Sometimes life throws us a curveball. Sometimes it throws us a lifeline. Sometimes it throws us both. Sometimes we don’t know the meaning of what life throws us until well after it throws stuff at us. This is a book about self-doubt, friendship, anxiety, and a worldwide pandemic all through the everyday eyes of an office worker.
Expanding on the themes and subjects that have made "Life's Work" one of the best-read items in "The New York Times, " Belkin considers that the modern "supermom" is just a myth, and her eye for the resulting domestic comedy will strike a chord, and a nerve, with readers.
Praise for Confessions from the Corner Office "As usual, Aylward and Moore have created a path that helps the reader identify and develop critical instincts, behaviors that not only create energy around business life, but can make personal lives richer and more rewarding." ---- Kenneth Keymer, CEO and President, VICORP Restaurants "However you define your corner office, this book helps you develop the instincts you need to build deeper relationships and be more successful both personally and professionally." ---- Andy Andrews, author of the New York Times bestseller, The Traveler's Gift "In Confessions, authors Aylward and Moore capture the reality of our humanity within the corridors of corporate America with real stories about real people." ---- Clifton L. Taulbert, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of The Last Train North "An insightful, practical guide to achieving a winning management style. I applaud the authors' ability to motivate with empathy rather than intimidation." ---- Jerry Langley, Executive in Residence,Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame
The first ever, first-person story of America's private, paramilitary contractors at work around the world-from a man who performed these missions himself and has decades of stories to tell. This is a fascinating tale-and potentially the first-to describe the work of American contractors, men who run highly dangerous missions deep inside foreign countries on the brink of war. It will lift the veil and detail the ultimate danger and risk of paramilitary operations (both officially government-sanctioned and not) and show us in very intimate terms exactly what private soldiers do when the government can't act or take public responsibility. GRAY WORK combines covert military intelligence with boots-on-the-ground realism, following Jamie Smith through his CIA training and work as a spy in the State Department, to his co-founding of Blackwater following 9/11, to his decision to leave that company. As the founder and director of Blackwater Security, Smith's initial vision has undeniably shaped and transformed a decade of war. He argues that this gray area-and its warriors who occupy the controversial space between public and private-has become an indispensable element of the modern battlefield.
BONUS MATERIAL! Follow the wryly-told embattled adventures of a socially isolated, non-conforming union leader as she battles toxic management and co-worker idiocy in a well-meaning Social Services office. Chock-full of insights, foul language and The Five Stages of Grief, The Incredibly True Confessions of a Black Female Union Steward is relatable to any and everyone who has ever lived, died and gone to hell in their job, work environment or both. Rated M for Misfit A true confessional of bad behavior, lackadaisical attitudes on the part of upper management, and more hoops to jump through th[a]n a school playground, The Incredibly True Confessions of a Black Female Union Steward is a great piece of on-the-spot reporting of a seemingly impossible situation. Clearly there was alot going on that defied any sort of understanding. I certainly can't imagine what it was like in the moment! While I did notice some errors throughout the piece, they lent an extra bit of authentic-ness, having likely been written in the moment or soon after events occured. All in all an interesting mini-memoir! -D. Cuthbert, Library Thing CONTENTS: 1. Perceived Power Dynamics 101: 2. Cast of Characters: Management 3. Weingarten Rights 4. Cast of Characters: Union 5. I, as Union Steward 6. Bcc: Notes on an Office Culture 7. Tips and Tricks of a Black Female Union Member & Steward 8. The Aggrieved 9. Grievance #1: How I'm Insubordinate When You're Unprofessional? 10. Interlude: A Gender Discrimination "Investigation" 11. Interlude #2: Now, Union Steward Training ** Grievance Report ** 12. Grievance #2: Send in the Clowns 13. Quittin Time BONUS MATERIAL: Co-workers
This office based book documents the stupidity that people endure when going through the process of finding, working, and losing a job. Carpenter discusses creative ways of dealing with a range of topics such as receiving rejection letters, using the bathroom at work, understanding the psychos you call co-workers, getting sentenced to a cubicle, the consequences of not being a "team player," getting fired, plotting your revenge, and many other side splitting topics that are sure to keep you bent over with laughter.
