Customer Reviews

Am I The Only Sane One Working Here?: 101 Solutions for Surviving Office Insanity

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This guy is really good. I've read a couple of his books, and have always been impressed how much wisdom and honesty there are in them.

This book strikes me as particularly realistic. Instead of the typical pablum about teamwork, growth, etc., he really lays it on the line. Let's face it: the typical organization is rather dysfunctional, politics are big, not everybody you meet has it all together, you have to play the game, it's not what you know ... all that good stuff.

His basic thrust is that this is reality. You can stew about it, you can complain about it, you can worry about it, but none of that really changes anything. So, if you want to do something about it, you have to basically start with yourself. You have to determine what you can do (and very little of that involves the full frontal assault that is so tempting to the disgruntled) and go ahead and actually do it. At the same time, you also have to keep in mind that there are a ton of things you simply cannot change.

The advice seems really spot-on. My guess is it comes, not from speculating about what might or should be, but from lots and lots of talking with real people on the couch.

On the other hand, I'm giving this only 4 stars because it seemed to be perhaps a little TOO realistic. At points, I got a feeling that he was simply telling me to just suck it up - or to just grow up. He also very straightforwardly says to suck up and to be a bit of a phony.

I think there's a lot of truth to these, but would have appreciated a little more selling on his part, maybe a little more nuance. I know a lot of these things are true, but it doesn't make me like them any more. How do I deal with that dissonance?

In addition, my 25 years experience in the real world tells me that not all companies are the same. I've been at some total turkeys and at some really great ones. My personal advice would be, if you're at a turkey, to suck it up until you can move on to that better company. Perhaps listening to people on the couch all day gave Dr. Bernstein a rather *jaundiced* view of reality. ;^)

One final strength of this book is the writing style. It's short, sweet, to the point, structured (i.e., lots of lists and short, targeted sections), and also uses humor and stories very tellingly.

I feel empowered and smart after reading, Am I the only SANE ONE working here? Dr. Albert Bernstein offers practical solutions to everyday problems in the workplace. The solutions include guidance on how I can make the change happen without expectation of others changing first. I recall following the survival solutions for defusing anger and had immediate results because my actions changed the other person's response. The book is well written, easy to understand, and memorable. It is the kind of book you will want to reference when issues arise. I was amazed at how this author could come up with something so useful. It's a must read for anyone who wants to understand how to survive and even thrive in the workplace. Kate Kelley

I have read other books by Dr. Bernstein. His grasp of the realities of the workplace is superb. His presentation is understandable and frequently humorous. I enthusiastically recommend this book for its wisdom and its entertainment value.

There are a million different books out there telling people how to better deal with the workplace, but this is the only one you'll need. Always insightful and often humorous, this book is laid out so that one can go straight to their own singular problem at work or find overall strategies for dealing with the entire workplace culture. Whether you are the everday worker bee or the top dog, this book provides plenty of examples, solutions and strategies to best deal with the workplace, and one's place in it. Truly, a survival guide for the madness of everyday work!

Everybody plans out the hours of the work-day to attend meetings, see clients, work on projects and so forth. But what do you do when you are constantly encountering co-workers who get you off-course and sap your energy, or worse, interfere with your productivity and hurt your reputation? They are out there, but usually so self-absorbed they don't know they're a problem. Bernstein identifies the full range of troublemakers, from liars and toxic gossipers, to depressed complainers and racist or sexist jokesters. He's dead-on in describing their M.Os.--the patterns of what they say and do--and how they become quicksand: the more you try to deal with them, the more stuck you are. Dr. Bernstein gives the tactics you need, both what to do and what to say. The book is filled with great one-liners that are polite but also keep you safe from the quicksand effect: for example responding to the woes of a depressed-complainer by saying, "So what are you going to do about it?" or saying to a sexist, "What you just said makes me uncomfortable." As I've practiced these tactics I've come to realize how right Dr. Bernstein is in saying that no matter what you do, these people will not change. They have only one way of swinging the bat, and you've got to learn to throw pitches they can't hit. When you can do that, you can control these encounters. No business could survive without a strategic plan--that is, a plan that takes into account conditions in the market. Spending a day with a bunch of nutso co-workers also needs a strategic plan which Bernstein's book provides. Cross reference this book with your day-planner. You'll be working on your own terms and you'll get more done.

