The Rules of Work by Richard Templar
If you’ve stopped by Budget Breakaway before you may be aware that I’m a self confessed workaholic! I love my job and plan on working within the digital marketing industry for years to come. Although working in such a liquid industry has it’s pitfalls it certainly keeps me on my toes and I’m always learning something new.
The Rules of Work details an entertaining list of rules that you should follow to become successful in the workplace. From managing your relationships to ‘walking the walk’, Richard takes you on an editorial tour of the workplace making you notice things about work that you never would have spotted before. If anything, reading The Rules of Work will certainly get you thinking about your day to day behavior at work and how it is affecting your potential and of course – your salary.
As you’ll quickly find, this book becomes your secret weapon; you dare not speak of what you’ve learnt in here dare it give away your true agenda. Richard very cleverly addresses you as a ‘Rules Player’ and gives you some fantastic action tips to try out when you return to the office. In brief the book covers the following areas:
How to Act and Dress
A great deal of emphasis is p.laced on ‘walking the walk’; that is, sitting, eating, talking and dressing for the role that you want to be in before you get there – after all, you want to show that you’re ready to take on that responsibility.
Good Habits and Bad Habits
Don’t complain about work or moan about colleagues. Arrive on time but don’t leave too late. Templar’s book is packed with information on good habits to pick up and bad ones to drop.
Interpersonal Relationships
Good relationships open fantastic opportunities especially if they are with the right people. The Rules of Work will detail some of the best ways to create quality relationships with top dogs and maintain the right relationships with your other peers.
Hierarchy of the Workplace
To the average worker, the hierarchy of the workplace is fairly obvious; some may even see the faint outline of a glass ceiling. But The Rules of Work gives you a piece of the blueprint; showing you secret pathways, loopholes an alternate rules. You’ll soon learn that the people that can help move you up a notch might not be who you think!
This is a real handy book for aspiring employees in medium to large companies. I’ll certainly be keeping a copy of the book around in case I ever need to consult the rules or need a reminder to keep on track. You can find The Rules of Work on Amazon and don’t forget to read my post on the 5 Steps to Success in the Workplace!
Available from £3.40 on Amazon
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[…] The Rules of Work was a quick and easy read on career development; something I am very interested in at the moment. The book provides a neat list of rules that you should stick to in order to become successful in the workplace. You can read my full review here! […]
Hmmm… I’m undecided on whether this sounds like a book I need to read or not. Glad you reviewed this though as I very nearly bought it to read on the last holiday I went on, but got another one instead. To be honest I think it won’t end up reading it, as it sounds like it is going to be a list of stuff that I already know yet almost actively go out of my way to avoid doing.
This sounds incredibly stupid as who doesn’t want to get ahead at work potentially increase their salary, right? The thing is I’m already a bit long in the tooth and have managed to get my salary up to a respectable level (perhaps just by sticking around so long) so to start playing by the rules now seems a bit pointless. I wish I’d read this book 10 years ago as by the sounds of it, it may have helped me out back then…. However, I’ve never been “a player” so to speak, so maybe I would have just thought I knew better and ignored all the advice anyway! The petulance of youth eh? 🙂
Ha! You’re certainly right there; my rebellion against existing processes at work has certainly took me to where I am today! The twist is that many of the rules in this book go against what you’d expect to be in there. It tends to focus on harnessing social relationships and being mindful of what you should and shouldn’t say to position yourself well as a potential candidate for bigger roles and projects.
I think my current library is very broad and although very motivational and insightful I should start to niche down my subjects towards my main aspiration; building a profitable online business. That being said; the Four Hour Work Week is excellent (and almost a polar opposite to the Rules of Work), I might go to the extent of saying this is the best book I’ve read all year!
Hmmm… I’m still not convinced.
I think I’ll give the 4 hour work week a whizz instead as you seem to be giving that one a bit of a glowing mini review and it sounds more up my street 🙂
Cheers!