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The modern workplace seems so transparent and enlightened, but just like any other organisation in any other era, it’s full of flaws, taboos and illogical exceptions to even illogical rules.
Over one third of the workforce in the developed world will be found behind a desk, and when I entered this world of work (straight from that of a manual labourer in a family business) I was first relieved to not have to do so much demanding work, then confused that the work that was to be done was so hard to get done.
With so much time on our hands, we have complacently created, in each little office, minor enclaves based on intelligence, class, race, gender, preference to shirt and tie or hair colour and high heels, or interest in the mundane; software, Excel, career-climbing, gym-junking – but most of all – based on shared interest to turn our time into money.
The Art of Office War is the product of my research and writing, but the base on which it stands was built by many hands, over many, many thousands of years.
Wisdom and intelligence are the only guiding lights you’ll need, so I combed the ancients and the masters and converted what was relevant to the modern age – that of the office.
I’ve listed below some of the books that influenced me, but to be serious, other influences came from people I have met in my life, who openly discussed with me what I would later turn into The Art of Office War.
The combined wisdom of philosophers, strategists, presidents, generals and entrepreneurs, is married with that of captains of industry, members of the board, general managers, consultants, specialists in human resources, marketing and Public Relations, and also the forgotten ones that see everything, ie, the tea-lady.
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