At breakfast this morning, my wife pointed out that I Hate People (which I endorsed and is a book I love) got a long and very positive review in today's Wall Street Journal. The reviewer did a bit of nit-picking, but he clearly is a big fan of the book. Predicting which books will be best-sellers and which will not is impossible, but my first reaction to reading this book, which persists, is that if any book in the current market deserves to be one, this is it, because business books that are both fun and useful are as rare as hen's teeth. Check out the review here, and here is a taste.
Refreshingly, the authors don't pretend to have all the answers. If
the workplace career-killer happens to be your boss, they admit,
sometimes the best you can do is hang in there and hope that he or she
self-destructs. (And don't expect any help from HR.)
"I Hate People" is at its best with specifics like the best length
of time for a meeting (half an hour, and no laptops or cellphones
allowed) and the ideal size of a project team (three to five people).
For those who dread being trapped into cellphone chit-chat with a
windbag colleague, there is a devilishly clever online service called
Slydial, which sends your call directly to voicemail without running
the risk of a time- and spirit-sapping conversation.
"I Hate People" is a bracing antidote to the management bromide that
"there is no 'i' in 'team.' " True enough, Messrs. Hershon and Littman
would say — but if you move things around a bit, there is a "me."
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