Dr. Bernstein is Practical yet profound. He has an answer for almost everthing. The book like all his others offers skill after skill on how to deal with difficult people and difficult situations. The problem with most books like this is the solutions they offer are almost impossible to apply . The exact opposite is true with this book. Once you begin doing these techniques there impossible to stop!!!! They are habit forming and will stay with you the rest of your life.
Dr. Bernstein is no armchair philosopher and its clear that he has a firm grasp on what he is talking about. Its a rare find, somone who can teach, and knows what the heck they are talking about. That is what we have here. Dr. Bernstein offers us not just a book but a new lifestyle at work. Like Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond Tiger Woods or anyone else who is great at what they do this man has truly found his calling and it shows. - C.Hall

And extraordinarily interesting and useful book. What I liked most about Am I the Only Sane One Working Here? was how realistic the advice is. Al Bersnstein acknowledges that office politics are real (and ususally unpleasant), and that some bosses are arrogant, some coworkers obnoxious and some clients demanding, but also knows that, in today's economy, we don't have much choice in the matter. Instead of telling us to unrealistically pack it all in and go elsewhere, he offers really useful strategies for doing the best we can with what we've got. Plus, any writer who can compare having a good attitude at work with porn has the kind of humor it takes to keep me turning the pages.

Once again, Dr. Bernstein has created a work that offers outstanding survival tips for human resource problems. Written in plain English, his latest book offers insights that are valuable for management, human resource professionals, and the average Joe or Jane facing problems in the workplace. Dr. Bernstein's perceptive works are a must read for anyone trying to survive the perils of office politics.

"Am I the only SANE ONE working here?" is Dr. Bernstein's road map for navigating readers through the bumpy terrain and tempestuous atmospheric conditions in the office environment and beyond. The book is densely populated with easily recognizable personalities who will make you crazy if you'll let them. But the author's point in this work is that there's always something you can do. He presents a myriad of real life scenarios coupled by an arsenal of strategies and survival solutions to combat the most threatening and disturbing office trouble makers. "Am I the only SANE ONE working here?" is a tidy confluence of psychological research and common sense insight sure to delight and enable any reader.

Lorelei B. Schnabler

I think I've gained more insight about what is weird about human nature, and realistic strategies for dealing with it, from Bernstein any other single author. I read quite a bit of psychology, I find there is a lot of good stuff reporting actual research in the feild, a lot of this book is derived from such science, but I generally find self- help psychology to be quite feeble and most self-help about getting along in business a complete con.

The book is fairly hard to read and absorb, but it is worth it. The other problem with becoming self-conscious about your behavior is you can become paralysed, like the centipede who tried to figure out how it walked. I find this stuff really starts to work when it has sunk into your subconscious and is used almost without thinking.

As Bernstein says this book is about changing the way you react to predators and parasites in your office (it doesn't really claim to help with any other workplace). While I think the advice is generally pragmatic and use some of it, for me it is a little overly focused on the negative in people, He is a specialist in difficult people, I suppose this is not surprising.

I would add that from personal experience in offices being proactive with nice people: making and consolidating friendships and alliances, is even more important than reacting to trash, it makes you less interesting, even invisible, to bullies, makes twits & jerks seem more insignificant, and makes getting out of bed in the morning worth it.

I felt the title of the book was ill-advised, I have never though everyone in my workplace was insane, at times 2/3 maybe. I've worked in (small) offices where everyone was mature, empathetic, considerate, gentle, hard-working and fun, at least from my perspective. I would have thought anyone who thinks everyone else is insane is the one with the problem, (but I've asked a few other people what they think about this, they've disagreed with me), also I've always worked in the public service, perhaps the very high stakes, money & status-wise, bring out the grime in human nature in major corporations, as with drug trafficking.

I do generally recommend this book for for dealing with difficult people, the author is an expert in this area, but I believe most of the time the majority of the population are too mentally together to deserve such clandestine measures, at least in a healthy working environment. Whether any office is an optimal environment for human sanity is outside the scope of this book & review.