Revved-By Harry Paul and Ross Reck

‘Revved’ is a management parable which aims at providing an easy three step solution for energizing and motivating teams to get the best results. It is a follow –up of the authors’ earlier book Fish, where the purpose was to boost morale and improve results by bringing fun and passion in the work environment.
The Book has been written by Harry Paul and Ross Reck. The former is a co-author of the widely acclaimed management parable Fish while the latter is the author of the best selling book ‘The Win-Win Negotiator’.

Revved is to the point and easy to read book. The authors have tried to convey that once an individual starts taking control of his emotions and situations then the task of motivating people narrows to simple exercise of taking care of the employees.

The authors emphasize that even the best leaders have personal problems at some times or another. However an effective leader is the one who reaches down inside himself to find the strength to keep his emotions in check especially at the work place.

The authors have tried to bring out lessons with the help of the protagonist, Katie Adams, a supervisor in the Human Resource department in a large pharmaceutical company. The book deals with her personal crises and how these crises sabotage her professional life. As a solution to the problems of the protagonist, the authors prescribe a program ‘looking out for number two’. It is a three step easy solution to gain back the trust and respect of employees and to motivate them for higher results.

The authors call the first step as ‘winning them over’, the goal of this step is to turn the employees into enduring allies and get them excited about going the extra mile in their work. This step involves simple changes in behavior like smiling at employees and saying something positive to them. The authors insist that most of the people fail to gauge the strength of this step as it is too simplistic. However this step gives instant results if practiced regularly.

The authors refer to the next step as ‘Blowing them away’. The goal of this step is to take the excitement created by the first step to the next level. This step involves identification of people who have gone the extra mile, and then blowing them away with the expression of appreciation so that they would want to go extra mile at every opportunity they get for you.

The authors emphasize that to really energize the employees, the supervisor should not just show interest in employees but he should also blow them away by doing something incredible and unexpected.

The last step ‘Keeping them Revved’ is centered on keeping the excitement at the next level indefinitely by consistently and sincerely maintaining positive relationships. The author insists that enthusiasm can be maintained by practicing the first two steps, not only at work place but in all aspects of life.

Like the previous book Fish the authors have tried to make this book short, simple and to the point. Both the follow the same style of using a parable to illustrate the lessons. However Fish was more fun to read and indulging than the book Revved. Fish provided its readers with a quick reference tool and easy practical solutions for energizing the workplace. The aim of the authors in both Fish and Revved is same as that of providing the readers with a practical tool kit. However, the solutions provided in Revved as against Fish are too simplistic for the complex motivational problems in organizations. Many a times motivating people involve more than a caring attitude towards them and these aspects have not been covered in the tool kit. Thus the readers of Fish might be in for some disappointment from this book.

Nonetheless the lessons and the illustrations sited in the book will remain with the audience. Their use of creative language in form of punch words will certainly influence the audience to apply the lessons for transforming their lives.