Magic Words at Work

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY FEB 9, 2004

While promising to empower readers with the words that will lay the working world at their feet, Kaminsky and Penney's follow-up to 2001's Magic Words--101 Ways to Talk Your Way Through Life's Challenges doesn't exactly provide the business equivalent of"open sesame," or even a sure-fire means for making colleagues see things your way. Instead, it offers up phrases intended to remind readers of time-tested action plans for addressing a variety of common workplace dilemmas. Organized into four sections--which give advice on how to avoid self-inflicted problems at work, how to get along with co-workers, how to handle the boss and how to manage employees--the book presents behavioral tips in a chatty prose style that makes readers feel as if they're eavesdropping on someone else's happy hour conversation. For example, a chapter titled"Don't Weigh the Facts With Your Thumb on the Scale" describes the experiences of"Gus," a man whose father warned him away from a bad investment by pointing out that the desire for a successful deal can sometimes skew a person's judgment. The authors' quick and easy treatment of complex issues can occasionally lead to suggestions that are simplistic or repetitive, and their"magic" phrases are sometimes convoluted or hackneyed. But the majority of their advice is sound and pithy--even terminally jaded office warriors will benefit from reviewing these commonsense survival techniques and young people new to cubicle politics may find them quite helpful.