I Hate People!: Kick Loose from the Overbearing and Underhanded Jerks at Work and Get What You Want Out of Your Job [Hardcover]

Jonathan Littman (Author), Marc Hershon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 10, 2009

Whether your company has 10 employees or 10,000, you must grapple with people you can't stand in the office. Luckily Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon have written I Hate People!, a smart, counter-intuitive, and irreverent turn on the classic workplace self-help book that will show you how to identify the Ten Least Wanted — the people you hate — while revealing the strategies to neutralize them. Learn to fly right by the "Stop Sign" (nay-sayer) and rise above the pronouncements of the "Know-it-None." I Hate People! teaches you how to become a more effective Soloist -- one of those bold individuals daring to work alone or collaborate with a handful of other talented people....while artfully deflecting the rest.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Book Description

People disappoint. Daily. Hourly. Why not wise up and get ready for it? The sooner you learn to stop getting sucker-punched and letting yourself get pissed off, the sooner you can get back to doing your own thing, your own way. In our book, we’ve selected and analyzed the ten most troublesome types of people, then fired out techniques for going over, under or through them. In the meantime, featuring some of their common phrases, here's a handy guide for spotting the Ten Least Wanted, appearing now in an office near you...

Amazon.com Review
The Ten Least Wanted character traits as defined by Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon in I Hate People

STOP SIGN "The world is flat." "I think you've had enough fun." "You'll put an eye out with that thing."	FLIMFLAM "Could you work on this project?" "It's a really small, quick thing." "No big deal."
BULLDOZER "What the hell's wrong with you?!" "You're an idiot." "You're lucky I don't fire you."	SMILEY FACE "Would you like a doughnut?" "Were you invited to the company picnic?" "How was your performance review?"
LIAR LIAR "I never got that email." "My hard drive crashed." "You didn't get my voice mail?"	SWITCHBLADE "Hey, that's a great idea! Glad I thought of it!" "I'll smooth it out with the boss." "You just go home -- everything will be alright in the morning."
MINUTE MAN "I just have one more question..." "This will only take a second." "We're almost done."	KNOW-IT-NONE "I saw it on TV." "I saw it on the internet." "I saw it on Wikipedia."
SPREADSHEET "That's not in the budget." "But you didn't do a focus group." "Your dreams conflict with the data."	SHEEPLE "I'm not qualified to make decisions." "I only performed approved work tasks." "I love meetings!"

From Publishers Weekly

Playboy contributing editor Littman (coauthor of The Art of Innovation) and Hershon, comedian and branding expert, offer a guide for surviving corporate life, flush with clever nomenclature for specific types of exasperating co-workers, such as the Stop Sign, who always has a reason your idea won't work, or the Bulldozer, who bullies his projects through the system. But rather than offering constructive ways of collaborating with problematic colleagues, Hershon and Littman spend most of the book suggesting ways to avoid them altogether by being a soloist, a corporate loner who taps into innovative reserves rather than bending to be a team player. The authors give examples of such successful soloists as Craig Newmark, corporate misfit and founder of Craig's List. While amusing and filled with entertaining examples of antisocial geeks who made good, the aim and audience of the book is unclear. The reader is left wondering if it is better to opt out of corporate life altogether rather than have to confront co-workers who exhibit chronically unacceptable behavior. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; First Edition edition (June 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316032298
• ISBN-13: 978-0316032292
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #741,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't read this at work! Subvert the overbearing and underhanded at your workplace, June 25, 2009

By 

M. Lapus "@ Starting Fresh blog" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Hate People!: Kick Loose from the Overbearing and Underhanded Jerks at Work and Get What You Want Out of Your Job (Hardcover)

Synopsis:
Designed for navigating pitfalls and stop signs in the workplace, I HATE PEOPLE! helps you identify the top drains on your time and resources and teaches office jujitsu tactics to help wrest back your time.

