Prologue

Roughly 40% of our waking hours during the ages of 18-65 is spent working, commuting or getting ready for work. If we are depositing such magnitude of time on a side quest, I don’t know if I have ever come across a proper manual on how this quest of work should be approached.

Perhaps, because each job is different. College prepares you with a basic understanding of a certain subject but it is not enough. A career is not just about subject matter expertise, it is about working and managing people, and people…are an interesting specimen.

I am 35 years old. My credentials for writing this book include more than ten years of garbage I have encountered in management consulting and big technology. To be clear, I have a more fortunate career than most and have the opportunity to work with wonderful people.

But this book is largely not about wonderful people or the good days of yore. It is about the people who are not wonderful and the garbage they bring to work and send in our direction. This garbage has to be managed with care, diligence and caution for the ultimate prize, a step up in hyper-competitive pyramid we call capitalism.

We could have chosen to sit by the beach, fish and pay tribute to the gods instead of starching the collar shirt and going to work. But we chose to walk a path which has promise of greater return.

We walk because we either fear stagnation or we fear starvation. There is something that prevents us from living by the beach our entire lives. And if we are not living by the blue waters, if we are walking down the path, then that path merits both protection and curation.