Territorial Games : Understanding and Ending Turf Wars at Work

by Annette Simmons

Simmons writes about the maneuvers of corporate power with the clarity of a scientist and the compassion of one who has experienced the battle firsthand. A must-read for anyone wanting to climb the ladder of success without crushing others along the way.

Genres: Business, Leadership

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 1997

About the author

Annette Simmons is a vibrant keynote speaker, consultant and author of four books: The Story Factor named as one of The 100 Best Business Books of All Time, Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins , A Safe Place for Dangerous Truth (AMACOM, 1998), and Territorial Games: Understanding and Ending Turf Wars at Work.

Annette started with a business degree from Louisiana State University in 1983, spent ten years in Australia in international business, attained a M.Ed. from NC State in 1994 and started Group Process Consulting in 1996. Annette is surprisingly honest, ferrets out hidden opportunities, joyfully takes risks and tells a good story.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciated that this book helped me identify some territorial games I see at work, because that's the first step to addressing them.

However, I found the author's writing style too colloquial, and her choice not to cite sources in the text made the content seem less credible. I was also disappointed by the suggestions for avoiding territorial games. I think they were realistic, but they took a top down approach (essentially, they were tactics that a director or VP could use with their teams, not someone at the bottom of the org structure). I also agreed with the author that the only way to get people to change is to make them want to, but I didn't take away any recommendations on how to achieve that.

[Lester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although many of the thoughts written down by Anette Simmons here are almost obvious, the book is useful for self-reflection, as it gets the reader to think about which of the ten types of territorial games he/she als indulges in. Other than that, a general good reference book if you find yourself in the middle of such instances and wonder why.....