Jerks at Work
Toxic Coworkers and What to Do About Them
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- USD 8.99
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- USD 8.99
Descripción editorial
A practical and hilarious guide to getting difficult people off your back, for anyone pulling their hair out over an irritating colleague who's not technically breaking any rules
From open floor plans and Zoom calls to Slack channels, the workplace has changed a lot over the years. But there’s one thing that never changes: you’ll always encounter jerks. Jerks at Work is the definitive guide to dealing with—and ultimately breaking free from—the overbearing bosses, irritating coworkers, and all-around difficult people who make work and life miserable.
Social psychologist Tessa West has spent years leveraging science to help people solve interpersonal conflicts in the workplace. What she discovered is that most of our go-to tactics don’t work because they fail to address the specific motivations that drive bad behavior. In this book, she takes you on a rollicking deep dive of the seven jerks you’re most likely to encounter at the office, drawing on decades of original research to expose their inner workings and weak points—and ultimately deliver an effective game plan for stopping each type before they take you down with them.
Jerks at Work is packed with everyday examples and clever strategies, such as how to:
• Stop a Bulldozer from gaining influence by making sure they're not the first to speak up in meetings
• Report a Kiss Up/Kick Downer to a manager who idolizes them without looking like the bad guy
• Protect your high-achieving team from Free Riders without stifling collaboration
• Use a Gaslighter’s tactics to beat them at their own game
For anyone who’s said “I can’t stand that jerk!” more times than they’d like to admit, Jerks at Work is the ultimate playbook you wish you didn’t need but will always turn to.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
NYU social psychologist West empowers frustrated workers to deal with difficult colleagues in her punchy debut. Among the types of workplace antagonists she identifies, there's the "kiss up/kick downer," who tramples colleagues to get ahead; the "credit stealer," who pretends to be friendly but takes ideas; and the gaslighter, who manipulates others to make them complicit in unethical behavior. For each "jerk at work," West details methods for pinpointing what motivates them and where and when their jerky behavior is most likely to occur, and offers tactics to deploy in response. In the case of a "free rider," for example, friendly folks who don't do much, one should set strict boundaries, and with a neglectful boss at the helm, one should "need-nudge," or make concrete requests for help with specific time frames. West highlights the roles she's played in workplace drama—she's been employee and boss, and confesses to being both victim and jerk: her excessive micromanaging once drove 11 students working on a research project to quit in a single month. She mines these experiences for solid anecdotes, and while her tips are geared toward victims of workplace bullies, West's simultaneously humorous and no-nonsense approach to collegiality is broadly applicable. Leaders and workers alike will find in West an astute and personable guide.
