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Works Well with Others
Book

Works Well with Others

Shaking Hands, Shutting Up, and Other Crucial Skills in Business That No One Ever Teaches You

Ross McCammon
Dutton, 2015
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Before Ross McCammon landed his dream job as an editor at Esquire, he suffered through fear and self-doubt about interviewing, dressing for success and fitting in at work. He hilariously recounts his early days as a Texas transplant learning to survive in New York City and offers general career advice. His stories are really very funny, but anyone with a year of office experience will be familiar with much of his advice on how to dress for work, deliver a persuasive handshake, and use email and social media appropriately. Come for the career war stories – which make this one of the funniest business books ever – but only if you don’t find profanity offensive. getAbstract recommends his memoir to those who want a good laugh, and to recent college grads, those starting or restarting on the career ladder, and busy executives who have “made it” but want to polish their etiquette.

Summary

From “Spirit” to “Esquire”

In May 2005, Ross McCammon was living in Texas and working as editor in chief of Spirit, the in-flight magazine of Southwest Airlines. A recruiter from Hearst, the major media corporation and owner of Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and Esquire, among others, called McCammon after reading Spirit on a flight. He told McCammon that Esquire had a job opening. McCammon had loved Esquire for years, but worried about doing well at the interview and about his résumé. He’d attended the University of North Texas and feared he would forget to wear socks to the interview, mispronounce names or neglect to shake hands.

McCammon showed up for the interview with his nicest shoes and a tie, but no jacket. He couldn’t believe he forgot to wear a suit jacket, but in Texas, nobody wore a suit or even a sport coat. McCammon’s fish-out-of-water status couldn’t have been more obvious. But the interview went well, and at the end, McCammon said, “If you throw me out of your office right now, this will have been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Less than 45 minutes later, the editor in chief...

About the Author

Ross McCammon is an editor at GQ magazine and the business etiquette columnist at Entrepreneur magazine. He was a senior editor at Esquire magazine from 2005 to 2016. His humor has been collected in Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney’s Humor Category, edited by Dave Eggers.

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