“The day this person left our company is considered an annual holiday!” THIS QUOTE, taken from Kusy and Holloway’s research on toxic personalities, echoes the frustration and confusion that come from working with or managing an extremely difficult person. Just one toxic person has the capacity to debilitate individuals, teams, and even organizations. Toxic Workplace! is the first book to tackle the underlying systems issues that enable a toxic person to create a path of destruction in an organization, pervading others’ thoughts and energies, even undermining their very sense of well-being. Based on all-new research with over 400 leaders, many from the Fortune 500 list, this book illustrates how to manage existing toxic behaviors, create norms that prevent the growth or regrowth of toxic environments, and ultimately design organizational communities of respectful engagement. Kusy and Holloway’s research reveals the warning signs that indicate a serious behavioral problem and identifies how this toxicity spreads in systems with long-term effects on organizational climate, even after the person has left. Their two-year, cutting-edge research study provides very specific actions that leaders need to take to reduce both the intensity and frequency of toxic personalities at work. No other book provides this menu of options from a systems perspective with practical relevance in real work situations. You’ll learn how to identify the toxic personality and describe the leader reactions and approaches that typically don’t work. Toxic Workplace! provides hands-on approaches that work with research-based strategies at the individual, team, and organizational level.Toxic Workplace! will provide new insights on how leaders lead, how organizational cultures sustain themselves, and how teams deal with toxic personalities.

Learn how to thrive in—or escape from—a toxic work environment. Toxic organizations are rife with conflict, fear, and anger. The environment causes people to have physiological responses as if they’re in a fight-or-flight situation. Healthy people become ill. Colds, flu and stress-related illnesses such as heart attacks are more common. By contrast, in resonant organizations, people take fewer sick days and turnover is low. People smile, make jokes, talk openly and help one another." - Annie McKee (author, consultant) Many employees experience the reality of bullying bosses, poisonous people, and soul-crushing cultures on a daily basis. Rising Above a Toxic Workplace tells authentic stories from today's workers who share how they cope, change, or quit. Candidly they open up about what they learned, what they wish they had done, and how to gain resilience. Insightfully illustrating from these accounts, authors Gary Chapman, Paul White, and Harold Myra blend their combined experiences in ministry and business to deliver hope and practical guidance to those who find themselves in an unhealthy work environment. Includes a Survival Guide and Toolkit full of strategies and realistic insights

Could Your Family Dynamics Be the Source of Conflict at Work? Believe it or not, how we survive (or thrive) at work-especially how we deal with conflict-has much to do with how we were raised. In this powerful book, workplace conflict expert Bonnie Artman Fox brings you stories of how real-life leaders have conquered conflict by learning from the lessons of their upbringing. Along the way, Bonnie will teach you how to use your own Family Factor(TM) to address conflict at work and grow in healthy, proactive ways. With inspiring stories and game-changing insight, How Did My Family Get In My Office?! will transform you and how you resolve conflict with your employees, managers, coworkers, and customers for many years to come. This book will help you and your team: Identify how your family upbringing influences your conflict style at work Make smart choices on when and how to react to conflict with employees Stick with difficult conversations while staying in control of your emotions Establish and enforce boundaries, even with demanding people Resolve differences and work better together Build trust that drives greater results for you and your organization

This the story of how a young man turned $25 into more than 200 schools around the world and the guiding steps anyone can take to lead a successful and significant life. The author began working summers at hedge funds when he was just sixteen years old, sprinting down the path to a successful Wall Street career. But while traveling he met a young boy begging on the streets of India, who after being asked what he wanted most in the world, simply answered, "A pencil." This small request led to a staggering series of events that took the author backpacking through dozens of countries before eventually leaving one of the world's most prestigious jobs at Bain & Company to found Pencils of Promise, the organization he started with just $25 that has since built more than 200 schools around the world. This book chronicles the author's journey to find his calling, as each chapter explains one clear step that every person can take to turn your biggest ambitions into reality, even if you start with as little as $25. His story takes readers behind the scenes with business moguls and village chiefs, world-famous celebrities and hometown heroes. It is filled with compelling stories and shareable insights. All proceeds from this book support Pencils of Promise.

Hold anyone accountable. Master performance discussions. Get RESULTS. Broken promises, missed deadlines, poor behavior--they don't just make others' lives miserable; they can sap up to 50 percent of organizational performance and account for the vast majority of divorces. Crucial Accountability offers the tools for improving relationships in the workplace and in life and for resolving all these problems--permanently. PRAISE FOR CRUCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY: "Revolutionary ideas ... opportunities for breakthrough ..." -- Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People "Unleash the true potential of a relationship or organization and move it to the next level." -- Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager "The most recommended and most effective resource in my library." -- Stacey Allerton Firth, Vice President, Human Resources, Ford of Canada "Brilliant strategies for those difficult discussions at home and in the workplace." -- Soledad O’Brien, CNN news anchor and producer "This book is the real deal.... Read it, underline it, learn from it. It's a gem." -- Mike Murray, VP Human Resources and Administration (retired), Microsoft

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.

". . . the most comprehensive guide I have ever read for solving any conceivable trying scenario!" --Julie Jansen, bestselling author of You Want Me to Work with Who? and I Don't Know What I Want, but I Know It's Not This You can't stop office madness, but you can stop the madness from getting to you. Gossipy coworkers, unmanageable managers, and cranky clients have got you pulling your hair out and gnawing your nails down to nubs. From teammates who drop the ball on deadlines to corporate bullies who try to run your show, your work environment can be lethal to your health and your career. Change Your Reaction, Not Their Actions When things get crazy, you may not be able to control how others behave, but you can change how you respond. Al Bernstein shows you how understand the situation, how to keep the craziness from bothering you, how to keep things from getting worse, and how you can make them better. Problems/solutions discussed inside: Coworkers who don't like you? Feed them! Hidden agendas? Unleash the power of “cc:” mail! Unpleasant supervisors? Tell them only what they want to hear! Office gossip? Dish out positive gossip about other people! Lying coworkers? Buy into their lies and watch what happens! And ninety-five more!