HOW TO WORK FOR AN IDIOT by John Hoover

How to Work for an Idiot by John Hoover 1


Always irreverent and controversial, Dr. John (Recovering Idiot Boss) twists the lens on business and workplace issues like leadership, creativity, performance, and organizational excellence, making them informative and entertaining. He is the author or co-author of ten business and self-help psychology books to date:

Bullwinkle on Business: Motivational Secrets

of a Chief Executive Moose (St. Martin’s Press March 2007)

How to Work for an Idiot: Survive and Thrive without Killing Your Boss (Career Press 2003/Barnes & Noble Publishers 2006)

How to Sell to an Idiot: 12 Steps for Selling Anything to Anyone (John Wiley & Sons 2005) with Bill Sparkman

The Art of Constructive Confrontation: How to Increase Accountability and Decrease Conflict (John Wiley & Sons 2005) with Roger P. DiSilvestro

Unleashing Leadership: Aligning What Your People Do Best with What Your Organization Needs Most (Career Press 2005) with Angelo Valenti, PhD

How to Live with an Idiot: Clueless Creatures & the People who Love Them (Career Press 2004)

Leadership When the Heat’s On (McGraw-Hill 2002) with Danny Cox

Think Out of the Box! (Career Press 1996) for Mike Vance & Diane Deacon

Seize the Day: How to be an Extraordinary Person in an Ordinary World (Career Press 1995) with Danny Cox

An American Quality Legend: How Maytag Saved our Moms, Vexed the Competition, and Pre-saged the Quality Revolution (McGraw-Hill 1994)


Each and every one of us has an obligation to giveEach and every one of us has an obligation to give our employers (and customers) the very best weour employers (and customers) the very best we have to offer…no matter how clueless we thinkhave to offer…no matter how clueless we think they are. they are.

Our job satisfaction, sense of career fulfillment,Our job satisfaction, sense of career fulfillment, and professional pride are functions of our ownand professional pride are functions of our own attitudes, not theirs. To depend on the boss toattitudes, not theirs. To depend on the boss to make us happy is, in a word, idiotic.make us happy is, in a word, idiotic.

The probability that you can advance your careerThe probability that you can advance your career by making your boss look stupid is about equal toby making your boss look stupid is about equal to winning the lottery. winning the lottery.

(If you win the lotto, working for an idiot becomes(If you win the lotto, working for an idiot becomes moot.)moot.)



Spend six hours with Spend six hours with bestselling author,bestselling author, John John Hoover, PhD and you’ll be equipped to:Hoover, PhD and you’ll be equipped to:

Identify your role in the organizational food chain and make the most of itIdentify your role in the organizational food chain and make the most of it

Stop acting out unresolved adolescent rebellion issues on your boss and do somethingStop acting out unresolved adolescent rebellion issues on your boss and do something with that time and energy that will actually help youwith that time and energy that will actually help you

Understand the importance of Cultural Consistencies (read: Comfort Zones) and how toUnderstand the importance of Cultural Consistencies (read: Comfort Zones) and how to make them work to your advantagemake them work to your advantage

Identify which of the eight boss types you work for and respond accordingly* Identify which of the eight boss types you work for and respond accordingly*

(*)Never treat a Machiavellian like an idiot (*)Never treat a Machiavellian like an idiot if you ever want to eat solid food again.if you ever want to eat solid food again.

Learn your boss’s language (idiot-speak) and unlock your power to do things your wayLearn your boss’s language (idiot-speak) and unlock your power to do things your way and get rewarded for itand get rewarded for it

Show everybody how well you can get along with every manner of moron imaginable onShow everybody how well you can get along with every manner of moron imaginable on your way to fame and fortuneyour way to fame and fortune

Harness your inner-idiot and stop self-sabotaging your careerHarness your inner-idiot and stop self-sabotaging your career



If your job qualifies you as the victim of a cruel joke, learn to laugh withIf your job qualifies you as the victim of a cruel joke, learn to laugh with the universe or the universe will keep laughing at you. the universe or the universe will keep laughing at you.

