Description

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From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice!
 
There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when
 
• coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it
• you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all”
• you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all
• you catch a colleague in a lie
• your boss seems unhappy with your work
• your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal
• you got drunk at the holiday party

Praise for Ask a Manager

“A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review)

“The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide

“Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together

About the Author

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Alison Green runs the Ask a Manager blog, where she answers readers' questions daily on office and management issues. She also writes the workplace advice column Ask a Boss for New York magazine's The Cut, and is the co-author of Managing to Change the World: The Nonprofit Manager's Guide to Getting Results and the former chief of staff of a successful nonprofit organization, where she oversaw day-to-day staff management.

Praise For…

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“A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review)

“The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide

“Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way. Alison Green covers just about every conceivable awkward moment you can (and will) experience as an employee, coworker, or boss and then gives you a script for how to address and, more importantly, solve the problem.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together

“For those of us who navigate the complexities of the workplace at this point in history, whether we have somehow blundered into being managers ourselves or are merely data-entry peons, Alison Green is a treasure and a gift. Her writing is funny, fresh, clear, and helpful.”—Nicole Cliffe, co-founder, The Toast

"As someone who has lost (happily devoted, rather) countless hours of their life to committing all the Ask a Manager archives to memory, I've been ready for this book for years. I don’t know anything about having a job, and Alison knows so much; she always seems to have the perfect thing to say, the balance between tact and firmness.”—Daniel Mallory Ortberg, author of Texts from Jane Eyre and The Merry Spinster

“Ask a Manager is essential reading for anyone who has to navigate the weirdness of office culture, managers who are possibly unhinged, or the dreaded coworker who will just not stop talking. Alison Green is the workplace mentor you always wanted—wise, kind, and unflappable.”—Jolie Kerr, author of My Boyfriend Barfed in My Handbag . . . and Other Things You Can’t Ask Martha

“This book handles just about every work conundrum you’ve ever stayed up late at night worried about. I’d recommend reading it . . . and then conspicuously leaving it in your break room. Green is the work guru we’ve been reading for years; of course her book is fantastic!”—Alida Nugent, author of Don’t Worry, It Gets Worse and You Don’t Have to Like Me.