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

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good basic reading for rookies
Review: I didn't finish reading the book because I had lost my interest in it. Notwithstanding, the contents are all good and correct. However, having worked for more than 4 years now, I've already known all the ingredients need to climb up the ladder. The problem to me is how to do it effectively and efficiently without leaving a kiss up perception, which is hardly covered in this book. However, if you're a "rookie", a first year employee, a fresh graduate, then this might be the book to read so that you can gain an impressive "hello" effect to your managers and colleagues. In fact, you could actually just browse the table of contents to get the meat of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Insightful!
Review: 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.


Rating:
Summary: handy, realistic, easy read
Review: 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.