Dr. John Hoover’s hilarious-yet-powerful Dr. John Hoover’s hilarious-yet-powerful seven-hour workshop will teach you how to:seven-hour workshop will teach you how to:

Use your head. Your boss is probably doing the best he or she can with his or her present knowledge. If you want your working life to improve, help your boss learn better ways to manage you.

Carpe your opportunities. Instead of playing the victim at the office, learn to identify the many ways available to you for influencing how work gets done and how you can impact your workplace agenda.

Don’t be a lemming and follow the crowd down the rat hole of criticizing, boss-blaming, boss-bashing, or baiting the boss. Let everybody else waste their time and energy complaining. Stay busy changing for the better.

Stop whining. Your boss is not responsible for the psychological damage inflicted on you by your parents. Save your revenge for family reunions and holidays. (See: How to Live with an Idiot)

Learn the system. Once you get past the anger and resentment toward your boss (which has been socialized in you since birth) you’ll be able navigate the treacherous waters of reasoning with your boss (idiot-think), communicating with your boss (idiot-speak), and having lunch with your boss (idiot-eat).

This humorous keynote and lively workshop teaches frustrated team members how to take effective control their blood pressure and working experiences. Instead of tearing their hair out, workers at every level of the organization will be empowered to create and sustain rewarding working relationships—regardless of how clueless anybody else happens to be. Team members will enhance their careers by learning “Idiot-speak,” avoiding “Idiot-think,” and by embracing and re-parenting their own “Inner Idiots.” They will emerge from this experience willing and able to accept personal responsibility for personal performance and professional satisfaction. It’s about re-choicing.



One of the Most Universal Themes on the PlanetOne of the Most Universal Themes on the Planet

New York Times: "There is no question that How to Work for an Idiot: How to Survive and Thrive without Killing Your Boss is a subversive book. People will pick it up expecting a tasty blend of commiseration and advice. They will put it down thinking, to paraphrase the famous line from the cartoon character Pogo, “We have met the idiot, and he is us.”

FOX NEWS/Neil Cavuto: “Dr. John’s How to Work for an Idiot is very funny stuff, with some stinging jabs in there.”

Weekend TODAY SHOW/Campbell Brown: “How to Work for an Idiot contains a lot of humor, with plenty of good information as well.”

Wall Street Journal: “Dr. Hoover recommends admitting that you are ‘powerless’ over the jerks in your life. Otherwise, harboring all that resentment is like drinking a cup of poison and waiting for the idiot to die.”

USA TODAY: “Anyone who has to work should read How to Work for an Idiot.”

The Miami Herald: “As amusing as his vignettes may be, the proffered advice is sound and includes solid steps for coping and surviving a daily dose of determined and authoritative stupidity without committing any capital crimes. Hoover closes with a bibliography that includes three of the author's own books. Maybe he's not as much of an idiot as he claims to be.”

Bloomberg Television:“If you have the unhappy experience of working for someone you think is a real jerk, Dr. John Hoover says there is hope. His book about working for idiots is so cleverly disguised; you might think you’re reading Norman Vincent Peale.”

CNN:“How to Work for an Idiot is an irreverent and realistic look at what people must deal with every day at work.”


Dr. John Hoover’s hilarious-yet-powerful Dr. John Hoover’s hilarious-yet-powerful seven-hour workshop seven-hour workshop will teach you how to:will teach you how to:

"Thank you for your fun and insightful presentation. You filled a challenging time slot, being the last of 21 speakers (Beginning with Jack Welch)--We have received a lot of positive feedback about your presentation.” • Lea Faso, Public Relations Manager, Motorola

"The participants both enjoyed and found value in your presentation." • RoseAnn Stevenson, Manager of Curriculum, Boeing Leadership Center

“Great topic to begin session with-Great energy to kick off with-Better than described in the brochure-Excellent-Awesome-Fun-Hit the nail on the head!” • Feedback from the National Association of Employee Recognition Keynote (Lead off keynote--Les Brown closed)

“After reading How to Work for an Idiot, I feel that I’ve become a better boss myself.” • Stew Leonard, Sr., Founder Stew Leonard’s Incorporated


John Hoover, Ph.D. is a popular speaker and seminar leader. He is a former executive with the Disneyland Entertainment Division and McGraw-Hill and has 15 commercially published books to his credit. He has helped numerous companies engender and sustain internal and external relationships through enhanced organizational behaviors and communications strategies. Dr. John also teaches The Art of Constructive Confrontation: How to Achieve More Accountability with Less Conflict. He belongs to the Society for Human Resource Management, the American Society of Training and Development, and the Organization Development Network.

