FOR THE BOOKSHELF 8-1-1998

Meetings & Conventions: Short Cuts August1998
August 1998
Short Cuts:
FOR THE BOOKSHELF

GOOD COMPANY by Hal F. Rosenbluth and Diane McFerrin Peters, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., $25
This is the second book by Rosenbluth International's CEO (Hal) and former communications officer (Diane). In 1992, the duo released The Customer Comes Second, detailing the growth of Rosenbluth International into a multibillion-dollar corporate travel agency, strengthened by the unorthodox premise that a company has an obligation to positively influence the lives of its employees. Good Company shares how Rosenbluth - along with 14 other firms considered among the best in the nation to work for - had to make drastic changes to adapt to the 1990s business environment.

301 WAYS TO HAVE FUN AT WORK by Dave Hemsath and Leslie Yerkes, illustrations by Daniel McQuillen, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco, $14.95
"'A fun workplace' doesn't have to be an oxymoron," insist the authors, who conducted a survey to prove it. The result is a compilation of creative ideas for bringing levity to corporate life. One chapter is devoted to meetings, with examples such as one firm's "rubber brick meetings," during which attendees hurl rubber bricks at co-workers who show up late or say something inappropriate.