Low Man On The Totem Pole is an extensive series of advice on how to make a joyful and fulfilling career regardless of what it is.

WHO WOULD ENJOY READING IT?
Anyone with a job. Entrepreneurs and would-be business people can also take a stab at it. More importantly, anyone with no idea of what to do next might find a worthy tip on how to get started. For those with a nemesis at work, making your life miserable, this book might be what you need to live above such whirlwind.

WHAT I LOVE MOST ABOUT IT
Low Man on the Totem Pole is practical and somewhat autobiographical. The author did nothing to hide her shortcomings and the knock-downs that pointed her in the right direction. The book is not just for white-collared careerists. A restaurant waiter or a manual labourer can pick it up and still find a lot to use - it is that down-to-earth. Also, the book eschews the culture of looking after the "number one" and sucking up to the boss. It rates such tactics as short-sighted whiling giving sane, alternative routes to be productive, stress-free, and at peace with yourself.

Curiously, Low Man on the Totem Pole tells us that promotion at work isn't everything. The author testifies to have seen people fall out of love with their work after being promoted at they started doing work that does not play to their strengths. Also, workers can be promoted to a position that has no future relevance to the company, hence such can be the first to be laid off after company setback.

WHAT I DO NOT LIKE
Like most self-help books, the book sometimes falls into clichéd motivational rants. Thankfully, those moments are rare.

MEMORABLE PASSAGE

"Of course, there are no guarantees or easy-to-follow instructions. But what I can say for sure is if you don’t value your capabilities and unique talents, no one else will either. Many of you have spent so little time contemplating your purpose that you are completely disconnected from it. At the same time, you might be bitter that no one pays you more money for what you do…even though you may not value what you do either.

"To know your value is a lifelong journey of discovery. But the first step is to remove judgement and shame. Some of us have unique talents that were embraced by the social circles we were born into, while others have been shamed, ridiculed, or belittled for our unique talents. We are leaving an age of few career options and entering one with room to be anything you want to be. We aren’t fully in this new world yet, even with the bursts of creativity we see all around us (self-driving cars, anyone?). But we are getting there."

.......

Low Man On The Totem Pole: A Tough-Love Letter to the Employee in All of Us by H.V. MacArthur hits stores in January 2018, available in all major online bookstores.

Many thanks to Salem Author Services for review copy.

Described as a ‘tough love-letter to the employee in all of us, this book seeks to shake the jaded employee (that we can be at times) and try and get you have better control of your career.

The book doesn’t promise the earth, nor anything that it cannot deliver, but it does offer at least some strategies for possibly refocussing or reformatting your career, even without requiring significant change from your employer. Through an attitude change, for example, can come many changes that in turn may lead to more concrete, visible changes that wouldn’t necessarily have started on their own, unprompted.

Publicity material for the book describes some of these strategies as ‘ground-breaking’, such as viewing yourself as being a business owner and to consider your workplace as the client’s premises. I am not so sure that I would use such an adjective, although there can be merit and an attitudinal shift when you look at things differently. At least the author does not pretend that change is necessarily easy, which is quite rare in such self-help books. Expectations are suitably managed.

This may be one of those books that you need to look at and see if you gel with it. The book’s writing style was, for me, a little too wordy, florid and less-focussed, but for others it may be quite an attractive, friendly narrative read. At least it has an affordable price, so you only need to make a very modest investment into something that may make your working life easier, or less stressful, if you can make changes. Any additional income or seniority could be seen as a welcome, or overdue bonus. View it as oil for the working life and any benefits that you get from the machine running smoothly and without trouble should be considered as a very good thing.

The author is honest and open, not pretending that this is the result of some deep or broad scientific research. It is just based on 20-plus years of working experience and observation, noting what has seemingly worked along the way. The author is candid, saying take what works for you and dump the rest. For that honesty, at least, it may deserve a closer look to see if the author is being very confident, or very foolish, with their exaltation!


Low Man on the Totem Pole, written by H.V. MacArthur and published by MCP Books. ISBN 9781498499279. YYYY

An easy to read, but powerfully written, guide to surviving the new realities of work in the modern world. While not always comforting, MacArthur tackles those issues that many would prefer to ignore and yet must be embraced to not only survive, but thrive.