Tangling with Tyrants: Managing the Balance of Power at Work [Paperback]

Tony Deblauwe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 13, 2009

2009 Winner Readers Favorite Book Award
2010 Winner Rebecca's Reads Literary Award
2010 Winner Reader Views Literary Award
2010 Winner Axiom Business Book Award

"Tony Deblauwe's approach to dealing with an abrasive, domineering boss is both insightful and inspired." -LAURA CRASHAW, author of Taming The Abrasive Manager

"Tangling with Tyrants offers hope and alternatives for people who may think quitting is the only option for dealing with a bad boss." - FOREWORD MAGAZINE

"This book is a terrific and practical guide to dealing with bosses, and demonstrates a remarkable talent by Deblauwe to understand where key elements of power are focused in the workplace." - BOOKREVIEW.COM

"Tangling with Tyrants identifies and explains dysfunctional relationship roles, what behaviors will adversely affect an employee, and actually changing the relationship dynamics with enduring, practical, applicable solutions." - MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

BOOK SUMMARY
Do you dread going to work because of your boss? Quitting isn't always an option and feeling like a victim of a bad boss only robs you of productivity, job satisfaction, and power. Career strategist and workplace expert Tony Deblauwe has spent years coaching employees how to be more effective with difficult bosses, and he has compiled his experiences into this indispensable guide.

Tangling with Tyrants: Managing the Balance of Power at Work offers practical techniques that show you how to build a communication process that will turn things around and help you build successful outcomes. You'll get guidance on addressing direct and indirect bad boss behaviors, developing the right approach, and achieving mutually beneficial outcomes. By applying the techniques in this book, you will be equipped with the right tools to handle your boss and create the results you want.

Product Details

• Paperback: 132 pages
• Publisher: HR4Change Press (February 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0984552774
• ISBN-13: 978-0984552771
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #432,146 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #31 in Books > Business & Investing > Business Life > Health & Stress

More About the Author

Tony Deblauwe is the founder of HR4Change (www.hr4change.com) and has an extensive background working with individuals and corporations in the areas of organizational design, human resources management, leadership, and development. A certified coach, he received his Masters degree in Organizational Development and Human Resources from the University of San Francisco, and he has written articles for several trade publications including the Northern California Human Resources Association, Career Directors, and CareerSource magazine. Tony lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Resource, August 12, 2009

By 

Cinnamon Brown "http://ajourneyofbooks.blogsp... (Washington) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tangling with Tyrants: Managing the Balance of Power at Work (Hardcover)

I would imagine that at least once in a person's career he or she will be subject to a rather difficult boss. It has happened to me four times now out of four jobs. You take a job and are excited to start the work only to discover that instead of a helpful and supportive manager, what you're faced with is an arrogant person who constantly makes you question your own self-worth. It's a difficult work environment and one that is not conducive to productivity. Tony Deblauwe in his book, TANGLING WITH TYRANTS: MANAGING THE BALANCE OF POWER AT WORK, discusses what we as employees can do to resolve this painful situation. This book is quite the useful tool and is full of great information.

Sometimes, it's hard for us to imagine our workplace being any different than it already is. We accept the reality of the situation and, especially in today's economy, keep trudging along and attempting to make the most out of a bad situation. Well, Deblauwe's point of view is that we don't have to just accept a negative work environment. If our boss is what's making our working lives miserable, there are solutions to the problem.

Deblauwe uses his experiences to outline what negative behavior looks like, how it affects the employee and how we can find a suitable compromise and increase the quality of our work environment. This is probably one of the most useful parts of the book, in my opinion. Deblauwe is now just another "expert" coming in and giving his opinion. He been there and done that. He's worked in Human Resources and seen other employees in the same situation. Deblauwe really seems to know what he is talking about and infuses TANGLING WITH TYRANTS with his knowledge.

