations function efficiently through superior
leadership.
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