Portland Public Library

Works well with others, an outsider's guide to shaking hands, shutting up, handling jerks, and other crucial skills in business that no one ever teaches you, Ross McCammon

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-243) and index

index present

non fiction

Works well with others

bibliography

905222176

Ross McCammon

an outsider's guide to shaking hands, shutting up, handling jerks, and other crucial skills in business that no one ever teaches you

"Esquire editor and Entrepreneur etiquette columnist Ross McCammon delivers a funny and authoritative guide that provides the advice you really need to be confident and authentic at work, even when you have no idea what's going on. Ten years ago, before he got a job at Esquire magazine and way before he became the etiquette columnist at Entrepreneur magazine, Ross McCammon, editor at an in-flight magazine, was staring out a second-floor window at a parking lot in suburban Dallas wondering if it was five o'clock yet. Everything changed with one phone call from Esquire. Three weeks later, he was working in New York and wondering what the hell had just happened. This is McCammon's honest, funny, and entertaining journey from impostor to authority, a story that begins with periods of debilitating workplace anxiety but leads to rich insights and practical advice from a guy who "made it" but who still remembers what it's like to feel entirely ill-equipped for professional success. And for life in general, if we're being completely honest. McCammon points out the workplace for what it is: an often absurd landscape of ego and fear guided by social rules that no one ever talks about. He offers a mix of enlightening and often self-deprecating personal stories about his experience and clear, practical advice on getting the small things right--crucial skills that often go unacknowledged--from shaking a hand to conducting a business meeting in a bar to navigating a work party. Here is an inspirational new way of looking at your job, your career, and success itself; an accessible guide for those of us who are smart, talented, and ambitious but who aren't well-"leveraged" and don't quite feel prepared for success. or know what to do once we've made it."--, Provided by publisher

Introduction: What are you doing here? -- First, a little story -- Should you keep reading this book? -- How to be interviewed -- Classic interview rules, plus one more -- How to talk to a recruiter -- How to enter a room -- How to have a first day on the job -- Ways in which you must screw up early on: a handy checklist -- What to say when someone asks for your take on the oeuvre of Werner Herzog at dinner with your brand-new colleagues and you don't know who Werner Herzog is -- The importance of sucking at a new job for a year or two -- How to smile -- How to shut up -- Things you should never say in a professional setting -- How to have a meaningful lunch in a fancy restaurant full of important people -- A few more rules for the business lunch -- How to make small talk -- A list of small-talk topics for people who hate small talk -- How to have a short but meaningful conversation in an elevator -- How to pitch something -- A few words on passion -- How to shake a hand (feat. Kanye West) -- How to be late -- How to be on time, for Chrissakes -- How to find a good bar to drink in after work -- How to find work while drinking -- How to begin a work thing -- How to end a work thing -- Should you be dancing at this work thing? -- How to give a toast -- Things you should never say while giving a toast -- How to give a speech when you're terrified of giving a speech -- Things you should never say during a speech -- How to give a speech when you have just taken one to many Xanax -- How to talk to "important" people -- How to think about clothes -- Style rules for work that you hear all the time, plus one you never do -- Sprezzatura! -- An impostor's garden of mantras -- A few words about collaboration -- A few words about credit -- How to email -- A few more rules for emailing -- Why strident postures on social media are, at the end of the day, probably a bad idea, especially if you're looking for a job -- How to intimidate people -- On assholery -- Are you an asshole? -- The case for profanity -- How to work with someone who clearly resents you and is threatened by you and would prefer that you weren't around -- "Two beers and a puppy": a helpful test for determining how you feel about someone -- The score -- How to forget about that thing that happened that one time that you still wince about -- Why you should always be an outsider -- Afterword: How to write a book in which you do nothing but tell strangers what to do -- Appendix 1: A reading list: self-help books that are not "self-help" books -- Appendix 2: How to pronounce the names of scotches -- Appendix 3: Rules I never got to -- Appendix 4: Key measures and equivalents