In this live taping of the podcast, Dr. Tessa West, the author of Jerks at Work conducts quizzes to see what kind of jerk you are and what kind of jerk most-easily persuades you in the workplace. You will also learn how to counteract the behaviors of people who make work suck more than it should. And you’ll hear about research into remote-working, the best way to ask for a raise, networking, team building and more.
West is a leading expert on interpersonal interaction and communication and will explain how to make work suck less as we return to our offices and figure out how to balance working remotely with working in-person after a year of re-imagining what work even means. West’s new book is an exploration of all the psychological research into how and why gaslighters, bulldozers, neglectors, micromanagers and more do their thing in our workplaces and how to use what we know from decades of psychological research to counteract their Machiavellian machinations.
ABOUT JERKS AT WORK:
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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