Head: (4 of 5)
Heart: (3.5 of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (4 of 5)

As the name implies, Stop Pissing Me Off! is a no-nonsense survival guide for managing typical office conflicts between managers and employees, co-workers of different generations and cultures, as well as company representatives and their sometimes "outrageous" clients.

The core concept of this book is that leaders who find themselves oft annoyed or angered by co-workers, bosses, or employees may need to first adjust their expectations and learn to expect difficult people, reframe their view of conflict, and spend some time and energy understanding what's really going on before jumping into an unproductive, reactive mode. Eisaguirre teaches how to coach to the two-party or intra-group relationship, rather than to the problem; how to make connections with people before they begin to annoy you; how to handle different types of conflict while maintaining calm, clear-headed communication; and how to step back, gain perspective, and approach petty situations from a more powerful, relaxed position.

Eisaguirre has a law background, and one thing that sets this book apart from other communication and conflict management books is her inclusion of employment law pointers. She includes a Workers' Bill of Rights and a Managers' Bill of Rights, carefully outlining in each what is a legal right or responsibility and what is simply good practice. For example, in the Manager's Bill of Rights, she lists the following responsibilities of managers, stating that the first five are based on the law, while the last is simply "very good management" and will save you a world of hurt.

1. Give employees honest and specific performance feedback
2. Set expectations and standards
3. Follow the laws and company policies
4. Be honest and fair
5. Document events
6. Be open to employee feedback

She then goes into more detail and examples on how to perform each standard.

The book is contains 17 short, catchy chapters with such titles as "What's With All the Bitching and Moaning?", "How to Navigate Road Ragers, Slackers and Whiners", and "How to Shine at Any Job and Why You Should." It also has appendices of additional resources and a great bibliography of a wide array of further reading.

Eisaguirre's style, like the chapter titles, is short, snappy and too the point. Her lively style and lack of jargon and verbiage make this book a quick, fun and easy read. She avoids mushiness even in messages about getting in touch with feelings and learning to take the others' point of view, and, instead of tedious summaries at the end of each chapter, she provides tables she calls "toolboxes" of what NOT to do, as well as concrete, specific, easy-to-follow replacement behaviors to move from being chronically pissed off to a more powerful stance. In some cases, her urge to simplify goes a little too far; a few of her points are so basic as to seem obvious, and some of her caricatures border on stereotyping, especially of I-pod-wearing, text-messaging sullen gen-Xers. And, her frequent use of the term "drive you batty" sometimes drove this reader a little batty. But overall, this book is great for new managers and leaders, anyone new in a job, or anyone who suffers from being surrounded by too many annoying people in the workplace. Buy it.