Lucy Kellaway is a journalist with the Financial Times. In addition to her Monday columns, in which she humorously berates the silliness of corporate life, she creates Martin Lukes, a director of the British branch of a fictitious US multinational. Lukes has his own weekly column in the Financial Times in form of e-mail exchanges.Her column, one of the very few things I look forward to on Mondays, is in the line of Fortune's Stanley Bing (who has since come out of the closet and written numerous management books himself). The difference is that she is an observer looking in and he is a been-there-done-that executive.The book captures a year of Lukes' life divided into months and days and then e-mails. Through these e-mails we get into Martin Lukes: his personality, his family, his job, his company, and most importantly, his management style. Through Luke, we plunge into the seemingly clever and grand but actually nonsensical and hollow corporate life. This satire of the business life is , of course, exaggerated but, in some instances, very real.Corporate slaves have a lot of to learn from Lukes:a. 'TOAD' management really works: step on the heads of your subordinates to jump to the next level.b. Network, network, network. It is the only way to progress with minimal amount of work. (Networking can otherwise be defined as fanatically and brainlessly flattering someone more influential than you for future benefits).c. E-mail is the best way to show that you are working. Hard.d. You can achieve success by glossing every aspect of yourself. There are various tips you can learn in the book. For example: never say busy, it's 'in demand'. There are no weaknesses. Only Less Strong Strength.e. Etc.The short email forms (unlike the pretentiously long e-mails in Andrew & Joey: A Tale of Bali by Jamie James*) in simple, conversational English makes the whole reading light and pleasurable. I finished the book in one day flat.Like any 20 year old embarking into the glamorous life of finance, I too, was guilty of fascination of these sorts of things: mindless meetings of inflated importance which result in much-admired overtime, the must-have Palm V or branded organizer, the financial lingoes enough to think outsiders that we spoke in Klingonese, etc. Then, one day, I met my own Martin Lukes. That changed the course of my life. I am sure you've met one or two yourself and that what makes the book so fun.When you sigh in regret for finishing the book so fast, take a look at the cover for one last treat provided that you buy the British edition. It is an entertainment in its own right.The book is highly recommended for light reading after work. I will not bring this book for holiday as it will only remind you on why you dread returning to the office after the wonderful holiday.*Note: I've never actually read the book but I've flicked through it long enough in bookshops during my agonizing indecision on whether to buy as I had nothing to read. I've never gotten around to buy it despite the 'good' review and good cover (yes, I do judge a book by its cover) due to 2 factors: price and pretentiousness.
Do you make lunch plans with your colleagues via instant messaging/email, when they are actually just seated next to you? Welcome to the 21st Century.Meet Martin Lukes then - a middle-aged corporate rat, who's obsessed with his Blackberry, striving to break into the top ranks of management. Who Moved My Blackberry? tells the story of an irksome lead through his emails with his colleagues, wife, son, mistress and a shrink (Martin insists it's a Life Coach). Anyone whose amibition lies beyond the butt seated in the cushy armchair and UV-radiation-emitting squarebox, and constantly being told to 'think out of the box' can definitely relate to the (mis)adventures Martin Lukes is going through.Author Lucy Kellaway, a columnist for Financial Times London, holds no reservations poking fun at corporate rats. Martin Lukes is the perfect example of someone 'who works for a company that's very busy making nothing in particular'. I had numerous occasions of sniggering and rolling-on-the-floor-laughing-out-loud moments while reading this book. Smart content. True to the bone. Bold reflection of what many corporate victims face. Bosses should pick this up to better understand what employees don't tell them in the face. Lower management, keep this to yourself (away from your bosses) and have a good laugh when you thought you see yourself in Martin Lukes. Those who haven't mastered the art of internet lingo, this one's for you too.
What do You think about Who Moved My Blackberry? (2006)?
I suppose this book had its funny moments. I guess I'm just too far removed from people like this in the book to really be the proper audience; and the concept is so old and over used, and the writing is just okay.... But not awful. It was a *shrug* sort of book.It was an interesting take on an epistolary novel, though. Very modern. I liked that part.As to the rest? Predictable, mostly. But still not . . . awful.> I didn't really care enough about it to either like it or hate it. Such is life.
—Jen3n
In the tradition of Dilbert and The Office, Who Moved My Blackberry ruthlessly lampoons the corporate environment. From the constant corporate-speak to the multi-million dollar re-branding projects to the obsession with being better then 110%, this book has it all.Who Moved My Blackberry follows the emails and text messages of marketing director Martin Lukes as he bumbles his way through office and family life. While I spent the beginning of the book rooting for his demise, after a while, I realized that the people around him were douchebags too and began sympathizing with the protagonist.Anyone who is a fan of office and personal growth parodies, especially those with a British sensibility, will love this book. And since I listened to the audiobook, I can safely say the the actors did a top-notch job (the editor did leave in one repetition, and an issue with the levels in one place, but oh well).
—Oleg Kagan
This book is a total take-off on a man who thinks he is really into personal growth and "winning" but really he is an inflated unaware jerk who communicates to people only through email.Ok, we only "see" the email conversations because the whole book is written in the form of emails to all the people in his life. The main character has such an uninformed view of himself and others that it is actually funny!He employs a coach to become "22.5% better than his very bestest!" One of the ironies is that this coach seems to feed him a line of fluffy nonsense and she enables him to assign his "negative leak holes" to others, allowing him to totally avoid looking at his reckless, selfish and transparent flaws. He doesn't have "a window" {his term for "time"} for his wife, sons or mother and he mindlessly engages in an affair with his personal assistant while looking for ways to ingratiate himself to his superiors. The funny part is that he is his own worst enemy and finds himself sending emails to his mistress that begin "dear pinky" and end "love, perky" to the entire office! He also believes that he has bowel cancer never mind that no one else in the medical field does!! (Because they are sodding fools, after all!) Then, to pay for his mother's knee surgery, he lists her on his insurance as his daughter!It's silly fun in a slap-your-forehead way! I found myself really looking forward to seeing how he would re-arrange facts to suit his (quite transparent) purposes!Loved this book - and totally encourage listening to the audio version to fully appreciate the nuances of the goofy characters!
—Sharon
