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Rating: 
Summary: Sensible, at times moving
Review: Frankly, I like the book's content almost as much as I dislike its title and subtitle. Please, no more forced comparisons and contrasts between the battlefield and the workplace. Enough! With regard to the excellent text, as Hammer explains in the Introduction, one of her basic concepts is that there are "three stages of personal and professional growth." All three "can be characterized by their attitudes toward risk and the need for approval. These three stages are those of the apprentice, the warrior, and the adventurer." She has much of value to say about each, especially in terms of how each differs from the other two. Her larger objectives are, in my opinion, (a) to help her reader to decide which "battles" to fight as well as which to ignore, and, (b) to help her reader "win" more often on the "corporate battlefield."According to Hammer, the defining characteristic of the apprentice is the need for external approval. The primary difference between the apprentice and the warrior is that the warrior's goals sufficiently compel her to risk disapproval and engage in conflict, while the apprentice is not yet either dissatisfied or secure enough to assume such risk." While apprentices focus on approval and warriors on vindication, adventurers focus on challenge and discovery. "They value respect, friendship, and recognition, but they do not need these things." In Section I ("Rules of Engagement"), Hammer examines specific issues when running a private company and then other issues when planning an exit strategy. Then in Section II ("Basic Training"), she discusses effective communication in the workplace, strategies for dealing with conflict, and acquiring allies. Having thus prepared her reader for "combat", Hammer concludes with Section III ("The Battle and Beyond") in which she explains how to maximize chances for victory, why we tend to love and fear authority, and what can be learned from loss as a precursor to success. In the Epilogue, Hammer suggests that "Our real challenge is to conquer our shadow enemies -- those that mask our fear and pain -- so that regardless of our success in the battles we wage in the workplace, we move forward with greater serenity and satisfaction." If your own workplace often seems to be a battlefield and you feel ill-equipped to engage in combat, Hammer's insights and advice will be invaluable to you.
Rating:
Summary: surviving the workplace wars
Review: Hammer's take is that you should recognize the potential battles that lie in the wake of working your way up in business and starting a compare. If you do this, she maintains, you stand a better chance of success. While some of the stories Hammer tells of her treatment among the executive ranks are pretty horrendous, they come off as a forthright take on what it's like in the trenches. In fact such details add to the overall value of the book. We read of the boss who humiliated her in front of her colleagues by forming a shadow committee to duplicate her efforts behind her back and then announcing the adoption of that committee's suggestions at a department-wide meeting. She tells of an employee she was mentoring who eventually tried to take over her job. Understanding the enemy, Hammer says, is the way to win in the workplace wars. Unlike other CEO books that make the journey seem all too pat, Hammer does a good job of painting a more complete picture, warts and all. The end result is a useful book for anyone working at a company or trying to make it with his or her own company.
Rating:
Summary: Wow! Powerful.
Review: Kay Hammer is one smart cookie who didn't crumble. This is a brutally honest story filled with savvy advice and thought provoking wisdom useful to anyone who works. Anywhere. The principles revealed by Hammer are potentially life-changing for anyone who truly gives them more than a passing thought. I can think of dozens of people to whom I would tacitly recommend this book. It should also be required reading for every corporate HR department.
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