Secrets to Winning at Office Politics

The title of Chapter One in Secrets to Winning at Office Politics says it all, "Politics is not a dirty word." Office politics has always had a negative connotation but in reality it has just taken a bad rap. Secrets reminds us that office politics is simply the reality of relationships and Dr. Marie McIntyre shows us all how to play the game - honestly, ethically and successfully. McIntyre uses real life examples from her experience working for a Fortune 500 company and her consulting business to give the reader an excellent view of the real world at the office. Her straightforward yet entertaining style is refreshing and her practical advice and self-assessment questions and surveys make the book a gem. Secrets lays out in very practical and anecdotal style how one can succeed simply by understanding the unwritten rules of working with and for someone. What is unique about the book is the openness with which the subject is discussed - the real life examples are those we can all relate to as an employee, a boss, a parent, a teacher or a friend. It provokes a kind of self-evaluation that some people never seriously consider. Give this book to every high school or college graduate you know! If you are the boss, read it, and then encourage your employees to do the same. It's a keeper.

This little book surprised me. I didn't expect much from it. The title was kinda a turn-off for me. I decided to read it anyway to see whether I was wrong. Didn't like the beginning or the HR background of the author, but continued reading. Then I discovered that the book is quite good and useful. Much better than I had expected. The book consists of three parts: (1) Mastering the fundamentals, (2) Avoiding political pitfalls, and (3) How to become a winner. The first part provides the basics which the rest of the book builds on. It starts by defining politics as influencing people to achieve something and explains that this will happen in any organization. Also, influencing other people is not necessarily bad hence politics is not necessarily bad. If you want to improve your impact to an organizations, then it is useful to see politics and know how to play them. Politics is about power, friends, allies, and adversaries. Seeing where the power is and who is what related to you and each other is the key to increasing your influence towards an organization. The second part explores common political patterns in organization. The first chapter defines different political games... which were typical scenarios that happen within organizations. I enjoyed these games as they were very recognizable (for me, at least). The next chapter explores what happens in organizations when you don't have a political sense, what behavior will make you less influential in the organization. Last chapter explores who is in power and why. The third part is the action part of the book. Considering the fundamentals and ability to recognize patterns, what can you do to increase your influence to the organization. The part ends with the typical 'action' chapter of building an action plan for improving your political influence. The book was well written. It contained a lot of stories and many of the scenario's were recognizable. The book tries to help you improve your political skill but not in a negative way. Often politics is interpreted negatively but as the author repeatedly points out, people of gain power by producing results. The book helped me understand certain situations better and gave me new tools to use within organizations. I'd recommend this book for anyone who is trying to influence large organizations. Useful, concrete but not creating huge new insights, so I'll rate it 4 stars.

For the longest time, office politics for me was like an incomprehensible and invisible current running throughout the company. Something slippery that I couldn't grasp--even though it permeated and affected everything. The result was many politically boneheaded moves on my part. I spent a lot of time frustrated when trying to get things done that involved other people. I was continually perplexed at how people showing little skill could gain huge amounts of destructive influence. And more perplexed at how these people could retain their influence even after creating failure after failure within an organization. Office politics are a fact of life. It doesn't matter if you like them or not. It doesn't matter if you think politics are amoral or wrong. It doesn't matter if you think things should be different. Similar to the way gravity is a fact of life, whether you like it or not or think it should be different. The simple fact is that office politics exist and they affect you. This book is a tightly written guide to understanding them and using them. As soon as I got into the book, a lot of things that had left me puzzled over the years became clear. And the landscape of politics, past and present, that previously seemed hidden came into plain view. The author is very adept at breaking everything down into easily understood concepts. I also like that the book has exercises to help you assess your political strengths and weaknesses and develop political skill in a variety of areas. Some people seem to have an innate understanding of office politics. I didn't. Many don't. Those of us that don't have that understanding will find ourselves at the mercy of those that do. This book can put us on the right track to achieving the same level of political savvy. If you want to learn: how politics work in an organization, how to limit damage done by destructive people with power and how to cultivate power and influence for yourself--read this book.

Coming from a technically focused background (IT/scientific) I used to think like many people I worked with in these fields did: "Who cares - I have zero interest in all the politics that goes on in the office. Others can worry about that while I get on with the 'real work'. Just as long as they leave me in peace to get on with it!". But with experience came the realisation that even if you don't like dealing with this, it's a fact of life that exists in every workplace and the head in the sand approach simply means that you will be taken advantage of mercilessly by those who are more adapt at working these interactions to their advantage. This book explains the principles, based on sound psychology as well as the author's real word experiences, of how to effectively deal with situations that you will inevitably encounter and to turn them to your advantage. These concepts such as 'leverage' - how it works, who has the 'real' power and how to increase yours are all incredibly useful skills to learn. The author also avoids recommending unethical behaviours but shows you how to analyse a situation to work out the options available to you. Overall this book definitely exceeded my expectations and I intend to re-read it while working on adopting the strategies.

