Surviving the Toxic Workplace: Protect Yourself Against Coworkers, Bosses, and Work Environments That Poison Your Day [Paperback]

Linnda Durre (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 26, 2010

Proven techniques for dealing with workplace issues successfully

Do you dread going to work? Dealing with pestering coworkers, unmanageable managers, angry clients can take its toll on your job performance. And in these difficult economic times, no one can afford to lose their jobs.

In Surviving the Toxic Workplace, syndicated author and psychotherapist Linnda Durre teaches you how to pinpoint and treat these office maladies with effective communication and conflict negotiation techniques that are sure to bring you peace of mind and peace at work.

Surviving the Toxic Workplace shows you:

• Why these office conflicts erupt
• How to identify and treat the 12 most common types of toxic co-workers, situations, and environments
• The seven components of effective communication techniques you can use in various situations
• How to deal with different conflict styles

Don't let office conflicts drain you of energy or interfere with your job performance. Treat the malady before it gets out of hand with Surviving the Toxic Workplace.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Linnda Durre’, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist, business consultant, national speaker; magazine, Internet, and newspaper columnist; and television and radio talk show host, consults and speaks to businesses, companies, and corporations. She hosted and co-produced two live call-in TV shows: "Ask The Family Therapist," on America's Health Network, a national cable TV station associated with the Mayo Clinic which aired from Universal Studios, Orlando; and "Personal Success Hotline with Dr. Durre'," on a PBS affiliate, and three radio shows. She has spoken to hundreds of groups and given interviews on Oprah, 60 Minutes, The Today Show, The O'Reilly Factor, Canada AM, Daytime, Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC, and Good Morning America, among others, and she has been interviewed, quoted, and/or cited in Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, Inc. Magazine, Business Week, Law Office Administrator, New York Times, LA Times, Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, Orlando Magazine, Toronto Globe & Mail, Pasadena Star News, Argus Leader, San Diego Union and Tribune, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Orlando Business Journal, Orlando Sentinel, Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner, Pacific Sun, San Antonio Light, Florida Magazine, and Parade. She has written for Forbes Online, AOL, Monster, Yahoo, Orlando Business Journal, American Cities Business Journals, Brentwood News, and in her column at eBossWatch on coping with difficult bosses.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (January 26, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 007166467X
• ISBN-13: 978-0071664677
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #546,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Linnda Durré, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist, business consultant, corporate trainer, national speaker, author, and columnist. She is the author of "Surviving The Toxic Workplace: Protect Yourself Against Co-Workers, Bosses, and Work Environments That Poison Your Day" (2010 - McGraw-Hill). The book's website is: www.survivingthetoxicworkplace.com She has been interviewed on Oprah, 60 Minutes, The Today Show, Good Morning America, and O'Reilly, and the national and/or local news on ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, PBS, Fox, and CW. She has written for Forbes, Orlando Business Journal, and American Cities Business Journals. She has been interviewed, quoted, and/or cited by the NY Times, LA Times, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle & Examiner, San Diego Union & Tribune, Albany Times Union, Pasadena Star News, Sacramento Bee, CNN Online, Parade Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, Alternative Medicine Magazine, and many others. She has hosted and co-produced two live call-in TV shows, including "Ask The Family Therapist" on America's Health Network, which was associated with Mayo Clinic and aired from Universal Studios Orlando. She was selected from a national search of over 200 applicants. She has produced and hosted three radio shows, including her current daily program, "The Linnda Durre' Show," Monday through Friday, from 12 noon to 1 PM (EST) on WEUS 810 AM, which streams live on global audio at www.810weus.com The show's website is www.LinndaDurreShow.com For more information about her business and corporate consulting, training seminars, and speaking engagements, contact her at [e-mail] and 407-739-8620.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Are you kidding me?, May 1, 2010

By 

The Coat Lady "coatlady" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Surviving the Toxic Workplace: Protect Yourself Against Coworkers, Bosses, and Work Environments That Poison Your Day (Paperback)

