The Big Idea
In a perfect world, businesses would run as they were presented in company brochures and portfolios-- performing as lean, mean, profit-making machines, with all its departments and people united as one mind, moving towards a single goal. But this is hardly a perfect world, and in reality, an office setting is often far from being serene. It is a mix of personalities and working styles which sometimes clash, creating friction between people and often creating problems for the company as well.

Because the workplace is such a volatile mix of elements that are often beyond an individual’s control, it is impossible to never to have encountered a person who pushes your buttons. The resulting tension between you and this person is most likely to interfere with productivity, and since you are unable to reprogram them or delete them from your work experience, you’re more likely to sulk and stress about it, with negative results. If left unsolved, this often leads to the loss of productivity, and in the end, it may even cost you the job that you love.

In Working With You Is Killing Me, you are taught to take control of the situation, change your outlook and responses to the situation in order to be able to handle it in the most professional way possible.

About the Author
Katherine CrowleyㆍKathi Elster - Katherine Crowley, a Harvardtrained psychotherapist, and Kathi Elster, a former sales executive and nationally recognized small business expert, are the authors of Working With You Is Killing Me. Relevant for bosses and employees, Elster and Crowley analyze workplace relationships to break down the conflict and work it out.

The book was written in an 8 by 15 room, also known as Katherines therapy room. Even though they began each writing session with just the two of them, as they started working, the room began to fill with people from their past. Among the visitors were their own workplace ghosts. Elsters history included an alcoholic boss, a drug dealing, womanizing colleague, and a saboteur business partner, while Crowleys past featured a charismatic pedestal smasher, an exploding CEO, and several empty pit co-workers.