“The author has hit on something here; particularly the fact that it is high time we quit thinking that treating everyone the same is somehow fair. Like it or not, the realities uncovered in this book are just that...real! And if you plan to be a significant player in the workplace of the future, I suggest you take them seriously, because your success depends on it. As John says, ‘As goes the world, so goes the workplace.’” —Richard Irwin, President and CEO, IntegraCare Corporation “John captures a refreshing, winning formula in a practical, simple context to leverage weirdness into creativity and innovation, the core of sustainable competitive advantage and success. Rejoice in and celebrate our weirdos!” —James E. Hoffman, Jr., President, Catalyst Consultants, LLC, and the CEO Forum of Pittsburgh “To hear John Putzier tell it, there are so many ‘weirdos in the workplace’ that you’re almost weird if you’re...not. But if you’re a manager, don’t let how weird someone is distract you from what really matters—how well they’re performing. Here’s help for jumping to the right conclusions about people.” —Maureen Anderson, Host, “The Career Clinic®” radio program “This book gives a dose of medicine to cure the ‘paradigm bug’ that plagues most of us in the business world. The author takes complex situations and concepts and boils them down to their bare essence. I just wish I could have him by my side when they happen to me! I guess having this book is the next best thing.” —Mark A. Treat, Client Services Organization Development, Acxiom Corporation, CMTII Group “Putzier has nailed the American paradox: the tension between individuality and the need for organized group effort. His decision-making and problem-solving tools help to resolve this classic cultural conflict: the value of ‘weird’ thinking, diversity, and individuality pushing the bounds of what is normal, versus the utility of social norms in groups. His book is a primer for designing organizations, departments, or teams to maximize off-center behavior. This balance, already a rare one, will increase in importance as work becomes delocalized, cross-disciplinary, and global. This book provides basic knowledge for any company committed to innovation or excellence—or just competitive advantage.” —Margaret J. King, Ph.D., Director, The Center for Cultural Studies & Analysis, American Creativity Association Surviving and Thriving in the Age of the Individual One employee always wears the same outfit to work, another talks to herself all day, another moonlights as a stripper, another has fierce body odor, and still another adorns his cubicle with hateful messages about his boss. As a manager, what should you do about such behavior? The best answers aren’t obvious! Your most innovative and productive people are often your strangest, and while weirdness can be rooted in brilliance, it can also be a real annoyance that serves no purpose. Like it or not, as modern culture embraces the individual, weirdos—anyone different from you!—become more commonplace. In Weirdos in the Workplace, top human resources consultant John Putzier explains how managers can harness the natural weirdness often found in high performers at every level, while curbing behavior that’s disruptive. Putzier presents 32 fascinating, real-world case studies to illustrate the legal, human resources, and business ramifications of unusual behavior in the workplace, and which solutions are most effective. This book explains how to Manage unconventional people by understanding why they behave as they do, and what to do about it Migrate toward a high-performing organization built around the individual, and foster an environment that attracts, motivates, and retains the best and brightest Tap your own natural weirdness and find your niche by integrating your abilities, interests, and the market Weirdos in the Workplace is for every manager, human resources professional, or coworker who deals with unorthodox employees and their behaviors. This book also helps you maximize your performance and value by recognizing your own inner weirdo.

This book offers an historical account of the period 2001-2020 by focusing on the shifting connotations of certain political catchphrases and words.

Whether youve been promoted at work, want a higher-paying position or need help navigating office politics, youre going to need leadership skills. Eva C. Doyle, a longtime trainer who has worked for a bank, a software company, and the Department of Defense, believes anyone can cultivate these skills. In this book on developing leadership skills, youll learn how to: navigate your internal transition from expert to leader; get to know and introduce yourself to your team; learn to become comfortable with your authority; and offer praise and negative criticism. Youll also learn how to find allies and mentors in the workplace, help other employees develop leadership skills, encourage co-workers to act like teammates, and set the right tone every single day. You may have never thought of becoming a leader, but if youve been asked to become one or think its time to take on a new role, you need to take proactive steps to succeed. Get the practical guidance you need with The Reluctant Leader.

