Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?: The Nine Inner Strengths You Need to Overcome Self-Defeating Tendencies at Work

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?: The Nine Inner Strengths You Need to Overcome Self-Defeating Tendencies at Work

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?: The Nine Inner Strengths You Need to Overcome Self-Defeating Tendencies at Work

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?: The Nine Inner Strengths You Need to Overcome Self-Defeating Tendencies at Work

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Overview

A management professor and a religion professor team up to provide a fresh, penetrating look at the obstacles that prevent people from achieving their full potential. As authors Charles Watson and Thomas Idinopulos demonstrate, inner demons like a lack of integrity, mindless conformity, passivity, or greed conspire to keep people from doing their best. But people can avoid becoming their own worst enemies by using their uniquely human capacities to their fullest—to be more responsible, more creative, more self-disciplined, and more honest. Using these strengths, the authors show, makes it easier to resolve ethical dilemmas, attain peak performance without burbaning out, maintain a positive outlook, and, ultimately, succeed in achieving treasured personal and professional goals.

A management professor and a religion professor team up to provide a fresh, penetrating look at the obstacles that prevent people from achieving their full potential at work. As Watson and Idinopulos demonstrate, inner demons like a lack of integrity, mindless conformity, passivity, mediocrity, or greed conspire to keep people from doing their best. But people can avoid becoming their own worst enemies by using their uniquely human capacities to their fullest: to be more responsible, more insightful, more creative, more self-disciplined, more honest, and more concerned about others. Using these strengths, the authors show, makes it easier to resolve ethical dilemmas, attain peak performance without burbaning out, maintain a positive outlook, and, ultimately, succeed in achieving treasured personal and professional goals.

The world of work is filled with treacherous shoals that constantly test the integrity, fortitude, and tolerance of employees. The stresses can be incapacitating. Faced with competing agendas, high expectations, sclerotic bureaucracies, and scarce resources, many people fall prey to demons that sap their energy or, worse, encourage them to act against their own interests by being dishonest or cutting corners. Are You Your Own Worst Enemy? shows readers how to take responsibility for their actions and their happiness. It discusses the on-going pressures, temptations, and traps in the workplace and how ordinary people can manage them constructively to remain effective and true to their ideals. Specifically, it shows how learning the following behaviors and attitudes can help people become more productive, more valuable, and more fully satisfied: -Develop the capacity to make things happen. -Make the most of who you are. -Sharpen thinking skills. -Be the kind of person others want to be around. -Break the chains of mindless routine. -Become an effective learner and continue learning. -Master the art of self-discipline. -Act with integrity. -Be of service to others. Using dozens of engaging stories from people in all types of organizations, the authors show how to overcome self-defeating behavior. The result for readers is a blueprint for success, reduced stress, better work/life balance, and fulfillment.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780313084522
Publisher: Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated
Publication date: 08/30/2007
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
File size: 331 KB

About the Author

Charles E. Watson is Professor of Management at Miami University, OH. A former manager with wide business experience, he is the author of over two dozen articles and eight books on management, including Managing with Integrity (Praeger, 1991 Book-of-the-Month Club selection) and How Honesty Pays (Praeger, 2005).

Thomas A. Idinopulos is Professor of Comparative Religions at Miami University, OH. The author of many books, he has also published more than eighty-five articles on religion, politics, and literature in such publications as the Jourbanal of Religion, Scottish Jourbanal of Theology, and Jourbanal of the American Academy of Religion.

Table of Contents


Introduction     vii
Develop What It Takes to Make Things Happen     1
Assume Responsibility
Initiate Action
Accept the Consequences
Make the Most of Who You Are     19
Understand Yourself
Accept Yourself
Be Yourself
Sharpen Your Thinking Skills     37
See Beyond the Obvious
Pay Attention to Your Surroundings
Anticipate Consequences and Outcomes
Be the Kind of Person Others Want to Be Around     55
Value Feelings
Treat Others with Dignity
Be an Encourager
Break the Chains of Mindless Routine     77
Exercise Your Imagination
Turn Failures and Mistakes into Lessons
Rise Above Mediocrity
Become an Effective Learner and Continue Learning     99
Be Curious
Reflect on Your Observations
Expose Your Mind to New Ideas
Master the Art of Self-Discipline     117
Assess Your Actions Honestly
Cause Your Emotions to Work for You
Learn to Make Favorable Impressions
Act with Integrity     139
Know Good from Evil
Right from Wrong
Defeat Self-Centeredness
Pursue the Good and Right Wholeheartedly
Be of Service to Others     161
Rise Above Indifference
Have an Ultimate Concern That Goes Beyond Your Self
Serve Others Generously
Bibliography     181
Index     185

What People are Saying About This

Steve Jones

"Are You Your Own Worst Enemy is a valuable addition to the library of anyone wishing to increase the chances of success at work. By providing simple, everyday examples of the mistakes we tend to make at work Charles Watson and Thomas Idinopulos show us how to break out of these harmful behaviors and develop new patterns that will lead to success. The answers are inside each of us and the authors lay out a plan to discover and capitalize on those answers."

Terry M. Faulk

"Watson and Idinopulos have written a wonderful book which causes one to reflect on how he or she behaves, both in the workplace and at home. By following the recommendations within, one will not only build better relationships with others, but will likely advance in his or her career as well."

Steve Porter

"Are You Your Own Worst Enemy? by Charles Watson and Thomas Idinopulos is an insightful and enjoyable read for all business—and life—practitioners. Life, a career, is a journey. The most effective journeyperson will know themselves ahead of engaging to know others. This book offers topics and tips grounded in fact and experience to improve and enrich the human experience of any journey. Read, learn, practice, enjoy."

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