Saturday, August 11, 2012

Book Review - Working Wounded

ReviewReviewReviewReviewReviewMar 4, '06 8:55 PM
for everyone
Category:Books
Genre: Nonfiction
Author:Bob Rosner
"Advice that adds Insight to Injury”

Something happened that rarely happened to me. I fell in love with this book at first sight. I was walking through the rows and rows of bookracks in Popular and as usual ended up at the discounts bin. My roving eyes found this one and I picked it up and flipped through its pages. Lo, I refused to put it back! At RM22.90 for a small 300-odd page book in hard-cover, I didn’t feel it burning a hole in my pocket as I paid for it. Most other things that I bought on impulse did, and the burning sensation lasted until I walked away from the counter.

So after going through it from cover to cover, here’s the gist of what goes on inside:

You’ve landed your first job, started on a career and raring to go full blast. But hey! Be prepared. The workplace is fraught with dangers. Before long you’re in the thick of it, and filled with bullet holes and wondering what you did in your last life to deserve all this.

But fret not. Everyone who’s done a little job at any workplace, anyone who’s gone “where angels fearfully tread’ or anyone who’s gone into business for himself, has to go through the baptism by fire. Whether you do your job or you don’t, you’re occasionally in the line of fire, between bosses, boss and you, boss and colleagues, departments and rival colleagues.

So, here in this book is the wit and wisdom of someone who’s been through most of it, who came out alive and laughing, and on top of it, all the way to the bank! But he does give us something to chew over and laugh at (without spilling any crumbs on your lap).

To quote the foreword on the front jacket:
“Does your job feel like you’re going up the down escalator? Does your boss remind you of Darth Vader? Is your future as dim as a 25-watt bulb?
If your answers are “yes,” welcome to the ranks of the Working Wounded. Here is a manual that will make you laugh while it makes you think. Its message is simple but powerful: Don’t moan over your battle scars. Rise above them.”

In spite of the tongue-in-cheek narratives, Bob Rosner did put in a great deal of work into the book. He did so with a lot of help from a long list of people whom he acknowledged at the end of the book (just as humorously) as he likened it to the “Academy Awards when some obscure winner drones on and on thanking the really little people (…and thanks to the people who washed my costumes…)”. He shows you how to deal realistically with:
Co-workers
Your boss
Your employees
Missing a promotion
Getting out (of your current job)
Making a sale (everyone has to do some selling)
Stress
Dealing with new technology
Losing your job (or about to) and
Being out on your own

Knowing I’ve been through most of these experiences (the bullet scars are still there); I think that this book is worth every cent of it in terms of the lessons it teaches, not just for those starting out but also those who find themselves in the thick of the battle, but wish they were doing something else. For me, I had a good laugh, for these were some of the tricks of survival that I had used to stay alive.

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