Dan Rust

One of the stories in Workplace Poker profiles a young man who is a natural salesman but when offered the chance to take sales training he declines. His reasoning is that it sounds dreadful and besides what could it teach him if he's already good at sales. Turns out, he still had a lot to learn and his dismissal of the training course was more about avoiding the hard work required to better himself.

That story mirrors my own approach to this book, Workplace Poker. Would I like to read a book on how to navigate office politics? No, thanks. How about a book that plainly states that you, and you alone, are largely responsible for your own career shortcomings? Not interested.

But you know what? I needed to hear this advice. I didn't like it most of the time, and I didn't agree with several chapters at all, but spread throughout there were moments of brutal truth. And those moments hit home hard. The chapters on personal accountability were the most illuminating. I'm not one to victim blame, not even for myself, but it's hard not to think that life's deck is stacked against you sometimes. Workplace Poker's response would be, yes, it is stacked against you but so what? That's not an excuse for you not to act. That's a harsh pill to swallow.… (altro)

Reading a book about work is like taking some kind of bitter medicine for me. Of course I want to succeed in life. But the ideas that the author lays out, while I actually do believe them to be true - depress me. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with knowing how to promote yourself, or networking, or learning to persuade and take risks. It is just that the skills that you learn in school appear to be so absolutely antithetical to those needed to get along in your adult life. If I learned to play a game for years, only to find out that the end rules would be different, I'm not sure that this is something I want to stare in the face. And workplace lingo also makes me want to jump off a cliff - 'just keep your head down', for instance. It is like the corporate workplace is a tornado drill that goes on for years. I'm not sure that it necessarily is, or that it has to be that way. But the entire book leaves me simultaneously thinking - 'if only I could follow this advice, change everything about myself and become a real power player' - and, 'Really? There isn't another way? ALL the jobs are like this?' This book is the work equivalent of Queen Bees and Wannabees. I dislike hidden agendas, and I can't decide whether learning about people who have them is ultimately beneficial, or enabling something that I don't want to be a part of. When I decide which it is, I'll let you know whether I like this book.… (altro)