This book certainly defied my expectations.
I thought it was going to talk about how to get along better with the folks at the office that drive you crazy, but nope… it tells you to do what you can to cut them completely out of your life.
It is not even advocating quitting or going off on your own. No, this book is bluntly about how to effectively isolate yourself at work and only allow in your allies and other chosen ones.
Teamwork, it says, is overrated. The business world is filled with the success stories of Soloists, those who defy company manuals and status meetings to do their own thing. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are probably two of the most famous Soloists out there. Google and Pixar are two companies that I Hate People!
touts as being enlightened companies that get this principle.
The first part of the book covers the ten types of co-workers that not only make the office environment painful but also are actually hurtful to the advancements and well-beings of Soloists. This section describes them and gives some quick tips on how to get them away from you, even if it means sticking them on some other less-aware co-worker.
The final portion of the book provides some ways of carving out your own time within the workday and establishing your own space within the office. Here, the authors even suggest making up lies as long as you stay under the radar and obtain your objective.
As with any advice/help work out there, you take what you want, adapt what you need to, and discard the rest. There are a lot of quirky ideas floated out there in this book, and you’ll have to see what, if anything, you’ll want to keep in your arsenal.
I do have to say that I learned a lot of new ways to look at things here. The book is pretty breezy and doesn’t go very deeply into anything, but if you are a people hater, I think this book is worth your investigation. If anything, it helps just to have someone out there understand that people really are the pits.
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