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Sales rank 1,142,132
Customers rating (based on 19 reviews)
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Fire Your Boss And Hire Yourself. Impossible? Not according to nationally bestselling author Stephen M. Pollan. As he says in this new and empowering book, "You don't have to accept your current work situation. You can be in control of your job and your stream of income, so you're never again subject to the whims, prejudices, moods, or circumstances of your so-called boss." In today's difficult work environment, gone are the days of finding satisfaction through your job, gone is the time when your job was secure, and gone are the days when your employer cared about you. This new environment requires new rules, and Pollan has provided surprisingly fresh and intriguing methods for finding "success" on the job. Pollan's bold and unique message begins with the idea that you must "fire your boss." By this he means you can no longer rely on your manager or your company for economic security. Instead, you must put yourself in charge of your working life. In this thought-provoking and counterintuitive career guide, Pollan presents a seven-step program and a series of exercises that give you the confidence, power, and will to achieve the life of your dreams. Once you have changed your mind-set and learned the new rules of the game, you can start the process of moving to a richer, more enriching, and more enjoyable life. And the best part about it? Your boss will love you for it.
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| Publisher | William Morrow | | Release date | 05/2004 | | Availability | | | Edition | Hardcover |
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 My Career Bible
I originally discovered this book at my local library. I checked it out, read it quickly, but then didn't want to part with it. So I kept renewing. Finally, I had renewed the book so many times, I realized I had to buy my own copy!
I've read a great many career books, and this is one of the very best--if not the best. At first, I must admit that I was skeptical of some of the author's ideas. But the more times I read the book, the more his theories began to make sense. Sure it sounds cynical, but Stephen Pollan is correct when he says that hard work and loyalty do not guarantee success or job security, especially not today. Neither does being good at what you do, or putting your career first before your family or personal life. He's also right that work is ultimately about making money. I'm not saying that money is the only thing. But let's face it: Unless you're lucky enough to have a trust fund, earning a paycheck is the primary reason that most people work. I also agree, especially in today's economy, that we always have to be "fishing" for our next job. And I especially like Mr. Pollan's views on networking. Forget everything you've been told about traditional networking, he says, and instead concentrate on developing your hobbies and outside interests. You're more likely to meet influential people at your local church, synagogue, gym or book club than at formal networking events (which, not surprisingly, tend to attract people who are out of work). At times, Pollan does go a little overboard with some of his theories: Money or no money, some people are lucky enough to find jobs they love and would never dream of leaving. And, yes, while it's essential to get along with your boss, I also think you have to make sure that you have more than one ally in the office. Because if you don't, and the one person you spent so much time pleasing gets canned, you could very well find yourself on the unemployment line, too--I've seen this happen in real life.
All in all, though, this book was a real eye-opener for me. In fact, it literally changed my entire thinking about my career. My advice: Run, don't walk, to get a copy. By following the ideas outlined in this book, you can finally stop the madness and begin to take control of your career--and your life. I only wish this book had been written 20 years ago, when I was first starting out in the workplace. If so, I could have avoided a lot of the career pitfalls I naively ran into along the way.
Work For The Money, The Love Will Follow...Refreshingly Helpful Advice
Turning a popular cliché on its head, "Fire Your Boss" (HarperResource, 2004) by Stephen Pollan and Mark Levine encourages readers to instead "Work For The Money, The Love Will Follow." Additional unconventional insights include thinking of your work as a job and not a career, making compensation the number one decision driver in job selection, and intentionally not looking for personal satisfaction in one's work (because you won't find it there!).
When I read the above, it sounds like this book is cynical and downbeat. Actually, it is refreshing and liberating. It empowers people to take control of their work lives, to stop using work as an excuse or a substitute for not have a personal life, and to acknowledge the importance of economic security.
I am a big fan of the career development/ self-improvement genre, and I thoroughly believe in following your passion and leading an authentic life. This book is at the top of my recommended reading list because it doesn't contradict that; in fact it supports it more than many of the career books out there today. The checklist offered for considering job offers is comprehensive and spot on. The anecdotes of people who have used the Fire Your Boss philosophy are compelling and practical. If you embrace the philosophy espoused in this book, it will actually be easier to find passion and authenticity in your life. "Fire Your Boss" ultimately is about how working is just one part of what you do, not all of it. In that way, this book is less about work and more about life.
Most influencial book in my life
This book brings order to the chaos of work. After reading this book I had a totally different attitude going to work everyday. Rather than dreading work, I realized what I should expect from work. Once you have that in order, then things become much clearer. READ THIS BOOK!!!
Hard hitting truths about the real world of work!
