You Can't Win a Fight with Your Boss: & 55 Other Rules for Success [Hardcover]

Tom Markert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 3, 2005

You can't win a fight with your boss.

If you have ever thought otherwise, then you're dead wrong. And you're career is over, too.

In this lively guide to surviving the pitfalls of the modern corporate environment, Tom Markert, a senior executive at information giant ACNielsen, presents 56 practical rules that every employee, manager, and executive must follow in order to find corporate success.

With rules such as "Work hard and smart" and "Find a good boss" Markert addresses some of the most important questions facing corporate executives today. Here, in colorful and inspiring language, he offers practical advice on how to impress and make your boss look good, how to position yourself for success, and how to address work and social situations that every employee must conquer.

And, most important, Markert covers the number one question in any employee's mind: How do I work with my boss? Here, this book becomes an indispensable guide to corporate life.

Markert draws on his experience to illustrate these rules with telling, and often funny, anecdotes about people who have not followed the rules and paid the ultimate corporate price -- failure, embarrassment, and a career stopped dead in its tracks.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Drawing on 20 years of experience with such companies as Procter & Gamble, Citicorp, and, most recently, information-giant ACNielsen, Markert presents a set of 56 rules of survival for working your way to the top in the corporate world. Designed more as snippets of inspiration to draw on randomly than as a book, these concise rules are a somewhat Zen approach to what otherwise might be a challenging and competitive environment. In rule number 26, "Take the Best Job," Markert advises, "Never go for the money, always go for the best job. The two are not necessarily linked." Topics include mentoring, looking the part, coaching your team, smiling and saying "thank you" as often as possible, and embracing change. In the title rule, which is number 9, he cautions that picking a fight with your boss is the quickest way to destroy your career. "It is a fight you cannot win under any circumstances, so why bother?" Sage advice indeed. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Tom Markert is CEO of Ipsos Loyalty Worldwide, a Market Research provider to many Fortune 500 companies and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of State Auto, a publicly traded property and casualty insurer based in Columbus, Ohio. He has held leadership positions at ACNielsen, Citicorp, and Procter & Gamble and has held positions on the board of directors of the Australian professional basketball team the Sydney Kings and the American Chamber of Commerce in New South Wales, Australia. He lives in Connecticut.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: HarperBusiness (May 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060776625
• ISBN-13: 978-0060776626
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #327,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'll Pick Up At Least One Really Good Idea, Maybe Two, June 22, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: You Can't Win a Fight with Your Boss: & 55 Other Rules for Success (Hardcover)

As I look back on my career in business, I do remember some fights with my bosses. They were wrong, but I was the one that got fired. I've always done pretty good on the first eight rules, but No. 9 is the reason that I've spent most of my career working for myself. That way I can't fight with the boss, or if I do, I can win because I'm the boss as well as the employee.

Rule 16, Read Books, is one with which I completely agree. The best business leaders in the world write books on their lives, philosophies, even business rules. I find that I can't read one of these books without picking up an idea or two that makes the small price of the book.

As stated in the title, this book is a little set of 56 rules for a successful business career. Each rule is only two to four pages long. It won't take long to read, but you'll pick up an idea or two

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lot of useful advice!, March 1, 2006

By 

Blaine Greenfield "eclectic reader" (Belle Meade, NJ) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: You Can't Win a Fight with Your Boss: & 55 Other Rules for Success (Hardcover)

I remember seeing YOU CAN'T FIGHT WITH YOUR
BOSS by Tom Markert and
saying to myself, "I know that!"

Then I remembered when I just began my working
life and the fact that nobody taught me that rule then--much
to my eventual dismay . . . I had to learn the hard way,
and I did.

The same could be said about much of the other practical
advice that Markert, a senior executive with ACNielsen, gives in
this short but insightful guide to both getting and staying
ahead at work--and in life, too . . . some of it may appear
basic ("Put in the Hours," "Write Well," etc.), yet it all
makes sense . . . and are things that even the most
experienced of us need to be reminded about from time to time.

What made YOU CAN'T so valuable to me was the fact that
the author backs up his rules with many actual examples of
situations that he has personally been involved in . . . when
reading the book, I often felt myself nodding in agreement--and
thinking to myself who would be next best for me to get my copy.

There were useful tidbit that I gleaned in my reading; among them:
* If I have an important issue for my boss, would he or she prefer
a short e-mail, a phone call, a voice mail--or some combination?
If you don't know, find out. The first rule of communicating
effectively with your boss: Give it to them the way they want it.

* If you are traveling, get up on time. "I overslept" doesn't cut it.
I always pack a travel alarm, plus I use the alarm in the room, and
I order a wake-up call. Paranoia? Nope, I just want to get to where
I'm going on time.

* A colleague of mine has a plague above his desk that reads:
DWYPYWD

It stands for Do What You Promised You Would Do. These are
certainly wise words to live by. If you always do what you promised
you would do, not only is your boss likely to admire you for life, but
your career will move forward in leaps and bounds.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Been there and met him in many offices, January 3, 2008

By 

R. Wismer "Ron W" (Jeffersonville, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: You Can't Win a Fight with Your Boss: & 55 Other Rules for Success (Hardcover)

Markert is the typical corporate a-hole. He is the reason why 90 % of employees loath Monday mornings. On the positive side, he and his type encourage employees to quit their jobs and start their own businesses (or to avoid the corporate world altogether) like Starbucks or Google. Places where employees actually enjoy working, aren't humiliated into compliance, feel appreciated and empowered.

The results are obvious..

For that, I thank you Tom.