Fasten your seatbelts and enter the Weasel Zone.
DILBERT AND THE WAY OF THE WEASEL (HarperBusiness; November 1,
2002; $24.95), Scott Adams's new masterpiece and first hard-cover
business book in four years, expands on this thesis and introduces
the theory that people are huge, stinkin' weasels (except for
you, of course).
In his New York Times best seller, THE DILBERT PRINCIPLE,
Adams taught us that a drunken, semi-retarded monkey can perform
most management functions. As time passed and the dot-com bubble
burst, Enron exploded, Andersen imploded, and corporate leaders
replaced mob figures in the crime news of the day, Adams realized
that his theory needed to be amended.
"Intelligence can be measured in several ways.
There's the standard IQ
Then there's the newer EQ (Emotional
Quotient)
But the most important indicator is the WQ (Weasel
Quotient), a measure of your weasel abilities," says Adams.
Illustrated with dozens of comic strips and real-life
reports from his readers, DILBERT AND THE WAY OF THE WEASEL is
a laugh-out-loud exploration of the Weasel Zone ("a gigantic
gray area between good moral behavior and outright felonious activities")
and the rules that govern it. According to Adams, weasels have
infested every profession, from the courthouse to the White House.
Even your neighbor and your own spouse have joined the weasel
ranks. In the Weasel Zone, people don't resort to telling out-and-out
lies; rather, they depend on such age-old techniques as manipulation,
scheming, and generally behaving like sociopaths.
In order to maneuver successfully the ways of a
weasel, it helps to understand the many different types of weasel
behavior. To help his readers increase their Weasel Quotient,
Adams has defined a number of weasel terms. Some include:
Weasel Math: the process of replacing small, embarrassing numbers
with huge, impressive numbers. Example: If you're the manager
of a radio station, don't say it only has six listeners on a good
day; say it's "available" to over five million listeners.
Weasel Knowledge: Derived from the combination of
ignorance and massive amounts of PowerPoint slides. It's
like regular knowledge, but without the knowledge.
Business Analysis: The word analysis is formed by
the root word anal and the ancient Greek word ysis, meaning "to
pull numbers from."
After downloading the many weasely terms that Adams
uncovers in his book, a traditionally honest and ethical reader
might wonder what they can do to survive-and even get the better
of-weasels at home and at the office. So Adams offers his readers
some tips. For instance:
-- When you lie about your company's past performance, that's
fraud, and you should avoid doing it. But there's no penalty for
lying about the future; that's called optimism and it's considered
a virtue
you might even be called a visionary.
-- As an executive weasel, it's always a good idea
to "roll out a program" with an impressive sounding
name. Later, if the economy improves and profits go up in spite
of you, claim credit and demand obscene amounts of compensation.
If nothing lucky happens, you can blame an industry downturn and
demand obscene amounts of compensation to stay.
-- Define the issue: If you're always late for meetings,
tell people it's because you're a "busy perfectionist."
If you say it often enough, people will believe it, and it sounds
better than being an "inconsiderate weasel."
The breakthrough guide to getting your way at work
and protecting yourself
from a boss determined to deny you a sane life and a life-affirming
raise or promotion, DILBERT AND THE WAY OF THE WEASEL is the perfect
follow-up to #1 New York Times bestseller, THE DILBERT PRINCIPLE.
It brilliantly exposes the truth while making us laugh our heads
off.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Scott Adams is the creator of DILBERT, the comic strip that now
appears in more than 2,000 newspapers, sixty-five countries, and
twenty-two languages. His books, THE DILBERT PRINCIPLE, DOGBERT'S
TOP SECRET MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK, THE JOY OF WORK, and THE DILBERT
FUTURE, were all New York Times bestsellers.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
TITLE: DILBERT AND THE WAY OF THE WEASEL
AUTHOR: Scott Adams
ISBN#: 0-06-051805-7
PRICE: $24.95
PUBLICATION DATE: November 1, 2002
Also Available from HarperAudio
Cassette: ISBN 0-06-0518235 - $18.95
CD: ISBN 0-06-0518243 - $21.95
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