Trade Review
"There's nothing funny about mind games in the workplace, say the authors of this sober-minded guide to understanding underhanded office maneuvers. Simply waking up to games people play and rejecting them is a big part of the battle for executives, say the authors."
—Andrea Sachs, TIME magazine, April 30, 2009
Table of Contents
Foreword ix
Kevin Cashman
Introduction 1
1 LET THE GAMES BEGIN
What Games Are and How They Are Played in Organizations 11
2 PLAYING TO LOSE
The Negative Impact of Games on Core Business Activities 46
3 FERTILE GROUND
Why Games Are So Pervasive in Modern Corporations 65
4 EYES WIDE SHUT
Why People Don’t Deal with Games at Work 83
5 AN EYE-OPENING EXPERIENCE
Awakening to Games 95
6 COUNT ME OUT
Choosing Not to Play 108
7 GAME, INTERRUPTED
Executing Your Choice 125
8 INTERCONNECTIONS
How Games Are Linked In to an Ecology 147
9 THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE
Toward a Games-Conscious Model of Transformation 164
10 GAMES AT THE TOP
The Impact of Playing in the Executive Suite 179
11 A SUSTAINABLE GOAL
Transforming Organizations in Small but Significant Ways 198
Appendix: List of Games 206
References 224
Acknowledgments 226
About the Authors 228
Index 230