Susan Reinhardt takes the naked, honest truth and sets it on fire in a blaze of laughter. Boldly, brazenly, and hilariously, she says what only the brave dare to think. --Laurie Notaro Like an edgier, naughtier, southern-bred Erma Bombeck, award-winning columnist Susan Reinhardt has made diehard fans of fellow writers and newspaper readers across the country with her wickedly skewed reports from the trenches of American family life. In this collection of never-before-published essays and stories, she takes her uncensored trademark wit just a little further than ever before--with hilarious and poignant results. From telling off a too-perfect sorority sister twenty years later to going public with her "grumpy vagina"; from facing down those who would judge her in a mall ladies' room to eulogizing her beloved smokin' granny, Reinhardt cuts straight to the heart of the sublime, the ridiculous--and the saggy--realities of being a working wife, mother, and certified slave to a culture that worships women who sport thighs the size of her upper arms. "Susan Reinhardt takes the naked, honest truth and sets it on fire in a blaze of laughter. Boldly, brazenly, and hilariously, she says what only the brave dare to think." --Laurie Notaro "Surgical patients should forgo reading this book until all sutures are completely healed. Susan Reinhardt is a riot!"--Jill Conner Browne "Funny, wise, and warm. . .from sidesplitting to achingly tender." --Celia Riverbank "Hilarious, captivating. . .no one is more accomplished at the fine Southern art of storytelling than Susan Reinhardt."--Ronda Rich Susan Reinhardt is a syndicated columnist and feature writer whose work has appeared all over the world in major newspapers such as the Washington Post, London Daily Mirror, Newsday, and other Tribune Media and Gannett publications. Reinhardt has won dozens of awards for her writing, including several Best of Gannett honors and a Pulitzer nomination. A long-time volunteer fundraiser for Hospice, the United Way, the American Lymphoma and Leukemia society, the PTO and other worthwhile and not so worthwhile causes, Reinhardt is also a proud member of the Not Quite Write Book Club, a group of ten women who drink wine and pretend to act literary. A true Daughter of the South, Susan Reinhardt was born in South Carolina, was raised in Georgia and currently makes her home in Asheville, North Carolina, the jewel city of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She has two adorable children and still calls her mama every night.

From weekend-long "Real World" marathons to the People's Choice Awards, from favorite characters (Brenda Walsh, Seth Cohen) to the most unfunny recurring skits on "Saturday Night Live," this is a celebration of television unlike any other. 100 illustrations.

A guide to career success for the awkward, the offbeat, the introverted, and anyone who feels like they don’t fit in: “A book as funny as it is wise.” —Rumaan Alam, New York Times–bestselling author of Leave the World Behind As a brand-new employee at a mandatory corporate retreat, Jennifer Romolini—who was afraid of heights—found herself, under pressure, clawing her way to the top of a rope ladder. There, she promptly froze in terror until someone climbed up to help her down. It didn’t seem like an auspicious beginning, but the awkward, anxious, twenty-seven-year-old misfit stayed in the job (where climbing was not actually a required skill), and went on to succeed. She navigated through the New York media industry and became a boss—an editor-in-chief, an editorial director, and a vice president—all within little more than a decade. In this book, she asserts that being outside the norm and achieving high-level success are not mutually exclusive, even if it seems like only office-politicking extroverts are set up for reward. Part career memoir, part real-world guide, Weird in a World That’s Not offers relatable advice on how to achieve your dreams when you feel like you don’t fit in and the odds seem stacked against you. She helps you face your fears, find the right career, and get and keep a job—and offers empathetic, clear-cut answers to important questions: How do I navigate the awkwardness of networking? How do I deal with intense office politics? How do I leave my crappy job? How do I learn how to be a boss, not just a #boss? And, most importantly: How do I do all this and stay true to who I really am? Authentic, funny, and moving, Weird in a World That’s Not will help you tap into your inner tenacity and find your path, no matter how off-the-beaten-path you are.

Follow FC as he steals from the world’s most secure banks and government facilities—without breaking a single law In How I Rob Banks: And Other Such Places, renowned ethical hacker and social engineer FC delivers a gripping and often hilarious discussion of his work: testing the limits of physical bank security by trying to “steal” money, data, and anything else he can get his hands on. In the book, you’ll explore the secretive world of physical assessments and follow FC as he breaks into banks and secure government locations to identify security flaws and loopholes. The author explains how banks and other secure facilities operate, both digitally and physically, and shows you the tools and techniques he uses to gain access to some of the world’s most locked-down buildings. You’ll also find: Strategies you can implement immediately to better secure your own company, home, and data against malicious actors Detailed photos, maps, and drawings to bring to life the unbelievable true stories contained inside An inside and candid look at a rarely examined industry through the eyes of one of its most respected penetration testers A can’t-miss account of real-life security exploits perfect for infosec pros, including red and blue teamers, pentesters, CIOs, CISSPs, and social engineers, How I Rob Banks also belongs in the hands of anyone who loves a great Ocean’s 11-style story pulled straight from the real world.

At the heart of this book is the rapid pace of change, the need to invest in and create good jobs and support the learning that this entails. It brings together a range of socio-cultural perspectives to examine the hard issues in relation to digitalisation, identity, work design and affordances for learning, mediated by the ecosystems within which work, and the workplace is positioned. The contributors take a strong social justice perspective that seeks to uncover commonly held assumptions about where the responsibility for workplace learning lies, how to understand workplace learning from a range of different perspectives and what it all means for practitioners and researchers in the field. The first section sets the scene in its theorisation of the role and place of workplace learning in the context of changing circumstances. The second section brings together a rich collection of investigations into workplace learning that address the challenges of rapidly changing circumstances. In the final section, the authors consider what workplace learning in changing circumstances means for change practitioners, the changing roles of human resource practitioners, and for workers and quality work. This volume will appeal to graduate and post-graduate students, and academics as well as practitioners such as adult educators, and human resource personnel.