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What Smart People Do When Dumb Things Happen at Work

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What Smart People Do When Dumb Things Happen at Work

Hundreds of Tips for Dealing with All the Blunders, Glitches, Traps, and Setbacks that Sabotage Your Road to Success

Career Press,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

Well, guess what, the Boy Scouts were right — Doing what is moral, honest and true turns out to be good business.


Editorial Rating

5

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Charles E. Watson, Ph.D., describes a variety of problems that can occur at work and tells you how "smart people" deal with them effectively. By smart, he means "good," his point being that good is smart. He organizes his management-oriented scenarios according to a series of themes that highlight the best policies to adopt, such as sticking to your principles, accurately weighing your options and seeking to do what’s right, not what’s popular. The book mixes behavioral tips with solutions to problems, emphasizing the need to be trustworthy and responsible and to follow the path of morality and integrity. Sometimes the book seems scattered, since the author distances the solutions from the dilemmas by dropping tips in between them, but the point and purpose survive this wrinkle. Since getabstract.com - like most of you - finds it pretty easy to advocate goodness, truth and fair dealing, we liked Watson’s approach. Funny how doing the right thing turns out to be practical.

Summary

The Basic Principles of Smart Behavior

Often people’s own failings - a big ego, a quick temper, self-centered behavior - cause their own difficulties at work. Smart people avoid these problems by adopting some key principles:

  • Maintain the right course by always sticking to high standards - Discipline yourself to follow what you know to be true. Commit yourself to living up to high ideals.
  • Make good decisions by thinking clearly and insightfully - Look beyond your own self-interests and don’t make self-serving choices.
  • Seek excellence rather than popularity - Don’t seek praise for its own sake, because you won’t achieve enough praise or self-satisfaction.
  • Do the right, honorable thing to gain an excellent reputation - The right thing is what has emerged as "right" through trial and error across many centuries of civilization.
  • Have the courage to stand up for the things that are worthwhile, notably high ideals.
  • Attack difficulties immediately and act positively in response to adversity.
  • Act boldly to achieve high levels of performance - You will be at your best when you act upon your convictions without reservation...

About the Author

Charles E. Watson, Ph.D., a professor of management at Miami University in Ohio, has more than 25 years of teaching experience. He has lectured on management throughout the United States and abroad, and has consulted for numerous companies, including Gibralter Steel, Sun Oil and Procter & Gamble. He is the author of five previous books and dozens of articles on management.


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