Afraid to pick up any sort of self-help book because you don't know if you want to invest the time and energy into reading it when you already have a ridiculously busy schedule? Well, TANGLING WITH TYRANTS is a short read at only 132 pages; it's quick and concise. What this does is allow the individual to read through the book in a reasonable amount of time and then go back and focus on the sections that may have the most importance to the individual. I loved that part. With a longer book, sometimes by the time I get to the end I am ready to set it down and move to something else. With TANGLING WITH TYRANTS, though, I still felt energized at the end of the book and was able to go back and reread sections that I really wanted to study more in depth. In addition, Deblauwe's writing is such that, in and of itself, it leaves one feeling energized. The words flow easily across the page and don't seem to bog the message down.

What really struck me as unique about TANGLING WITH TYRANTS was the ease of use the program seemed to hold. This isn't something where you're going to finish and be like, "Yeah right. That's really going to happen." Instead, everything Deblauwe discusses seems quite reasonable and I could actually picture myself trying his strategies while reading through the book. Aside from being information, TANGLING WITH TYRANTS is useful as well. If you're in need of a self-help book and are going to spend your hard-earned money on one, usefulness is definitely an important trait to look for.

TANGLING WITH TYRANTS definitely deserves a "Read it now!" rating. The information was informative and the strategies realistic. This is a book that anyone dealing with a tyrant for a boss is going to want to read. My thought was, why continue to struggle in a cruddy work environment? Why not do something to try and change it?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very insightful, helpful book, September 17, 2009

By 

Laura Crawshaw, Ph.D. "The Boss Whisperer ®" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tangling with Tyrants: Managing the Balance of Power at Work (Hardcover)

Tony Deblauwe's approach to dealing with an abrasive, domineering boss is both insightful and inspired. He avoids the path of the typical "survive your bully boss" books by providing the reader with a process for analyzing the dynamics underlying tyrannical workplace behavior and then offers specific steps to deal with the situation.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tangling with Tyrants, July 28, 2009

By 

F. G. Stapleton - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tangling with Tyrants: Managing the Balance of Power at Work (Hardcover)

In a market saturated with business management books, few stand out as necessary or crucial. While the subject of the "bully boss" is overlooked in much of today's management-style canon, Tony Deblauwe offers a complimentary addendum to the recognition of employer-related stress.

In his book Tangling with Tyrants, Deblauwe focuses on the importance of feeling satisfied at work, and the need for a positive relationship with one's supervisor. The main issues to address when recognizing whether one works for a tyrant can be broken down to the bare principles of emotion, power and communication. Deblauwe contends that emotion usually affects the manner in which one handles their tyrannical boss. How one feels about work and their boss can disrupt day-to-day function in the workplace. Regarding power, many supervisors become tyrannical for a variety of reasons. Whether their supervisor is domineering or they have learned their behavior from another job, the abuse of power in a supervisor's role can be counterproductive and inefficient.

Communication appears to be the most essential component of effectively confronting a domineering boss, as the subject emerges repeatedly within the book. According to Deblauwe, the two components of effective communication are recognizing personal traits and how to develop effective conversation with your boss. This chapter, although short, clearly analyzes the personal techniques necessary to talk to your boss without creating conflict.

Deblauwe's insightful anecdotes set up meaningful interaction between the reader and book, and develop a commonality between anyone struggling with a tyrant at work. Various exercises and checklists throughout the book afford readers the opportunity to self-analyze their work environments and create goals for approaching their situations. Of note is a series of case studies at the end of the book that allow the readers to put what they've learned into practice by analyzing very real work situations.

Deblauwe's advice is distributed tactfully throughout his book, allowing readers to recognize the possibility of having a tyrant in their own workplace without leading them toward that conclusion. Following the structure of many management books, he organizes chapters into digestible snippets that read quickly and make sense. While the title of the book suggests dealing with tyrants, readers may find that the book is more a guide for appropriate workplace behavior. Either way, Deblauwe's lessons are articulate and beneficiary to anyone currently or prospectively in the workplace and dealing with stressful situations.