The ideas in this book are helpful when you're wanting to learn about how the nastiness of office politics functions. However, I don't think it should be used by itself. There are good people out there who don't work by these codes, and it's not fair of us to treat them thus.

This book was very enlightening as to the both obvious and not so obvious dynamics of office place politics. The text was filled with profundity as I realized I had been thinking these exact same concepts but could not put into words until I read this book. It not only dissects the science of it but also gives character examples to help support it. It explains both how to set yourself up for success and get noticed, as well as how to ruin your name in the workplace. This was well worth the money; lots of underlining.

This book has changed my work life for the better. I feel more comfortable at work now because I have more realistic expectations and I feel prepared for difficult 'office politics' situations. The book is interesting and offers real-life situations that I can relate to. Pretty much everyone has to contend with Office Politics in their job at some point or other. It often doesnt matter who is wrong and who is right in offices, but how a situation is handled. Can you think of a time when you know you should have handled a situation differently, but are unsure what you should have done? Can you think of a time when you lost leverage because of your own actions? Be honest. We all have shot ourselves in the foot. Why stay ignorant? Come into the light! I love this book. My sister cant wait to read it after I'm done.

I'm a programmer, so it may not come as a surprise that I needed this book. However, I'm actually quite personable and social. I'm on friendly terms with my coworkers, close friends with a few, get invited to hang out outside of work, etc. Even with all that, however, I have never understood office politics. In spite of my technical competence I've always felt like I had very little standing, influence, or ability to effect change around me. I've read several books on this sort of thing, but "Secrets to Winning at Office Politics" was the first one that felt like someone explaining to me the boneheaded mistakes I've been making in my decade-plus career. Every chapter had me face-palming multiple times. Here are my primary takeaways from the book: - Nothing in corporate life is fair. I understood this in the academic sense but had never truly accepted it. Complaining about an incompetent manager, a dumb work policy, or a coworker getting an undeserved promotion are essentially complaints about something being unfair. - Judging things like promotions, who gets the good projects, corporate policies, etc, from my frame of reference is a mistake. Instead, I have to judge those things from the organization's or manager's frame of reference. I may think a manager or coworker is incompetent, but if that person excels within the company, I have to determine *why*. What does that say about the company and its principles and goals? - Recognizing the company's goals, principles, and frame of reference is important because I cannot change those things. Those things are reflections of senior leadership. I can either accept them and try to make small changes or find another organization. - To be successful in corporate politics, I must learn to act within the framework of that culture, those goals, and all those "unfair" circumstances. The book has its flaws. I appreciate all of the stories that the author includes to illustrate her points, but after so many I honestly began to feel like she was making them up. I also felt like at times she glosses over corporate dysfunction with the assumption that organizations are more self-correcting than they really are. Her thoughts on nepotism are good examples. She contends that an ineffective family hire will eventually be sniffed out and put into a relatively harmless position. Anyone that's ever worked for a large private organization knows that often family members end up with lofty job titles and the job responsibilities and power and influence that go with them. That's just one example. As such, I think some of her prescribed courses of action might be too idealistic. I also think that some of her advice boils down to "just be a good little employee". Figure out how to please your boss, make your boss/dept/organization look good, things like that. I'm not saying the advice is wrong, I was just hoping for something more nuanced and varied at times. Be advised this isn't a book on Machiavellian scheming. Her advice is all above the table, straightforward, and often more about mutual respect and controlling one's emotions than constructing intricate plots to topple your corporate nemesis. If that's what you're looking for, Greene's "48 Laws of Power" might be a better if more esoteric read. Given its flaws, I would still recommend this book to anyone who feels like they struggle with corporate politics. I wish I'd read it ten years ago. Reading it today has given me a totally new outlook on my job and organization, and honestly I feel 100x better after reading it.

This book has many great insights and helpful tip on surviving workplace. Many of the examples are very relatable. It’s definitely not a case of one time read and you will learn everything, recommend to read it several times to really absorb the information

C'est un excellent livre. Ceci devrait être une lecture obligatoire à l'université. Elle explique vraiment comment avoir une vie intéressante au travail.

Great book ! From start to finish . Follow the enlisted process in each chapter . They make sense to be honest

Great book to learn about office politics with shelf assessments and real life cases, highly recommended for those that have opportunities in office politics

Must have.it changes my point of view regarding office politics