“How we think about work is not a constant.
It changes. It is my belief, and I hope it becomes yours —
Fun Works.”

— Leslie Yerkes
“Fun Works.”
Second edition

I resisted the moniker of “Queen of Fun” after co-authoring my first book in 1997 entitled “301 Ways to Have Fun at Work.” It was a fortuitous publication. My bucket list included: Writing a book. I had started several and this opportunity somewhat fell into my lap at the perfect time.

My consulting practice was ten years young with each year feeling like a Mt. Everest climb. To arrive at the tenth anniversary was momentous as we crossed the survival threshold of 85% of small businesses failing before their fifth year and 50% of the survivors failing before their tenth anniversary. Catalyst Consulting Group, Inc. was in the 7% of those who make the climb. I proudly placed a numeral on the front doors of our downtown offices every year on the company’s birthday (much to the dissatisfaction of the building management) to commemorate the effort. I have celebrated the organization’s birthday more often than my own.

The challenges never cease and the climb just changes. The last five years starting with the pandemic in 2020 have been especially hard. I have trained for this and will continue the journey.

Now, back to the story I wish to tell.

The first book came together quickly with a newly established publisher (Berrett-Koehler). It was released just as Amazon.com came into being, and the trend of ‘fun at work’ was hot. I could not have asked for a better launching pad. There were not as many book releases in 1997 as there are now and the topic was one that the journalists loved to cover. As a result, my first book was a bestseller. I could have made a career out of being the spokesperson for Fun @ Work.

I resisted.

It is not that I resist fun, play, joy, humor or just being silly. I love it when I can laugh or make another person laugh. It reflects my sense of buoyancy during challenge and optimism when things get dicey. I enjoyed researching all the science behind how laughter, joy, and the element of humor can contribute to living longer, loving longer, having deeper friendships, and more career success. The evidence of fun, joy, and happiness being integral to the human condition could be found in all the quotes, cliches, and references that went back centuries.

It wasn’t hard to advocate that we put this element into the recipe of our working lives, but I resisted making it my one song to sing.

I am paradoxical. I am intensely serious about responsibility and doing the right thing, yet I can find the silly in most dark moments. I work more intentionally on my lightness, being the ‘heavy’ comes more naturally. Thus, when I was encouraged to ride the wave of a first book’s success, I resisted. It was too superficial for me. It played to our American need for a quick fix — a ‘silver bullet solution’ — for when we neglect the human needs in our workplaces.

Instead, I was called to go deeper and write a second book entitled, “Fun Works: Creating Places Where People Love to Work.” I wanted to give light to the real-life examples of organizations that dedicated themselves to both the ‘hard science’ of good management — good product/service, quality, finances, distribution, value, and the ability to attract and retain good people to play the strategy, build the systems, and deliver consistently on the promise — and the ‘soft science’ — culture, values, norms, and systems that reward and reinforce the desired behaviors.

I found and featured eleven different organizations from across the United States whose performance outpaced their competitors and who naturally embraced the whole person — their technical excellence and fun-selves to their missions. Six years later, I revisited the organizations to see if their dedication was sustained and their performance maintained. I was not disappointed. What they accomplished resulted in a second edition of the book, “Fun Works.” Each of the featured organizations had navigated natural and national disasters, economic downturns, and changes in their industries.

I hope to start looking in on those same companies here after five years of tumultuous change and see if their recipe still works. I am fairly certain I will find changes and pretty sure their cultures have carried them through well. It is the ‘soft science’ of culture, values, and behaviors that build the connection that can be communicated and felt — even when we work remotely.

All my business books are now ‘back list books.’ Yet my publisher and fellow authors are encouraging me to revisit the topics and light up the content conversations.

So, I am going to dust off the ‘Queen of Fun’ crown that I never placed on my head and research all that has been added to the study since “Fun Works” second edition launched in 2007.

I never let go of the commitment to the balance between work and play. I never took fun out of my personal toolbox. In fact, as I age, I find myself letting the silly (not stupid) girl out in most settings. I know what I know and don’t have anything to prove to anyone; so, why not infuse all that I do with joy?

I know that life isn’t easy or fair but having a lightness to my being and spring in my step makes it a more pleasant adventure.

My original publisher Berrett-Koehler has a series of titles that extend and broaden the study including: