A practical and hilarious guide to getting difficult people off your back, for anyone pulling their hair out over an irritating colleague who's not technically breaking any rules
From open floor plans and Zoom calls to Slack channels, the workplace has changed a lot over the years. But there’s one thing that never changes: you’ll always encounter jerks.
Jerks at Work is the definitive guide to dealing with—and ultimately breaking free from—the overbearing bosses, irritating coworkers, and all-around difficult people who make work and life miserable.
Social psychologist Tessa West has spent years leveraging science to help people solve interpersonal conflicts in the workplace. What she discovered is that most of our go-to tactics don’t work because they fail to address the specific motivations that drive bad behavior. In this book, she takes you on a rollicking deep dive of the seven jerks you’re most likely to encounter at the office, drawing on decades of original research to expose their inner workings and weak points—and ultimately deliver an effective game plan for stopping each type before they take you down with them.
Jerks at Work is packed with everyday examples and clever strategies, such as how to:
• Stop a
Bulldozer from gaining influence by making sure they're not the first to speak up in meetings
• Report a
Kiss Up/Kick Downer to a manager who idolizes them without looking like the bad guy
• Protect your high-achieving team from
Free Riders without stifling collaboration
• Use a
Gaslighter’s tactics to beat them at their own game
For anyone who’s said “I can’t stand that jerk!” more times than they’d like to admit,
Jerks at Work is the ultimate playbook you wish you didn’t need but will always turn to.
For anyone pulling their hair out over an irritating colleague who's not technically breaking any rules, a hilarious guide to getting difficult people off your back from NYU psychology professor Tessa West
Ever watched a coworker charm the pants off management while showing a competitive, Machiavellian side to the lower ranks? The Kiss-Up/Kick-Down coworker doesn't hesitate to throw peers under the bus, but their boss is oblivious to their bad behavior. What to do? In Jerks at Work, West draws on a decade of original research to profile classic workplace archetypes, including the Gaslighter, the Bulldozer, the Credit-Stealer, the Neglector, and the Micromanager, and gives advice to anyone who's ever cried in a bathroom stall at the office.
West digs deep into the inner workings of each bad apple, exploring their motivations and insecurities-for instance, micromanagers develop compulsive habits due to poor managerial training and public shaming-and offers clever strategies for stopping each type of jerk in their tracks, such as:
• Bulldozers often gain extra influence in meetings by making sure they're the first person to talk, even by saying "let's start by all sharing our names," which research shows portrays them as powerful. Don't let them speak first!
• Kiss-Up/Kick-down coworkers are so endeared to their managers that, if you have to report them, do it in small doses over time-otherwise, you'll trigger cognitive dissonance in your brainwashed boss.
Jerks at Work is the playbook that you wish you didn't need but you'll always turn to-and the answer to your endless "how to deal with a terrible boss" Google searches.
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