Customer Reviews

Office Politics : The Women's Guide to Beat the System and Gain Financial Success

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I'm a successful middle-aged executive who learned a lot of Office Politics the hard way. However, even I learned a lot of new things in reading it. This book is a must for women who want to succeed in the corporate world and it will definitely help men, too. Steele tells it like it is and will win no awards for political correctness. I wish I'd had this book when I was 25.

I picked up this book during my lunch hour. I'm one of three women working at a male-dominated software company. That morning, the company owner shredded an article I had written to pieces and then wouldn't follow up on my requests for more information. I was looking something, anything that would give me some information on how to deal with these guys.

This book is it. I also have Winning Strategies for Women but this book is a million times easier to read and is based on reality not pithy sayings about athletes. I read through in one sitting and it totally changed my attitude and approach to my job.

Everyone working in a company with more than two people should read this book.

Do you live in a cubical world? Do you feel everyone else is in the know? Do you not know how to play office politics? If yes to one or more, Office Politics is a must read. I was being set up to be downsized, if I had read Office Politics I would have been ready or might not have been so easily set up. I was the hardest working but did not know the game, did not know the rules. In the weeks following this reading I've improved my resume skills, my interview skills and my on the job survival skills. I will read it again this year. You need to, too.

Steele explains in no uncertain terms how to take control of your surroundings and make the money you want to make. I found this book to be infinitely more helpful than the average workplace advice commonly found in women's magazines like Cosmo and Mademoiselle. And although this book is geared toward women, men can learn a lot from it as well.

The author pulls no punches as he explains why most workers are miserable, most bosses are incompetent, and most corporations will ALWAYS be run by men, despite all the you've-come-a-long-way-baby cheerleading by the liberal media. If you're a smart, ambitious woman (or man) who has the guts to accept the unvarnished truth about the workplace, THIS BOOK CAN HELP YOU BECOME FINANCIALLY INDEPENDENT.

I came to this book by chance, having read another by the author, and was impressed.

As a father of two daughters I'll ensure they get this book and understand its philosophy to survive in any corporation or small business. This is a how-to manual, anchored on a sound, practical and inventive approach to more than survival for women in any office situation. Survive, thrive and prosper is the message - and the power comes with that.

Not a sensitive and delusional New Age guide, this is a book that attacks the issues bluntly, examines them and offers practical and creative solutions for men, as well as women. Simple, direct and unshakeable solutions that work.

If you are a woman, pack it with your cosmetics. If you are a man buy it anyway and share the information with your women friends. Everyone wins.

Possibly the best, down-to-earth, clever and pragmatic guide to an age-old problem (and a thousand ways on how to overcome it) that I've read.

If hard work, honesty, and loyalty to your company isn't getting the results you wanted, you should read this book and find out why. Office politics affect all of us, whether we are aware of it or not, and R. Don Steele spells out the straight talk about what is going on.

This book does not pull any blows. No coddling. If you want to make it in the corporate world, you need to know all the facts. Instead of learning it over time the hard way, read this and use Steele's experience to save yourself some of the pain.

Best book I've read for women who want to do their own thing and retire!

Not for those wishing to believe in fairy tales, "Office Politics" shoots straight from the hip and offers young women who wish to work in the high-paying corporate sector plenty of excellent advice on what the workplace is really like and how to maneuver in it to their best advantage. I have never read anything as honest as "Office Politics"---it also includes an excellent bibliography of other must read books. "O.P." is essential for any woman wishing to enter or re-enter the corporate world---however, it is not "politically correct", which makes it all the more effective as a tool for moving up in the "real world". Overall, it's the best book I have ever read on strategies for working women.

If you are trying to get your first job in the business world and you don't want to go through corporate culture shock (because what you've been taught has no relation to reality) then this book is a must read.

I never liked the idea of working for a corporation and consequently never worked for one. However, this book applied in a lot of ways to a job I had, mainly because of the author's insights into the male mindset.

A lot people would like to think that most men don't think like this - I would counter that SOME men don't, but most do. And don't believe for a minute that many, if any of your co-workers are your allies. Most of mine were so insecure and pathetic that they would have sold me (any anyone else) down the river for a promotion or a bigger salary. And I'm talking about people with college degrees, not high school dropouts.

I was not the least bit surprised at the Enron debacle - a lot of corporate mischief has been going on for quite some time - Robert Maxwell running off with billions in worker pensions and the Sunbeam CEO doing the same - most people who have average IQ's don't catch on until something on the scale of Enron does occur. And thank god it did - what a wake up call it was.

The main advice from this book is 1) Get in - 2) fight by choosing your battles wisely - 3) get your "F.U." money and
4) retire early, without becoming a slave to "General Cow". Good advice.

How I wish I had read this book at 22 instead of 42. If you've never worked in management for a corp. It's hard to believe how corrupt and seemingly crazy companies can be. My experience says Don has been there. His analysis and advice are dead on. Follow his advice, all of it, or attend the school of hard knocks.
I'm loaning a copy of this book to all the working women I care about. I'll only loan it to my friends who aren't competing against me. (Get this book back in print!) 90% applies to men as well as women.

My favorite quote. "If everyone played by the rules, only exremely talented boy scouts would rise to the top." So true.