Working for You Isn't Working for Me: How to Get Ahead When Your Boss Holds You Back

We have all had times when our jobs were great. We had work we enjoyed doing each day and a boss that supported us and co-workers who were talented and cooperative. Then things changed and we find ourselves reporting to a boss who makes facing unemployment and foreclosure seem like less a better choice than coming to work to face a buzz saw each morning. Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster provide you with a manual to help you diagnose the problems you are having with your boss and what to do about it. They believe you can manage you boss and turn a bad situation around so you can enjoy your job again. You don't read this book front to back, although you could. The idea is to use their four step process and find the relevant portions of the book within each step. Section 1 helps you Detect the boss behavior that is causing you pain. They list 20 behaviors that just about cover anything you could be facing each day. Once you understand clearly what is creating the pain you are ready to find a way to make it stop. Section 2 shows you how to Detach from the situation with your boss. By detaching the reality of your job and your boss's behavior you can depersonalize it. The authors also show you things you can do at work and after work to restore your spirit as you face these draining situations. You then look up the behavior(s) you identified during the Detect stage to read specific approaches for Detaching from the situation. Section 3 helps you Depersonalize these awful situations when you find yourself in the middle of the storm. You have to do this work ahead of time so you can understand the baggage your boss is carrying around that contributes to their destructive behavior. Again, you then look up the specific boss behaviors that apply to your boss. Section 4 is about creating a new Deal for yourself. You adjust the expectations you have for your job, address the needs you have that are not being filled and alleviating the anxieties having these unmet needs create in you. Your goal is to find a way to continue to do a great job and keep your career on track and moving forward. Again, once you understand this process, you can look up the specific behaviors that apply to your boss and learn how you Deal in that specific situation. This is a very useful book and can help millions of us manage our workdays more constructively and improve our situations at work. Oh, and if you are a manager, you will want to read this book not only to identify your boss's behaviors but to help you see your own management style more clearly. We all like to believe we are perfect and wonderful supervisors, but we aren't. Why not think about how to change yourself to make work life happier and more productive for those you mange? Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

Don't let the breezy title fool you - once I dove into the meat of the writing in this book I was just tickled with the range of insights, and actionable strategies, it offers for every imaginable boss relationship. The writing straddles a fine paradox; it is easy to read and very accessible while, at the same time, digging deep into twenty different boss behaviors the reader may face. I haven't encountered all of these behaviors - but one or two rung true as hell, and the suggested strategies instantly made sense to me. I am a performance coach in the corporate world - I coach some of the bosses who show up in this book, and I coach some of the folks that work for these bosses. I pick up a book such as this for two reasons: I hope it will sharpen my own insights, and I hope to find a resource I can give to my clients. This book did both for me. The labeling of the different boss behaviors and typical employee responses is very helpful in my line of work. The moment I can name it is the moment I can begin to change it. When I find myself coaching folks trapped in toxic boss relationships, I will make sure they get their hands on this book at once.

I was really having a difficult time at work until I read this book. By analzing the situation and offering concrete advice on how to deal, it made me realize my expectations from the workplace and how to deal when those where not met.

Peter Drucker is with no doubt the father of modern management theory. With their latest book, Working for you isn't working for me, Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster are, with not doubts, mastering Corporate world and will be sooner authors of the level of Professor Drucker. The real life examples and simplicity on presenting answers and guidance, provides an unique opportunity for one to reflect, redirect and move one careers and life. I hope others will take the same benefit I did when reading Katherine and Kathi first and second book. Enjoy it. I am sure you will love as much as I did.

I bought the book because I am a boss and focused on how to make sure that my staff is happy working for me. When I read the chapter on 20 boss behaviors that drive us crazy --- I realized that I do most (possibly all) of them! It is so helpful to read this from both the boss and employee perspective. Makes sense to use it as a reference ---- (what would xxxx do?) When framed this way, I think the book will be very very valuable. Find myself flipping through when I need a break, and I will definitely keep it on my desk as a reminder.