Divided into four parts, the book first identifies and classifies each of The Ten Least Wanted who pose the greatest threat to getting your work done in the office. Without going into a full discussion of The Ten Least Wanted, here they are:

* Stop Sign (like the Kodak executive who predicted digital cameras had no future)
* Flimflam ("expert at identifying people to do her bidding")
* Bulldozer ("wrong decision is better than indecision")
* Smiley Face (think Batman's Joker - constantly smiling with something up his sleeve)
* Liar Liar
* Switchblade (Judas)
* Minute Man ("Do you have a minute, I just have one thing...")
* Know-It-None (full of facts, but most of which are useless or wrong)
* Spreadsheet (Obsessive micromanager)
* Sheeple (avoids making decisions)


The second part of the book introduces the concept of Flying Solo. If you enjoy your work but not distractions from people around you, then your best solution would be to become a successful Soloist. As a soloist, on your best days, you are someone who works effectively with small groups and on your own. By sharing the stories and techniques of successful soloists from a broad range of industries and companies, the book develops a clear picture of how a soloist works.

The last half of the book deals with the work environment. The third section, Office Life, incorporates The Ten Least Wanted with the constraints and demands of office life, such as constant interruptions, disruptions, unreasonable expectations and demands, and excessive rules and red tape. While the last section, Spaces and Places, discusses the need to carve out your own "personal cave" - whether you work in a bull pen, a cubicle, office with a door, or occasionally from home.

Review:
The advice and strategies are interspersed with enough anecdotes from successful soloists to make I HATE PEOPLE! both helpful and interesting read. I'll spare you the comments about how I would have loved to read this while working at Big Law or any similarly predictable remarks. I do think the book's strength is that it helps identify the difficult people and situations that we absorb, acquiesce and live out on a regular basis. I look forward to trying out several of the suggested strategies, such as being more sensitive to and wary of the Switchblades around and trying a "hard stop" with my Minute Man.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who feels frustrated in the office and is looking for ways to eke out more time and autonomy.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, compelling and very, very helpful, June 19, 2009

By 

T. Boelter (Hollywood, CA.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Hate People!: Kick Loose from the Overbearing and Underhanded Jerks at Work and Get What You Want Out of Your Job (Hardcover)

I Hate People understands your co-workers, but more importantly, I Hate People helps any employee understand their own habits (good and bad) and how to improve their ability to perform in the workplace. Not only does it amaze me how many traits my co-workers possess that I Hate People warns you about, but it was equally amazing to see my own bad habits in the work place and how to correct it. I never want to be known as a Minute Man, but I have spent far too much time hanging on someone's cubicle, or being a bulldozer when things aren't going well. It was very eye opening for me - considering that I try my best to be a good employee and co-worker, but often I fall into the trap that Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon warn the reader about. Without seeing my own faults, I could not have improved my own ability to better myself in the office. I Hate People is an extremely humorous guide on how to cut out the bad behavior, improve my ability to take charge on my own, and ultimately be rewarded by having a more productive, peaceful workday. Although I cringed when I saw that I possessed some of those awful traits - I know that having recognized these habits, I know how to eliminate them. Great book!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For A Select Crowd, July 2, 2009

By 

Michael Gooch "Management Consultant-HR" (Washington, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Hate People!: Kick Loose from the Overbearing and Underhanded Jerks at Work and Get What You Want Out of Your Job (Hardcover)

As a current corporate director of human resources, I am on a continual quest for books on people management. That is, "good" books on people management. With this work by Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon I have found a book that is both good and fun to read.

In my role in HR, the majority of my work deals with the conflicts between people that hate each other. It's true. When we really boil down our human resources related issues, it usually involves two different `types' that cannot get along. I noted these details in one chapter of my book, Wingtips with Spurs however Littman and Hershon have carried my observations to a more in-depth level.

While I applaud anyone that can pull off the `solo' career, for the vast majority this is just not possible. In fact, even with a solo career, you will be faced with having to occasionally interact with Mr. Stumbling Block, Ms.Wrong Turn and Time Waster, Jr.

This book is primarily written for people that believe it would be best to work alone. I think this way of thinking is wrong on several levels but I fully understand the mindset. For those of us who must live in a normal society both inside and outside the corporate arena, Jerry Spence's How to Argue & Win Every Time: At Home, At Work, In Court, Everywhere, Everyday offers an instructive read on how to get along with almost everyone. I have read all of the others by the Big Name authors and Spence's book stands head and shoulders above them on actual practicality and usefulness. I also highly recommend Sylvia Lafair's great work in Don't Bring It to Work: Breaking the Family Patterns That Limit Success. If you decide it is better to get along with people rather than avoid them, either of these books will set you on the right path.

Again, I must say this is a good book and very fun way to spend the afternoon.

I hope you find this review helpful.

Michael L. Gooch, SPHR