Interview with Tessa West, author of Jerks at Work: Toxic Coworkers and What to Do About Them
Tessa West, author of Jerks at Work: Toxic Coworkers and What to Do About Them recommends a fantastic set of books! Before jumping into the interview, please check out Tessa's book:
Review from Book Depository:
Want to get those difficult colleagues off your back and restore your sanity? NYU psychology professor Tessa West shows you how.
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Jerks at Work: Toxic Coworkers and What to Do About Them
Have you ever watched a colleague charm the pants off management while showing a competitive, Machiavellian side to the lower ranks? They don't hesitate to throw peers under the bus, but their boss is oblivious to their bad behaviour. What about a constantly interrupting colleague? Or an over-bearing manager? While these jerks stress us out in small ways throughout the day, they aren't technically breaking any rules, so we're expected just to put up with them.
...Until now. Tessa West has already helped thousands of people resolve their most pressing workplace issues. And here she draws on a decade of original research to profile classic workplace archetypes, including the Gaslighter, the Bulldozer, the Credit-Stealer, the Neglecter, and the Micromanager, giving advice to anyone who's ever hidden in the bathroom to cry at work. She digs deep into the inner workings of each bad apple, exploring their motivations and insecurities, and offers clever strategies for stopping each type of jerk in their tracks.
Know a Jerk at Work? This proactive approach reveals the single, most effective way to achieve emotional wellbeing at work.
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Easons €20.99
Book Depository €13.56
Waterstones £14.99
Wordery $16.72
Q. Do you have a favourite smart thinking book (and why that book)?
I read a lot of science fiction, which most people don't necessarily consider "smart thinking" but I certainly do. One of my favorite smart thinking books is Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. As a social psychologist, reading about battles of power, status, and knowledge sharing--among highly evolved spiders(!)--scratches all of my itches. It's the best book on strategic thinking that I've read in a long time. Tchaikovsky can really hop into the minds of a million different types of people, with different backgrounds and goals, and give you insights that you can carry with you to real life.
Review from Book Depository:
Winner of the 30th anniversary Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel.
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Children of Time
Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed novel Children of Time, is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet.
Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life.
But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.
Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?
Buy On:
Book Depository €10.784
Waterstones £9.99
Wordery $12.13
Q. What's the most recent smart thinking book you've read (and how would you rate it)?
Recently I read The Power of Us by Jay Van Bavel and Dominic Packer. It's about how our identities shape everything about us--from how we interact with each other one-on-one, to what makes us susceptible to conspiratorial thinking. A smart, super informative read. I would give it 10 out of 10.
Review From Book Depository:
If you're like most people, you probably believe that your identity is stable. But in fact, your identity is constantly changing - often outside your conscious awareness and sometimes even against your wishes - to reflect the interests of the groups of which you're a part. And that fluid identity has a powerful influence over your feelings, beliefs, and behaviours.
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The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony
In THE POWER OF US, psychologists Packer and Van Bavel integrate their own cutting-edge research in psychology, neuroscience and economics to explain what identity really is and show how to harness its dynamic nature to:
Increase our productivity - Improve physical and psychological health - Overcome our individual prejudice - Unlock our altruism - Break the political gridlock - Galvanize others to solve controversial global problems
Along the way, they explain such seemingly unrelated phenomenon as why men cry at football games but not funerals, why the history of slavery in U.S. counties is one of the best predictors of current day racism, and why Canada keeps a national reserve of maple syrup. Packed with fascinating insights, vivid case studies, and pioneering research, THE POWER OF US will change the way you understand yourself - and those around you - forever.
Buy On:
Book Depository €17.03
Waterstones £20.00
Wordery $20.68
Q. Do you have a favourite childhood book?
Yes, Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. It was the first time I cried while reading a book (I didn't cry again until that scene in Harry Potter when Harry accepts his fate and walks into the forest to be killed by Voldermort). I'll never forget that experience.
Review From Book Depository
Read the beloved classic that captures the powerful bond between man and man's best friend. This edition also includes a special note to readers from Newbery Medal winner and Printz Honor winner Clare Vanderpool.
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Where the Red Fern Grows
Billy has long dreamt of owning not one, but two, dogs. So when he's finally able to save up enough money for two pups to call his own--Old Dan and Little Ann--he's ecstatic. It doesn't matter that times are tough; together they'll roam the hills of the Ozarks.
Soon Billy and his hounds become the finest hunting team in the valley. Stories of their great achievements spread throughout the region, and the combination of Old Dan's brawn, Little Ann's brains, and Billy's sheer will seems unbeatable. But tragedy awaits these determined hunters--now friends--and Billy learns that hope can grow out of despair, and that the seeds of the future can come from the scars of the past.
Buy On:
Book Depository €7.69
Waterstones £6.99
Wordery $8.78
Q. Do you prefer reading on paper, Kindle or listening to an audiobook?
I'm old school. Paper, physical books for me.
Q. Do you have a favourite bookshop (and why that shop)?
I live in New York which has loads of cool book shops. But nothing beats the Strand. You can find anything there--and the history of the place alone is enough to draw me in.
Many thanks to Tessa for recommending a fantastic set of books! Please don't forget to check out Tessa's book Jerks at Work: Toxic Coworkers and What to Do About Them.
Daryl
Image Copyrights: Ebury Publishing (Jerks at Work), Pan Macmillan (Children of Time), Headline Publishing Group (The Power Of Us), Random House USA Inc (Where The Red Fern Grows).
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