A marketing director’s story of working at a startup called Google in the early days of the tech boom: “Vivid inside stories . . . Engrossing” (Ken Auletta). Douglas Edwards wasn’t an engineer or a twentysomething fresh out of school when he received a job offer from a small but growing search engine company at the tail end of the 1990s. But founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin needed staff to develop the brand identity of their brainchild, and Edwards fit the bill with his journalistic background at the San Jose Mercury News, the newspaper of Silicon Valley. It was a change of pace for Edwards, to say the least, and put him in a unique position to interact with and observe the staff as Google began its rocket ride to the top. In entertaining, self-deprecating style, he tells his story of participating in this moment of business and technology history, giving readers a chance to fully experience the bizarre mix of camaraderie and competition at this phenomenal company. Edwards, Google’s first director of marketing and brand management, describes the idiosyncratic Page and Brin, the evolution of the famously nonhierarchical structure in which every employee finds a problem to tackle and works independently, the races to develop and implement each new feature, and the many ideas that never came to pass. I’m Feeling Lucky reveals what it’s like to be “indeed lucky, sort of an accidental millionaire, a reluctant bystander in a sea of computer geniuses who changed the world. This is a rare look at what happened inside the building of the most important company of our time” (Seth Godin, author of Linchpin). “An affectionate, compulsively readable recounting of the early years (1999–2005) of Google . . . This lively, thoughtful business memoir is more entertaining than it really has any right to be, and should be required reading for startup aficionados.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “Edwards recounts Google’s stumbles and rise with verve and humor and a generosity of spirit. He kept me turning the pages of this engrossing tale.” —Ken Auletta, author of Greed and Glory on Wall Street “Funny, revealing, and instructive, with an insider’s perspective I hadn’t seen anywhere before. I thought I had followed the Google story closely, but I realized how much I’d missed after reading—and enjoying—this book.” —James Fallows, author of China Airborne
From Pulitzer Prize–winner Garry Wills, the story of Augustine’s Confessions In this brief and incisive book, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Garry Wills tells the story of the Confessions--what motivated Augustine to dictate it, how it asks to be read, and the many ways it has been misread in the one-and-a-half millennia since it was composed. Following Wills's biography of Augustine and his translation of the Confessions, this is an unparalleled introduction to one of the most important books in the Christian and Western traditions. Understandably fascinated by the story of Augustine's life, modern readers have largely succumbed to the temptation to read the Confessions as autobiography. But, Wills argues, this is a mistake. The book is not autobiography but rather a long prayer, suffused with the language of Scripture and addressed to God, not man. Augustine tells the story of his life not for its own significance but in order to discern how, as a drama of sin and salvation leading to God, it fits into sacred history. "We have to read Augustine as we do Dante," Wills writes, "alert to rich layer upon layer of Scriptural and theological symbolism." Wills also addresses the long afterlife of the book, from controversy in its own time and relative neglect during the Middle Ages to a renewed prominence beginning in the fourteenth century and persisting to today, when the Confessions has become an object of interest not just for Christians but also historians, philosophers, psychiatrists, and literary critics. With unmatched clarity and skill, Wills strips away the centuries of misunderstanding that have accumulated around Augustine's spiritual classic.
“The parenting genre is never going to be the same” (Jancee Dunn, author of How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids) after this candid and hilarious collection of essays on motherhood from the award-winning television comedy writer and producer of 2 Broke Girls and The King of Queens, who swears she loves her kids—when she’s not hiding from them. Some women feel that motherhood is a calling and their purpose on earth. They somehow manage to make pregnancy look effortless, bring out the beauty in a screaming child, and keep the back seat of their cars as spotless as their kitchens. And then there are women like Liz Astrof—who originally had children because “everyone else was.” In this blunt and side-splittingly funny book of essays (previously published as Don’t Wait Up), Liz Astrof embraces the realities of motherhood (and womanhood) that no one ever talks about: like needing to hide from your kids in your closet, your car, or a yoga class on the other side of town, letting them eat candy for dinner because you just can’t deal, to the sheer terror of failing them or at the very least losing them in a mall. And sometimes, many times, wondering if the whole parenting thing wasn’t for you. Perfect for fans of Let’s Pretend This Never Happened and I Heart My Little A-Holes, Stay-At-Work Mom is a soul-baring and honest look at parenting and relationships for moms who realize that motherhood doesn’t have to be your entire life—just an amazing part of it.
The classic guide to working from home and why we should embrace a virtual office, from the bestselling authors of Rework “A paradigm-smashing, compulsively readable case for a radically remote workplace.”—Susan Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Quiet Does working from home—or anywhere else but the office—make sense? In Remote, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the founders of Basecamp, bring new insight to the hotly debated argument. While providing a complete overview of remote work’s challenges, Jason and David persuasively argue that, often, the advantages of working “off-site” far outweigh the drawbacks. In the past decade, the “under one roof” model of conducting work has been steadily declining, owing to technology that is rapidly creating virtual workspaces. Today the new paradigm is “move work to the workers, rather than workers to the workplace.” Companies see advantages in the way remote work increases their talent pool, reduces turnover, lessens their real estate footprint, and improves their ability to conduct business across multiple time zones. But what about the workers? Jason and David point out that remote work means working at the best job (not just one that is nearby) and achieving a harmonious work-life balance while increasing productivity. And those are just some of the perks to be gained from leaving the office behind. Remote reveals a multitude of other benefits, along with in-the-trenches tips for easing your way out of the office door where you control how your workday will unfold. Whether you’re a manager fretting over how to manage workers who “want out” or a worker who wants to achieve a lifestyle upgrade while still being a top performer professionally, this book is your indispensable guide.
