Bobby Tables

Great list of red flags

Reviewed: 11-24-23

The phrases that stuck out to me are "word salad" and "walking on egg shells" or "energy vampires". There are other common themes that make you pause and think about people in general, and suddenly there's an obvious pattern.

Another red flag to whether someone is behaving like a narcissist: when you are having self-doubt that has lead you to seek out books on psychopaths and narcissists to confirm your suspicions. That alone is rather damning evidence, confirming what your body, or gut, was desperately trying to tell you. The author presents evidence confirming the role of your gut feelings.

It will be up to you to judge your situation and seek out additional books, resources and therapy to escape the grip of a narcissist, and years of accommodating their behavior and effects on your life.

Cornering a narcissist can make life extremely difficult, but they do have vulnerable places that can be stung. They can feel pain. They just can't (or choose not to) feel pain or joy for others, nor guilt or remorse the same way their victims do. After reading this, you won't feel bad about setting boundaries, or ghosting them, or defending yourself in healthy ways.

The author equips you with knowledge of how to avoid playing back into a narcissist's hands. And it will help let go of feeling responsible for fixing them. You have everything to gain by cutting your losses and let things fall where they may.

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Great for accidentally starting a cult

Reviewed: 04-18-22

People are vulnerable to this book's innocent message of how to conduct yourself in a way that appeals to common sense. But it goes on to prescribe misguided techniques for "fixing" your workplace and coworkers that amounts to founding a cult at your workplace.

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Insightful and hope-inspiring

Reviewed: 09-15-21

Quit letting our secrets out before they invent a better beuacracy! I can't actually spell burueqcracy is one problem I guess I still have to work on.

What Schwartz describes is like a living organism. Buracrcacy self-organizes similarly at different organizations and contexts. It reacts similarly to certain stimuli, as Schwartz points out, and creates more of itself if left unchallenged. It's also vulnerable to adjustment if you know what knobs to turn. Interesting, Mr. Schwartz!

This book is useful to have in your toolbox if you are working to promote a culture of DevOps at your organization. It's true. Bureeacracy can be agile, as Schwartz points out.

Anyway, my only gripe is the audiobook format. There are some amusing exchanges and excerpts between the author and editor. This is fun except it often interrupts mid-page or mid-thought. It could be distracting or hard to follow at times, but I got used to it. The written version I would probably skip it and keep reading until after finishing the thought.

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A freight train of insight backed by research

Reviewed: 02-24-21

If you could interview top management talent in the country, wouldn't you do it? Someone has already taken the time and compiled the findings at a broad scale. They also interviewed average managers and went on to explain the differences.

I'm impressed with this book. I would be curious of the opinion of CEOs and HR directors looking to move obstacles out of the way for their management talent. Could be impactful. The material applies universally. It's not meant to be a guide book, but it explains the circumstances needed for high performing outcomes.

It unapologetically throws away some naive assumptions you may find alarmingly instilled in your own company's culture, like the error of basing performance on reaching average instead of excellence, or that all employees should be treated the same. It's a welcome contrasting perspective and may challenge some of your own beliefs..... be ready.

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1 person found this helpful

Extremely useful information

Reviewed: 11-20-20

Solid material and covers all the bases. The title is a bit misleading since the book explains and emphasizes the qualities of moderation and balance required to be a good leader. Not a manager. A leader. I enjoyed the stories that went along with the delivery of the content.

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