Managing Up: 59 Ways to Build a Career-Advancing Relationship with Your Boss

This book has very good advice that will be most useful to two types of audience. For new graduates, seeking a first professional job it's a quick and useful read. It is also good for the rank and file employee who is too hurried to do in-depth reading, but wants to make some quick and dirty improvements in the way they interact with their boss. This title is based on sound principles, but it doesn't go into a lot of depth. There are literally 59 different short chapters, each with an often useful worksheet about that area. In a sense, you can use this book to get a 59 point perspective on what you are doing well and where you can make improvements. For those who are seasoned professionals, a lot of this information will be things they already know. However, quickly and consciously surveying these various performance areas periodically can raise awareness of them. While I think this book is most useful to the audiences I mentioned, I still think it has merit for everyone. You should just know what you are getting before you buy. Much of this information is repeated in other books, but if you are looking for a quick summary of basics this may be just what you need.

Wasn't preachy and from the writing it's obvious the writer is an old hand at organisational dynamics. It was also written without getting too embroiled in the emotional rambling. I identified with many of the scenarios described, and the advice proved useful. Clear, concise and highly readable.

If your notions of how to get along with your boss stopped at the admiring-the-family-photos-on-the-credenza stage, here's how to move it along. Michael Dobson and Deborah Singer Dobson advance kissing-up to a new, practical level, as they straightforwardly explain their boss-wrangling concepts. You can read the brief chapters in bite-size chunks and each one ends with a worksheet. While these concepts about understanding your boss and playing to the boss's priorities are not particularly innovative, they are useful and accessible. The Dobsons wrote their book as much for the folks in the cubicles as for the fellow in the office with his feet on the desk. Reading this book won't change your boss's personality - but it might blunt his pitchfork. We [...] recommend it to staffers who want to get ahead by getting along with the boss, the gatekeeper to the top. And if that takes a little manipulation, well, hey, it's business.