Work Jerks: How to Cope with Difficult Bosses and Colleagues

About the Book

If you're stressed and unhappy because of problems with a boss or colleague, you pay a price. Not only can your mental and physical health suffer, your nearest and dearest get sick of hearing about it. Going to bed angry and waking up only to dread a new workday is a terrible way to live.

Remote work may have lessened the impact of annoying colleagues for a while, but they can still find ways to irritate. If you're co-located, the "mute" and "stop video" buttons don't exist to diminish your exasperation. Not all jerks are the same; the person you find to be a nightmare may be perfectly acceptable to others. And, astonishingly, someone else may even think you're the jerk!

Author Louise Carnachan has the credentials and experience to make her an expert in this area, but more importantly, she's been in the trenches herself. With an emphasis on the positive actions you can take while being attentive to your specific situation, Work Jerks provides practical advice on how to deal with a variety of problematic coworkers-whether in-person or remotely-so work can stop being something you dread and start being something you enjoy.

About the Author :
For over forty years, Louise Carnachan has worked as a trainer and organization development consultant helping thousands of leaders and staff members achieve interpersonal success with challenging work relationships. She has worked in manufacturing, education, healthcare, and scientific organizations. As a consultant, her clients have included Head Start programs, PNW Fertility, Bastyr University and Clinic, VA Puget Sound Health Care, a variety of Washington State departments, Boeing, McDonalds Corporation, Starbucks, University of Washington Medical Center, and the Port of Seattle. She is former adjunct faculty at Seattle Pacific University and Seattle Community College and taught a course for the University of Washington’s MBA program. Currently, she is a semi-retired coach for leadership clients and pens a workplace advice blog on her website (with debatable input from her feline office mates). She lives in a suburb of Portland, Oregon, and enjoys Powell’s Books, coastal beach towns, and her local library, where she can most often be found browsing the mystery section.

Review :
2024 Eric Hoffer Book Awards Winner in Business
2024 Eric Hoffer Book Awards The da Vinci Eye Winner

“If you are struggling with a relationship at work, this is a great place to start formulating your strategy for handling it. If you ARE the ‘difficult relationship at work,’ this is a great place to begin your own best self-examination. In either case, Louise Carnachan’s crisp writing, deep experience, and cogent advice offer a strong foundation for practical action and insightful personal growth.”
—Dan Oestreich, coauthor of Driving Fear Out of the Workplace and The Courageous Messenger

"I urge you to throw any reservations to the wind and begin transforming your attitude and behavior toward workplace “jerks.” Work Jerks is theoretically sound and that’s important. But it’s also a most practical book on dealing, effectively, with troublesome people in the workplace. I highly recommend it!”
—Norm Stamper, PhD, author of Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Exposé of the Dark Side of American Policing and To Protect and Serve: How to Fix America’s Police

“This book is the perfect combination: excellent advice for tackling real work issues while simultaneously making you laugh out loud.”
—Kerry McMillen, Medical Nutrition Therapy Manager, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance

“This book is a lifesaver! Carnachan does a masterful job of describing how the different personalities we’ve all worked with show up in the workplace. Identifying the type of jerk you’re dealing with is critical and this book gives you actionable tips for maintaining your sanity when interacting with them. She also includes resources to help you grow in case you start developing jerk-like tendencies. This book is a must-read for people who are earlier in their career, but it also speaks to those who are more tenured and find themselves mired in the awful world of office politics.”
—Laurie Miyauchi, Senior HR Manager, Microsoft

“I LOVE this book! Brilliant! Carnachan nailed it. She takes her experience and wisdom and converts it into something that’s easy to read, assimilate, and apply to all aspects of life, not just work. Ultimately, it’s all about us— ;how we show up and our choices. I wish I’d read it years ago.”
—Victoria Evans, Washingotn State Director of Behavioral Health, Molina Healthcare