Dr. John at the Boeing Leadership

Seven Hours to a New Way to Live and Work

Part One: CatharsisGo ahead, get it out. Your last chance to bash and blame your boss for every ounce of misery in your life. It will feel good; until you begin to sense how ridiculous it is.

Part Two: Re-choicingYou’re never without options. You’ll make a list early on that will free you up emotionally to think outside the container that has you feeling squeezed and suffocated. (Did we mention that Dr. John also wrote Think Outside the Box?)

Part Three: The Making of an I-Boss and Idiot AggregationHow do so many clueless people wind up in positions of power? The organizational explanation and why you’ve been left out (so far).

Part Four: Boss TypesThere are ten of them and you must be able to identify precisely which one (or combination) you’re dealing with lest you make all the wrong moves and bury yourself and your career forever.

Idiot Bosses God Bosses Good Bosses Buddy Bosses Sadistic Bosses Paranoid Bosses Reluctant Bosses Unprepared Bosses Masochistic Bosses Machiavellian Bosses


Dr. John at the Society for Human Resource Management -

Part Five: Idiot Speak

Learn the language of cluelessness and a whole new range of opportunities opens up before your very eyes. “One can never not communicate” say Paul Watzlawick in The Pragmatics of Human Communication. Bosses are constantly telling us how to manage them—if we have the eyes and ears to listen.

Part Six: Idiot ThinkHave you ever noticed how your boss can engage in a sort of groupthink solitaire? Amazing, isn’t it? Once you understand how this phenomenon occurs, you’ll be able to stay three steps ahead of your boss at all times and practically write your own ticket to career advancement. It’s like having x-ray vision at a poker game.

Part Seven: Lunch/Idiot EatYour homework assignment is to have lunch with someone else form the workshop and role play “Lunch with the boss.” You’ll study your surroundings and observe the power plays happening all around you. It’s a great rehearsal for exploiting your best opportunities for influencing your boss—with your boss paying for the whole thing.

Part Eight: Reality CheckYou’ll learn exactly why talent is banished in your organization, why the biggest contributors are routinely overlooked, and why the true values are unspoken-but-deadly. If you think your work speaks for itself, we have a bridge in San Francisco we’ll like you to buy. The truth about what your organization truly values might hurt. But the truth can also set you free.

Part Nine: The Strategic PartnershipYour boss has things you need in order to succeed. The key to getting your hands on those things, like influence, decision making authority, and raw power resides in your ability to form a strategic relationship with your boss and use his or her institutional authority to your advantage.


Part Ten: The Open Hand

Just as 18th century economist, Adam Smith, wrote about an invisible hand controlling economics, an invisible hand determines whether you move toward what you want or away from what you want. The hand might be invisible, but it is attached to your arm. You can adopt a clenched fist approach to relationships in the workplace or open you hand and trust the God of your understanding to provide. Your choice makes all the difference.

Epilogue: Meet your Inner Idiot

The things that anger, agitate, and aggravate us most in others are anchored inside of us. Is the boss pushing your buttons or holding up a mirror? Take the idiot quiz and learn how to keep this conniving critter from rearing its ugly head and sabotaging your success. Ironically, our inner idiots keep preaching in our ears that we deserve better; yet when it comes right down to it, it is our pride, sense of entitlement, and…well…idiotic thinking that sabotages exactly what we say we want.

You Won’t Want to Miss these Bonus Features…

Confessions of a recovering idiot boss… Engagement means choosing in versus choosing out… Stop resentment from building up at work before it contaminates everyone… Institutionalized incompetence a.k.a. The Peter Principle… How to become an island of excellence in the midst of anything… Not every idiot is a boss & not every boss is an idiot. It could be much worse… How to survive your performance review… Learn to lead the way you like to be led…





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HOW TO WORK FOR AN IDIOT by John Hoover