The War Room by Warren Kinsella Thursday, Jan 3 2008
Books 5:15 am
I finished this book tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it…especially the last 3 chapters. I loved the chapter on “Get the Handle Scandal Manual!” He wrote alot about sponsorships and the whole Gomery Inquiry. I love his partisanship and his “shoot from the hip” style of writing. You don’t have to guess where he stands on any issue. Very refreshing! I also enjoyed the chapter on “Get Modern!”. This is all about the internet including blogging. He includes Ten Reasons Why Internet Bloggy Stuff is Pretty Important and the one I appreciated the most was
“They’re (Bloggers) Proudly Biased! Fair’s Fair: I don’t think the traditional news media are wrong, necessarily to aspire to journalistic objectivity. I just think—like most citizens—that the media are laughable when they actually believe it. To put a fine point on it, ‘journalistic objectivity’ is more than an oxymoron. It’s unadulterated bullshit…Suggesting that media objetivity is possible is more than wrong—it insults peoples’ intelligence. And it’s yet another reason why blogs have become so popular in such a short time.”
He finished his book with “Get Fighting”…a great ending. In reading this book I felt his passion and belief in what he was saying. Some great insights written with “spit and fire”. Great read! Thanks to Jordon and Wendy for this great Christmas gift.
January 5, 2008 at 5:29 am
Gloria, you just used the word, “bullshit”. I am so proud of you right now.
January 11, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Happy to hear that you enjoyed reading The War Room. Have you kept up with Kinsella’s blog? I’m from Dundurn Press and I just wanted to drop by and say thanks for the great review. Cheers!
February 15, 2008 at 10:15 pm
… and Eve said to Adam: “I just met this cute little creature in the garden over there by that tree.”
Eve went on to Adam: “I can fell his passion and belief in what he was saying.”
Adam listened while Eve went on: “You don’t have to guess where he stands on any issue. Very refreshing!”
Eve concluded by asking Adam: “do you want to go and try that fruit?”
February 18, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Gloria, if you liked the War Room, you will love Snakes In Suits by Babiak and Hare.
It was just reviewed in the Nat Post. You will find it informative…
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One person in 100 is a psychopath, meaning that they lack a moral compass, sense of responsibility or empathy (this is a personality disorder, not a mental illness). And although they are overrepresented in the prison system, according to research by American psychologist Dr. Paul Babiak, and his Canadian counterpart Dr. Robert Hare, psychopaths are also well-represented in corporate environments.
…”These individuals have charisma, they have strong verbal skills and they’re able to really weave a compelling story about themselves,” says Babiak. “They’re also quite good amateur psychologists, they can figure out quite easily the needs, desires, weaknesses, hot spots in individuals they deal with, so they tailor their conversation to begin to build what might be called emotional bonds with individuals.”
Babiak explains that while they’re effective at manipulating people - telling lies, breaking down relationships between colleagues, etc. - psychopaths aren’t smarter than the general population. They’re simply driven exclusively by their own desires, and they’ve become skilled at pursuing what they want… psychopaths are easily bored and enjoy stirring the pot, says Babiak.
Psychopaths are also masters at breaking down communication … in an effort to control the spread of information to their own personal advantage. They enjoy private meetings, secret get-togethers and malicious gossip.
… Generally corporate psychopaths prefer litigation - so keep your complaints anonymous so that “if you prevail and the psychopath is dealt with, they don’t know who to go after on the outside.”
Extract from “How to deal with a psychopath at work,” Caitlin Crawshaw, Canwest News Service, Published: Thursday, February 14, 2008