Work isn’t really about work, they remind us. To get ahead, you need to get along. The book offers archetypes (jock, cheerleader, teacher’s pet, etc.) to show how you and your colleagues come across. It lays out their strengths, weaknesses and communication styles and how to work with them. If your boss or colleague is a snob, for example, refuse to be impressed by him. It even shows how blends of personality types can be particularly effective or poisonous. (Good: party animal-straight arrow. Bad: party animal-gossip.) If you feel left out at work, it offers hope. “The door to almost any workplace clique will open if you have ingenuity and want in badly enough.”
Granted, many people do stay true to their high-school roots. But when you mix in such things as competition for promotions and fear of being fired, some new characters emerge that aren’t quite captured in the book (you may have some creative names for these people yourself). Still, it’s a useful guide to go along with the memorable Kurt Vonnegut quote that’s reprinted at the outset. “True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.”
