Games Bosses Play: 36 Career Busters Your Supervisor May Be Firing Your Way and How You Can Defend Yourself [Paperback]

Russell Wild (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1997

Games Bosses Play takes a humorous yet pract ical look at the posturing, delegating and gamesmanship that occur between bosses and employees. '

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Bosses and their employees regularly joust as if engaged in a real-life chess match, but supervisors usually hold the edge because they are generally more familiar with the psychological arts of manipulation and intimidation. Journalist Russell Wild's Games Bosses Play is an attempt to level the game board by providing workers with the ammunition to successfully fight back. Lighthearted in approach but deadly serious in intent, it parlays interviews with more than 100 experts--from employees to executives to third-party observers--into a revelation of the top 36 exploitative techniques utilized by bosses worldwide and the measures that can be used to counter them.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Contemporary Books (September 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809230852
• ISBN-13: 978-0809230853
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,640,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Russell Wild is the principal of Global Portfolios, an investment advisory firm based in eastern Pennsylvania. He is one of few wealth managers in the nation who is both fee-only (takes no commissions) and welcomes clients of both substantial and modest means. In addition to the fun he has with his financial calculator, Wild is also an accomplished writer who helps readers understand, and make wise choices about their money. His articles have appeared in many national publications, including AARP The Magazine; Consumer Reports, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, The Saturday Evening Post, and Reader's Digest. He also contributes regularly to professional financial journals, such as Wealth Manager and Financial Planning.

The author or co-author of two dozen nonfiction books, Wild's latest works include One Year to An Organized Financial Life (co-authored with Regina Leeds, Perseus, 2010), Index Investing for Dummies (Wiley, December, 2008), Bond Investing for Dummies (2007), and Exchange-Traded Funds for Dummies (2007). Before those, he wrote The Unofficial Guide to Getting a Divorce, along with attorney Susan Ellis Wild, his ex-wife - yeah, you read that right (Wiley, 2005). No stranger to the mass media, Wild has shared his wit and wisdom on such shows as Oprah, The View, CBS Morning News, Good Day New York, and in hundreds of radio interviews.

Wild holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in international management and finance from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona (consistently ranked the #1 school for international business by both U.S. News and World Report and the Wall Street Journal); a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in business/economics magna cum laude from American University in Washington, D.C.; and a graduate certificate in personal financial planning from Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (America's sixth oldest college). A member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) since 2002, Wild is also a long-time member and a past president of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA).

The author grew up on Long Island, and after living in various places both in the United States and abroad (including France and Morocco), settled in Allentown, Pennsylvania where he lives with his two children, Adrienne and Clayton, along with Norman, the killer poodle.

Wild's website is Russellwild.com. His email is [e-mail].

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Simulations to Help You Avoid Problems with Bosses, May 25, 2000

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 110,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Games Bosses Play: 36 Career Busters Your Supervisor May Be Firing Your Way and How You Can Defend Yourself (Paperback)

Games Bosses Play is a series of vignettes about how the relationship between you and your boss could end up in uncomfortable circumstances for you. The book goes on to suggest ways to reduce the downside after the damage is done, and also to avoid the downside before it occurs.

I recognize a number of these situations from superiors I worked for, and have observed others doing taking other tacks described in the book.

The main weakness of the book is that the advice goes overboard in a number of circumstances, and could backfire on you. For example, while being fired, the book suggests that as a last resort you drop hints about filing a law suit. That approach could cause you to spend a lot of money on a lawyer and lose some of your negotiating posture. Most executives are trained to stop talking to you as soon as you mention law suit. In a circumstance where the boss says that he has no influence over his boss, the book suggests asking your boss if you can meet with her/his boss alone to plead your case. That will seem very threatening to your boss, and could cause you to alienate someone who may be trying to help you.

If you follow the advice in this book, you should be sure to temper it with a lot of common sense and some willingness to feel like your superior may not be trying to do you in. Obviously, the best advice if you have a lousy boss is to transfer into another part of the company or into a new company.

The main value of this book is to provide the opportunity to think about circumstances before they arise. If they do arise, you will be better prepared.

Although this book is aimed at the needs of those who work for bosses, I suggest that supervisors and executives also read this. You may find some ways that you can do your work better as well. You may be surprised to see some of the ways that your actions can be interpreted and misintepreted by your subordinates.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An enlightening book, March 21, 2000

By 

PJ England (Arkansas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Games Bosses Play: 36 Career Busters Your Supervisor May Be Firing Your Way and How You Can Defend Yourself (Paperback)

This book may not be the end all to office politics, but it does make the reader aware of some of the head games that occur in offices. Russell Wild uses humor to present a not-funny environment that many of us find ourselves in. He has some suggestions for how to react; since all of us are different persons and our bosses are different from the examples -- think before you take action. The best things you may gain from this book are the ability to recognize a game and to preplan a strategy if you think someone will play the game on you. Knowledge is power! Forwarning allows one to forearm.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining with a dose of common sense, June 11, 2003

By 

Rachelle Ayala (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Games Bosses Play: 36 Career Busters Your Supervisor May Be Firing Your Way and How You Can Defend Yourself (Paperback)

Humorous titles of the games describe common office situations such as "Gold Plated Droppings", "The Happy Usher" and "Squirrel in the Corner Office". The game is described, analyzed and then followed by some advice on what to do. Most of the advice is plain old common sense. What's nice about the book is that it is entertaining and by reading through these vignettes, you've mentally prepared, or play-acted the advice so that when you recognize a game, you would have already read the script. For example, if the boss is playing the "Happy Usher", and you're not prepared, you'd find yourself with the desk cleaned out and the papers signed within a blink of an eye. Whereas if you've read the script, you'd be in a better position to negotiate, ask for clarification, and not be hoodwinked into agreeing that you're really better off without this job. Instead you would not let the boss off the hook easily, and may get a chance to make a counteroffer. Usually, the "Happy Usher" is looking for an easy kill, and by having a counter-proposal ready for such a situation, you just might save your job.