Ask a Manager

February 5, 2018
Advice columnist Green delivers a strained guide to navigating difficult workplace situations. Most often, her answers to readers’ questions—some original to this book and others previously published on her website, also titled Ask a Manager—consist of a variation on the theme of “speak up and be direct,” and, indeed, the book’s utility lies in the scripts provided. Readers fumbling for what to say will be grateful for the precise wording to dig themselves out of a tricky conversation. Whether handling having cried in front of the boss, dealing with a coworker who makes pointed comments about eating habits, or talking to an assistant who is habitually late, the answers are all here. But Green’s approach is unfortunately limiting: rather than offer general, adaptable strategies for resolving workplace issues, she focuses on highly specific and immediate problems. Any given reader is only going to have a handful of these at most, so it’s hard to see whom the audience consists of. Green’s fans will enjoy reading this, but floundering employees would be better served elsewhere. Agent: Heather Flaherty, Bent Agency.

April 1, 2018

Green, who writes the popular Ask a Manager blog, believes that many of the workplace problems she hears about from readers could be solved with straightforward conversations, but that people often don't know how to ask for what they want or how to address difficult subjects. In four chapters--"Conversations with Your Boss," "Conversations with Your Coworkers," "Conversations When You're the Boss," and "Conversations With Your Job Interviewer"--Green provides specific language to use in a variety of situations, e.g., when you believe your workload is too heavy, when a coworker subjects you to constant political talk, or when a manager must communicate a decision from above that she doesn't agree with. Interspersed throughout are some of the more unusual questions she's fielded, among them how to handle a boss who routinely steals an employee's lunch and what to do with a woman who claimed she was putting magic curses on coworkers. The author's friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers' lives. VERDICT Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience. Highly recommended for public and college libraries.--Stephanie Klose, Library Journal

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2018
A must-read for anyone who works. Green (Managing to Change the World, 2012, with coauthor Jerry Hauser) is well-known for her column in New York Magazine and her Ask a Manager advice blog. Here she covers some of the most common workplace issues and offers specific language to address them. In each of 4 sections, Green addresses 50 situations, like how to tell your boss you don't want to answer your email over the weekend, how to ask your coworker to stop interrupting you, how to address an employee's negative attitude, and what to do if an interviewer calls out of the blue. She peppers the book with some of her most heinous reader letters, including the coworker who had to share a bed on a business trip (!). She also tackles very serious issues, like rejecting a coworker who asks you out or when to address an employee's sexist or racist comments (hint: right away). All of her advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)