Bookshelf

THE ART OF WOO:

Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas by G. Richard Shell and Mario Moussa (Portfolio)
Self-consciously riffing on the title of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, Shell and Moussa, both on the faculty of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, try to put their fingers on how managers can win others over (yes, "W-O-O") to their way of thinking without fighting with them first. Ranging across history, from Charles Lindbergh to Sam Walton, the authors examine how savvy negotiators use persuasion—not confrontation—to achieve goals.

PUNCHING IN:

The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee by Alex Frankel (Collins)
Frankel, a San Francisco writer, takes participatory journalism into the belly of the corporate service industry. Working undercover as a low-level employee for UPS, Gap, Starbucks, and Apple, Frankel offers enjoyable, inside analysis—while folding T-shirts, brewing espresso, and sprinting to and from Big Brown's trucks to deliver 200 packages a day—of how global companies transform regular people into their own brand of worker.

STOP PISSING ME OFF:

What to Do When the People You Work With Drive You Crazy by Lynne Eisaguirre (Adams Media)
Eisaguirre, founder and president of Workplaces That Work and a regular on CNN, offers a how-to guide for workers hopelessly oppressed by cubicle tyrants, gum-smackers, loud talkers, and the terminally negative. She helps employees decide when to make peace (a whole chapter is devoted to having conversations with difficult people), when to stand firm (having a "good" fight is necessary sometimes), and when to walk away. -Justin Ewers