FT Business Book of the Year

Best business books

All the books longlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award

Bonjour Laziness by Corinne Maier

Bonjour Laziness

I fell on it expecting to find Maier to be a woman after my own heart. But as I turned the pages I was taken over by the unaccustomed feelings of disapproval, self-righteousness and sense-of-humour failure. — Read the complete FT review

Categories
Workplace

Synopsis

Picture the scene: The boardroom at French electricity giant EdF. The subject: ‘Motivation’. One of the senior economists piped up: She came to work, she declared, because she was paid to. The stunned silence lasted a full 15 seconds. The woman was Corinne Maier and she had dared to voice the unspeakable - we go to work not because we love it, not because we love organising childcare, and cramming on the Tube for 45 minutes, but because we have to.

This sets the tone for Maier’s revolutionary book on getting away with doing as little as possible at work. Full of practical tips as well as insights into the workings of the modern company, Bonjour Laziness is as inspirational as it is enlightening. Covering subjects ranging from getting promoted, to managing in meetings and dealing with colleagues, Bonjour Laziness is a witty antidote to the rash of American motivational books on the market. It is a call to the office-workers of the world to rise up and throw their laptops and mission statements in the air. Bonjour Laziness will make you laugh, then make you wish you’d known all of this years ago!