Beating the System

This is an amusing, entertaining and relevant book. At some point, senseless rules, mindless bureaucracies, or poor service and communication frustrate everyone. Authors Russell L. Ackoff and Sheldon Rovin offer a series of straightforward suggestions for getting the respect you deserve and fighting back against maddening treatment. They illustrate their principles with brief, accessible stories and, in at least one instance, even recommend lying to get your way. You can read this book quickly and immediately pull out tips you can use. However, you might want to consider the ramifications before, for instance, refusing to leave an airline clerk’s desk or flooding an organization’s voice mail. There may be lines you don’t want to cross. Everyone has frustrating moments when they might want to apply these techniques, so it would help if the authors did more to sort the moments of justifiable frustration from the unjustified, or to help readers figure out when a rule is bad or a system needs changing. They seem to assume that if you are frustrated, you should retaliate quickly. As a result, the book seems a touch adolescent at times, despite the authors’ impressive credentials. Everyone could enjoy this book, but getAbstract.com recommends it primarily to readers with a sense of perspective who can tell when to use these tactics - and when to just move along.