I am so sorry I bought this book. The first few chapters kept telling me what this book was going to do for me. I felt like I was reading one of those ads you see that keep going and going -- but wait there's more! I actually felt like I was reading a book report. It's very 101 and more an introduction to the real world than an actual book about surviving in it. The author assumes the reader knows absolutely nothing about people and has reduced personality types into general caricatures. Most of the scenarios/solutions for dealing with difficult co-workers sound ridiculous and are out of touch with reality. If someone approached me in many of the ways that the author suggests, I'd think "office busybody". I think it contains a lot of bad advice. There have got to be better books out there on this subject. Ugh. I hate when this happens. That's why I try to go to the library and not the bookstore.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just a book about the workplace -- it's a book about life, March 7, 2010

By 

Maureen Salamon (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Surviving the Toxic Workplace: Protect Yourself Against Coworkers, Bosses, and Work Environments That Poison Your Day (Paperback)

We often feel very alone -- and very helpless -- when a difficult boss or coworker creates tension in the office or even makes it impossible to do our jobs. Linnda Durre's "Surviving the Toxic Workplace," however, shows us how wrong that perception is.

With pinpoint precision, Durre lays out every imaginable workplace personality, the factors that drive their behavior, and exactly what to do to improve your relationship with them. From "Bonnie the Bossy One" to "Donald the Dealmaker" to "Vicki the Victim," the descriptions of these types of officemates resonate with everyday experiences. They're also laugh-out-loud funny, in many circumstances, and guide the reader step-by-step how to deal with colleagues' weaknesses while also complimenting their strengths.

Most impressive about Durre's book is how easily its advice transfers to "real life" situations that have nothing to do with work. These difficult personalities can be found among acquaintances, friends and family members alike. How many times do we encounter "Viola the Verbal Attacker" around the Thanksgiving dinner table? Or "Monty the Money Borrower" at a summertime family reunion? Even our own siblings or parents can be "Pam the Passive-Agressive" or "Ben the Brownnoser!"

"Surviving the Toxic Workplace" will help you survive the game of life -- it's a must-read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worst Case Stories, Depressing, But Relevant, May 6, 2010

By 

Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Surviving the Toxic Workplace: Protect Yourself Against Coworkers, Bosses, and Work Environments That Poison Your Day (Paperback)

Disclosure: the publisher sent me this book after asking for permission to do so, and I agreed to read and review the book. Then I got a job that took me overseas and I am just now catching up with my commitment on this specific book.

First off, this is the most comprehensive treatment I have ever seen and the typology that the author developed is very--VERY--scary on multiple levels, including recognizing myself in multiple categories including Socially Clueless, Angry, Rescuer, and Obsessives. Bummer.

I found the book absorbing. Although each "chapter" is really closer to a four-page blurb, there is nothing wrong with the typology, the substance, or the intentions of this book.

At best it should make most people grateful they do not work in a toxic environment. At worst it could be a wake-up call for those who have put up with extraordinary abuse, have come to think of it as normal, and might find this checklist approach to toxic environments helpful.

For me the best part of the book was the end where the author itemizes a number of class action law suits that have led to big wins for some groups, but sadly only have decades of litigation and decades of loss.

The stark reality is that both governments and corporations have forgotten that their mission includes the nurturing of their employees and the communities that host their offices. Ethics has gone down the tubes, and corruption at all levels is the norm. From where I sit, the healthiest route right now is to simply disconnect, move to Seattle, or Portland, or Alaska, and start over. If on the other hand you are a CEO, are being "born again" and want to get it right, then this book is a good introduction to the professional that can help your company get back on the right side of goodness.

Some other equally depressing books:
Rage of the Random Actor: Disarming Catastrophic Acts And Restoring Lives
The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead
Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class - And What We Can Do about It (BK Currents (Paperback))
The Working Poor: Invisible in America
The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future - and What It Will Take to Win It Back

On the bright side:
Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny
Emergence: The Shift from Ego to Essence
Reflections on Evolutionary Activism: Essays, poems and prayers from an emerging field of sacred social change
Revolutionary Wealth
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace