From Difficult to Disturbed: Understanding and Managing Dysfunctional Employees

Preface

When I was in high school, a friend and I decided it was time we toughened up, so we pooled our change and bought a book called Teach Yourself Karate. This slim drugstore paperback was filled with grainy black-and-white photos of high-kicking men on low-lying mats, supplemented by a thin instructional text. I was skeptical: Can you really learn a complex martial arts technique by reading a book? But my friend was determined and we spent many hours emulating and practicing the kicks, chops, thrusts, and blocks we saw on those pages. After a while, it seemed like we’d gotten down the fundamentals, but eventually I lost interest and let him have the book.

My friend didn’t give up, though. He practiced and practiced every move in that book ...