Gray Matters: The Workplace Survival Guide

By John Lavin, Allan Halcrow, Bob Rosner

An illustrated guide to surviving today's turbulent and challenging workplace from the authors of The Wall Street Journal bestseller The Boss's Survival Guide Forget the Australian Outback or the Amazon jungle-today's toughest survival challenge is the minefield we call work. It's impossible to "do more with less," especially with the looming threat of another reorganization, layoff, or other dramatic change. The good news is that you've got a new power tool for what ails you at work: Gray Matters. This inventive new book combines lively visuals, engaging characters, and impudent humor. But Gray Matters also offers hope and proven strategies to show you how to succeed at work today: how to sell successfully how to survive a layoff how to overcome the stress and pressure of today's frenetic workplace. Think Dilbert with a solution. Your tour guides are the employees of GlobalGadget: Gray Blanderson, a frazzled employee seeking a promotion; Rick Newman, Gray's nemesis; S. P. Chan g, a Gen-Xer and a wise soul; and Virginia Edgarly, Gray's boss who will do whatever is required to be the next CEO. A follow-up to the bestseller, The Boss's Survival Guide , this new book is a must for all managers in this turbulent work environment. This funny guide will help managers navigate change, improve morale and develop business strategies. WARNING: Gray Matters is addictive; get ready to laugh and learn.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471455083
• ISBN13: 9780471455080
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, John
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.2" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A book for even those who "know it all"

I approached this book with an attitude of "I know this content already," "I could have written this book". . . . But a few pages into the book, I realized I was learning. The content is surprisingly complete. When skimming the Table of Contents, the topics did not seem comprehensive. But after reading this book, the important things were covered; including sensitive areas that are usually not discussed.I appreciate that much of the content is in comic strip format. I know, I know, this doesn't sound good. But I have so many books that I've started and stopped because I don't have time to read it all. So it's very gratifying to get through the content of the book in one evening. In summary, I learned some important stuff from this book and know that I can return to this book for reminders and details. Five stars!

I wish that I had hadthis book a year ago

This is such a refreshing business book! Not like all those other dreary, hard to read missives that are published these days. Gray Matters is a wonderfully easy to read book that addresses very practical at-work issues. One of the best things about the book is that the authors also provide a myriad of ways to address each issue, from an intra- as well as inter-personal perspective. A year ago I was faced with some tough work challenges that I was very tired of dealing with. Looking back, I can see that having this book in hand would have given me a breath of fresh air and new wind to face things with different results. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to beef up their work or gain some fresh perspective.

Sort of like "Dilbert" meets Peter Drucker !

Gray Matters is an easy-to-read business book which means that it will appeal to more people than just "business junkies". It combines the ease of reading of a comic (e.g. Dilbert?) with the actionable suggestions of a best selling business book. I don't think I've seen something that has stood out like this since I read "The Goal" by Goldratt!

Wow! A book that your employees will actually read!!!

If you've ever been in management at any level I'm sure you've heard the same old gripes before: "It's not us; it's them." This book was a great find because it's easy to read and helps employees at multiple levels to understand how to work together to solve problems and create solutions while presented in a fun comic book serial format. Whether you use it a training tool or not (which you could since each chapter ends with reassessments and exercises that cover the topics learned in that chapter) your employees are bound to gain a new respect for what it takes to run a successful business.

Finally, a business book for the rest of us

I have been a fan of Bob Rosner's irreverent newspaper column for a while now so have been seeing promos for it on his funny website (www.workingwounded.com) This book is both hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time. Hilarious describes the comic-book-within-a-book but heartbreaking because the riffs on the corporate world are so, so true. It may remind you of Dilbert, but I thought the checklists, quizzes, and things you cut out and put on the bulletin board put it in a class by itself. You can easily take it for a cynical look at the workplace, but look more closely. There is some really practical stuff for making your day pass a lot faster. You might even learn how to look forward to going to work again. Remember those days?