Imagine you're attending a career enhancement seminar and suddenly you're doused with a giant bucket of ice cold water. In essence, "Fire Your Boss" is just that. Stephen Pollan's discourse on the stark realities of the real world of work shatter all the hyperbole and fluff of "careering" in not just corporate America but any occupational arena. It's an easy, conversational and straightforward read that IMHO should be called "Hire Your Boss". Pollan, a life coach with the style, chutzpah and hubris of a Donald Trump/Scott Adams hybrid, elaborates on the criticality of taking care of your number one customer in the microeconomic marketplace-your boss. Pollan supports the essence of this approach with references to how the economic landscape has changed over the last few decades and how it's helped to perpetuate agency activity in organizations. Simply put, managers will continue to act purely out of self-interest rather than an alignment with organizational objectives. With this in mind, what will avail those of the non-management cadre the most is looking out for the needs of supervision, with more of a "hired gun" approach rather than that of a sycophant. Many of Pollan's precepts will at first seem counterintuitive--such as "work for the money, the love will follow" or "lose your career, get a job" and may come across as trite and cynical. However when taken in context the underlying schema is this: a job is a means of providing income-no more, no less. Trying to find personal fulfillment therein is a recipe for self-destruction. The author does a fine job of using the experiences of his clients to help illustrate these key concepts and concludes by offering a seven-step roadmap to help one achieve empowerment and independence in the modern job market.
Although Pollan drives across some salient points about the contemporary world of work he does tend to oversimplify a bit with regards to some management behavior. Furthermore, some of his coping strategies have the guise of tactics that only a New York Attorney could formulate. Wait-Pollan IS a New York Attorney. In sum, this is as an island of sanity in a sea of "Be a Star at Work" banter that perpetuates the dangling-carrot-over-the-sea-of-cubicles syndrome. Finally, when you boil this down you realize that one as an employee should consider themselves self-employed. I find it a good affirmation of what work really should be and a refreshing rebuttal to all the careering pundits whose success is predicated on management's mystification of office life.
Not for the faint of heart!
 A different take on occupational fulfillment
There are many self-help career guides that extol us to find a job within our passion. Their logic is that if we love our work, then the money will follow. However, "Fire Your Boss" takes a different tack. Stephen M. Pollan and Mark Levine instead recommend that we work for the money, and then the love will follow. From that foundation, they craft a career plan that they contend will lead to occupational success and personal well being. This flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but the authors make a compelling case.
The "Fire Your Boss" philosophy is based on the assumption that employees are disposable. In the era of downsizing and outsourcing, the scenario of a lifetime job with a single company is history. Therefore, becoming attached to one position, firm, or career path is futile. With this in mind, the authors suggest that we "fire our boss" and give up a set career plan. Once we do that, then we are free of occupational anxiety. We can remain in our job if it provides the salary and benefits we desire, or leave it for one that does. Indeed, they exhort that we must always be "fishing" for a better job elsewhere. To that end, "Fire Your Boss" pushes us to continually network outside of the job, because in the authors' words, "no one hires a stranger." We should also be fine-tuning our own personal work plan, which is based on what we can offer to a boss. Meeting the boss' needs is key to workplace success, the authors argue. If you make the boss happy and ensure he or she looks good, then your position is almost bulletproof.
On the one hand, "Fire Your Boss" crystallized my approach to work. Most of the time I like my job as a IT technician. Computers appeal to the cognitive side of my nature, but I wouldn't consider them my passion. After all, work by definition is, well, work. It's tough to be passionate about any scenario where I have to show up at a set time and provide a service or good, under penalty of dismissal for whatever reason. In that context, even a passion can become a burden. Self-employment carries the same consequences, because you still have to produce or starve. In contrast, the authors indicate that a job's purpose is to provide money for needs and wants. Personal fulfillment should be obtained outside of the workplace. As the authors would advocate, I've used my salary to try out a number of interesting activities, such as foreign travel, motorcycling, education, and martial arts. Without my income, none of these options would have been available to me. Should I try to find a job in one of those areas, like the "love your work" pundits advocate? Perhaps. But would they still be passions when I have to do them to obtain basic needs? I certainly don't disparage anyone who has found fulfillment and profit by doing his or her passion. That's an appealing life circumstance. But it doesn't work for everyone, and I appreciated the authors' alternative.
However, I struggled with them on one major point. Their exhortation to be constantly "fishing" for a better job strikes me as somewhat mercenary. Yes, most jobs these days aren't secure, and it would be foolish to pass up a good opportunity. But giving up a good job because another one looks better doesn't always pan out. For example, a number of folks have left my company for what they saw as dream jobs. However, they wound up coming back for their old slot (if it was available, that is). The grass is not always greener, and it seems like they expended a lot of time and energy for little benefit. In addition, constant job jumping would make it difficult to become vested for retirement purposes. A detailed retirement strategy based on the "fishing" methodology would have been appreciated. Plus, I find it hard to believe that one can "have a job offer always in hand." Perhaps that's possible in the clubby executive ranks, but I'm not so sure that's feasible for the rest of us drones. Sometimes old-fashioned persistence and loyalty does pay off, even when things look better elsewhere.
At any rate, "Fire Your Boss" provides a good counterpoint to the plethora of "love your work" books on the market. It provides an alternative occupational strategy for folks who are suspicious of that ideology, and whose passion is anything outside of the workplace. Even those who would like to work in their passion but are unable to do so can benefit from this book. For those reasons, I recommend it.
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