More than a Cog An Approach to Working That Helps Good Employees Become Great

“MORE than a COG” is a guide meant to help “regular” employees learn how they can get more out of their jobs while becoming indispensable to their companies. For as long as I can remember I have worked alongside some number of “regular” employees. And they have all complained about their positions, their compensation and their companies. And, they never understood why they were in the positions they were, or why others (such as myself) were treated so differently. Finally, after years of being exposed to such tribulations, and, coupled with the past several years of hard times for the American work-force, I decided to try to help all of those regular employees become more than regular. Are you a Cog in some big machine of a Company? It’s OK – most of us are. But are you secure in your position within that company? Are you getting recognized and compensated the way you think you should? Whether you’re flipping burgers for McDonalds, bending fenders for GM or counting beans for Earnst & Young, you need to be more than just another Cog – you need to be the best. Learn how great employees: Work at a career, not just a job. Don’t allow time, inexperience or overconfidence to limit them. Understand and honor the two-way relationship between themselves and their company. Make sure that everyone knows what needs to be known. Recognize and act upon opportunities to shine. Honor commitments that may have been made. Manage supervisor and customer expectation levels. Show pride in hard jobs done well. Take responsibility when things go wrong. Recognize that superiors and customers are partners for success. This ground-breaking manual for employees can show you how to increase your value to your company, while increasing the amount of joy and pride you take in your work. Here are some of the strong points that the book and its message have going for it: Reads easy - I am literally “talking” to the reader. As a reader you can visualize me speaking to you, employee-to-employee. The “conversation” feels personal, it feels natural. Reads quickly - An interested reader should be able to breeze through this book in two or three sittings. This is not some dense, 1,000+ page tome, but more of a svelte manual, short and to the point. Humorous and topical - I employ many references to real life situations or popular theatrical arts that most readers will identify with and enjoy. The stories help people feel more at ease, making it easier to get the message across. Surprising and Obvious at the same time - Just like anything else that generates those wonderful “Ah ha” moments in life, this book says things that will open peoples' eyes and make them feel surprised that they “...never thought of that before.” And yet as you sit there, after reading it, you will know that most people don't see what is so obvious. High Goals Tempered with Realism - With each lesson of “how to do things” comes a safety valve, a dose of reality, called Caveats. Readers appreciate it when an author lets them know that he knows the limits of his own advice. Easy to Grasp - Each chapter presents a single notion or technique. Plus the text is distilled down to its most basic message in the final “take-away” that concludes each chapter. Written by true authority - I am not some stuffy college professor, a Wall Street analyst, or retired CEO. I am and have always been, an employee – just a Cog. I am writing as one employee to another. I know what I'm talking about, and it comes across that way. A Needy Audience - The U.S. collegiate system churns out several hundred thousand new employees per year, on top of the tens of millions of workers already in the workforce. Nobody has been trained on “how to work.” Without help, many of these people are sitting ducks. Little Competition – There are dozens of books on how to climb the corporate ladder, how to be an effective leader or successful entrepreneur, how to be more organized, yada, yada, yada. But there are practically no books on how to be a good employee. Managers make up less than 20% of any corporation. I'm interested in the other 80%, the people nobody cares too much about - the common worker. Timely - Now more than ever, employees need to hear the message of this book. Employees need to learn what they can so that they can hold on to the jobs they have.