It's Not Business, It's Personal

December 15, 2000
Raising office politics to a new high, Lichtenberg uses her book's title to turn upside down a phrase often offered as a balm to losers in workplace confrontations. She is the author of " Work Would Be Great If It Weren't "for the People: Ronna and Her Evil Twin's Guide to Making Office Politics Work for You (1998). Now she claims to have uncovered nine principles for getting ahead after interviewing hundreds of business leaders and conducting in-depth interviews with 75 of them. The nine maxims are a sometimes contradictory mix of advice that counsels us to improve the quality of our business relationships while at the same time choosing relationships based on the benefit we can derive from them. For instance: "Be fluent in both pink and blue" (number 3); "Don't waste time on the wrong people" (number 6); and "Observe the rules of the role" (number 2). While some of her tips sound harsh in the abstract, Lichtenberg successfully uses humor and practical, realistic examples to blunt their edge.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)