The long and short of it: I. Loved. This. It’s insightful, useful, funny, and incredibly easy to relate to. The audience is distanced in the intro and then pulled into the fold in a unique and engaging way. I love the “tough-love” approach; this audiobook takes a hard, honest look at what people can do to change, what best practices and methods are, and what a toxic work environment looks like. Importantly, it refuses to let the listener bypass recognizing their own flaws and weak points, but it also doesn’t make the listener feel alienated or judged for not being perfect.

Gold nuggets of wisdom are liberally sprinkled throughout, and I wanted to scoop up every single one because:

1. I really came to like and be engaged with the author’s voice and persona
2. I genuinely felt I was learning life lessons in a way that wasn’t condescending, pretentious, or tedious.

The "personal story" touch followed by the psychological breakdown (with examples and questions, no less!) is a really awesome way to get the listener really thinking, processing, and engaged. This audiobook creates space for the listener to feel “in it together” with the author and results in the listener doubling-down on the effort to understand and retain the message.