The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (and their employees) , by Patrick Lencioni, Jossey-Bass, $24.95 (£12)

I know, I know! Not. Enough. Money. Hahaha. Very funny. That’s actually not one of them.

I’ve already got a miserable job. I want to find a happy job. You need to identify the causes of misery to be able to find true enjoyment in your work.

Hmm. Isn’t a fable a bit, erm, childish? I’m a manager, you know. You’re obviously not familiar with the latest genre in business books: fiction. Instead of having it all spelt out for you, you get to, well, read between the lines. After all, fulfilment comes from being challenged.

Is that something you learnt from the book? Maybe.

It still sounds miserable. It’s actually quite good. Get past the slightly grating tone – it assumes that you have the reading age of a four-year-old – and you’ll find that Lencioni doesn’t mean to be patronising, he just wants to share his thoughts on being miserable. I mean happy.

Who’s in it, then? Brian, a manager with a gift for getting people to enjoy their jobs. He used to be a CEO and could probably make it as a motivational speaker, but he’d rather work in a pizza joint. Then there’s his long-suffering wife, Leslie, and his scarily employable daughter, Lynne. Rick “the jerk” also makes a few cameo appearances.

I like the sound of Rick. So what happens? Erm, Brian loses his job. They move to a ski resort. He hurts his knee. He gets a new job. They move to London. He gets another job. It’s a long story.

You still haven’t told me what the three signs are. Well, they’ve got nothing to do with an ergonomic chair or better stock options, two common mistakes that consultants often make. Lencioni should know: he used to be one.

Was that a miserable job? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

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