Are You Your Own Worst Enemy? The Nine Inner Strengths You Need to Overcome Self-Defeating Tendencies at Work

A management professor and a religion professor team up to provide a fresh, penetrating look at the obstacles that prevent people from achieving their full potential. As authors Charles Watson and Thomas Idinopulos demonstrate, inner demons like a lack of integrity, mindless conformity, passivity, or greed conspire to keep people from doing their best. But people can avoid becoming their own worst enemies by using their uniquely human capacities to their fullest―to be more responsible, more creative, more self-disciplined, and more honest. Using these strengths, the authors show, makes it easier to resolve ethical dilemmas, attain peak performance without burning out, maintain a positive outlook, and, ultimately, succeed in achieving treasured personal and professional goals.

A management professor and a religion professor team up to provide a fresh, penetrating look at the obstacles that prevent people from achieving their full potential at work. As Watson and Idinopulos demonstrate, inner demons like a lack of integrity, mindless conformity, passivity, mediocrity, or greed conspire to keep people from doing their best. But people can avoid becoming their own worst enemies by using their uniquely human capacities to their fullest: to be more responsible, more insightful, more creative, more self-disciplined, more honest, and more concerned about others. Using these strengths, the authors show, makes it easier to resolve ethical dilemmas, attain peak performance without burning out, maintain a positive outlook, and, ultimately, succeed in achieving treasured personal and professional goals.

The world of work is filled with treacherous shoals that constantly test the integrity, fortitude, and tolerance of employees. The stresses can be incapacitating. Faced with competing agendas, high expectations, sclerotic bureaucracies, and scarce resources, many people fall prey to demons that sap their energy or, worse, encourage them to act against their own interests by being dishonest or cutting corners. Are You Your Own Worst Enemy? shows readers how to take responsibility for their actions and their happiness. It discusses the on-going pressures, temptations, and traps in the workplace and how ordinary people can manage them constructively to remain effective and true to their ideals. Specifically, it shows how learning the following behaviors and attitudes can help people become more productive, more valuable, and more fully satisfied: -Develop the capacity to make things happen. -Make the most of who you are. -Sharpen thinking skills. -Be the kind of person others want to be around. -Break the chains of mindless routine. -Become an effective learner and continue learning. -Master the art of self-discipline. -Act with integrity. -Be of service to others. Using dozens of engaging stories from people in all types of organizations, the authors show how to overcome self-defeating behavior. The result for readers is a blueprint for success, reduced stress, better work/life balance, and fulfillment.

Charles E. Watson is Professor of Management at Miami University, OH. A former manager with wide business experience, he is the author of over two dozen articles and eight books on management, including Managing with Integrity (Praeger, 1991 Book-of-the-Month Club selection) and How Honesty Pays (Praeger, 2005).

Thomas A. Idinopulos is Professor of Comparative Religions at Miami University, OH. The author of many books, he has also published more than eighty-five articles on religion, politics, and literature in such publications as the Journal of Religion, Scottish Journal of Theology, and Journal of the American Academy of Religion.