The 52 Corporate Caveats

I have worked in Corporate America for more than 25 years. I have met some good, outgoing people along the way. I have also met some real jerks along the way too. There is also a healthy compliment of people who are either apathetic or too afraid to get involved with issues in the workplace. This book is meant to shed some light on some of the shady things you should know about what you may experience while working in Corporate America. It is not all doom and gloom, but I want to tell you the real deal on how things go down. I am not a lawyer, but one thing that you should know off the bat is that the “At Will Employment Doctrine” is bull…! We’re fed that nonsense so that employers can protect themselves from governmental investigations and civil lawsuits. Bad employers tend to hide behind the At Will employment lie to cover-up their unfair and at times illegal practices like retaliating against you for reporting harassment or an unsafe work environment. I have resources listed like Adam Sklover’s Sklover Working Wisdom blog and the Workplace Bullying Institute website that you can refer to for more information on at will employment and how to protect yourself against it and other shenanigans. Their website addresses are listed in the Corporate Survival Resources section at the end of this report. My upbringing, the U.S. Army and my martial arts training have certainly prepared me to be mentally tougher and more tenacious than most. However, most of the things that I will be sharing can easily be adopted and applied by just about anybody. The secret to survival is being alert and aware of what is going on around you. When you see that pile of poop, don’t step in it. When you see the writing on the wall, read it and heed to it. I started sharing the various warnings that I will be sharing in this book on Twitter under the hash tag #loveyourenemies. Some of my connections encouraged me to expand on what I was sharing so here it is. There ended up being 52 tweets (i.e., posts or status updates on Twitter) so that is where I came up with the number 52. I will provide brief explanations on what is meant by each statement. The explanations are meant to be thought-provoking. They are not meant to be exhaustive explanations or proverbial “magic bullets.” Put on your thinking caps, and draw on what you already know – what you have experienced, seen or heard. Experience is always the best teacher, but it need not be your personal experience.