The Compromise Trap

The Compromise Trap

by Elizabeth Doty, Art Kleiner
Released November 2009
Publisher(s): Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 9781605093833

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Book description

Healthy compromise is necessary for accomplishing any meaningful goal with other people. But when your job presses you to betray your word, your principles, or other important commitments, it becomes profoundly unhealthy and deeply stressful. And it can happen even while working for an organization or leader you otherwise respect and admire.

Elizabeth Doty offers the antidote: redefining the game. When you feel pressured to play by rules that undermine your integrity, Doty shows how you can tap into six personal foundations that will allow you to stay true to your deepest values and aspirations. Through more than fifty vivid firsthand accounts of compromise and courage in business, she provides guidance for anyone at any organizational level who wants to act with greater clarity, strength, and purpose, as well as for senior leaders striving to lead organizations that allow people to remain true to themselves. The Compromise Trap details a strategy that enables you to remain a positive force—for yourself and whatever you define as the greater good—no matter how difficult the circumstances.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Foreword
  7. Introduction: Seeing with Peripheral Vision
    1. What to Expect
    2. How to Use This Book
  8. 1 The Compromise Trap
    1. Healthy and Unhealthy Compromise
    2. Healthy and Unhealthy Pressure
    3. How Shall I Engage?
    4. The Compromise Trap
    5. Redefining the Game
    6. Personal Foundations
    7. Thriving at Work without Selling Your Soul
  9. 2 A Devil’s Bargain by Degrees
    1. An Appreciative Inquiry into the “Dark Side” of Work
    2. General Pressure to Conform
    3. Routine Pressure to Compromise
    4. Making a Gradual Deal with the Devil
    5. How Playing Along Becomes a Trap
    6. How Do You Know If You’re in the Compromise Trap?
    7. How to Free Yourself
  10. 3 Ten Misconceptions about Compromise at Work
    1. Misconception 1: Compromise Is Always Healthy
    2. Misconception 2: Good Companies Don’t Create Unhealthy Pressure
    3. Misconception 3: Unhealthy Pressure Is the Leader’s Fault
    4. Misconception 4: You Have to Go Along to Survive
    5. Misconception 5: You’ll Always Know If You’re Crossing a Line
    6. Misconception 6: The Company Sets the Terms
    7. Misconception 7: You Should Just Say No
    8. Misconception 8: Refusing to Compromise Means Fighting Back
    9. Misconception 9: You Thrive When You Get to the Top
    10. Misconception 10: Individual Integrity Adds Up to Organizational Integrity
  11. 4 How Do I Redefine the Game?
    1. Welcome to the Parallel Universe
    2. What It Means to Redefine the Game
    3. Becoming Bigger
    4. Creating Room to Redefine Your Game
    5. Bigger Questions
    6. Do I Have to Leave to Engage at a Higher Level?
  12. 5 Reconnect to Your Strengths
    1. What It Means to Reconnect to Your Strengths
    2. Reconnecting to Your Strengths in the Moment
      1. Decision Point Tool #1: Activating Your Strengths
    3. Reconnecting to Your Strengths over Time
    4. Where to Go from Here
  13. 6 See the Larger Field
    1. What It Means to See the Larger Field
    2. Seeing the Larger Field in the Moment
      1. Decision Point Tool #2: Questioning the Deal
    3. Seeing the Larger Field over Time
    4. Where to Go from Here
  14. 7 Define a Worthy Enough Win
    1. What It Means to Define a Worthy Enough Win
    2. Defining a Worthy Enough Win in the Moment
      1. Decision Point Tool #3: Defining Your Worthy Enough Win
    3. Defining a Worthy Enough Win over Time
    4. Where to Go from Here
  15. 8 Find Your Real Team
    1. What It Means to Find Your Real Team
    2. Finding Your Real Team in the Moment
      1. Decision Point Tool #4: Tapping Your Real Team in a Crisis
    3. Finding Your Real Team over Time
    4. Where to Go from Here
  16. 9 Make Positive Plays
    1. What It Means to Make Positive Plays
    2. The Five Positive Plays
      1. Decision Point Tool #5: Which Positive Play?
    3. Where to Go from Here
  17. 10 Keep Your Own Score
    1. What It Means to Keep Your Own Score
    2. Keeping Your Own Score in the Moment
      1. Decision Point Tool #6: Mini After-action Review
    3. Keeping Your Own Score over Time
    4. Where to Go from Here
  18. 11 Thriving at Work
    1. The Heart of the Choice
    2. What It Means to Thrive at Work
    3. It Begins with a Decision
  19. 12 It’s Bigger Than a Game
    1. Larger Forces at Work
    2. Moving toward Organizational Integrity
    3. Let’s Make This Real
  20. Individual and Small-group Activities
    1. Activity #1: Finding the Strengths in Your Story
    2. Activity #2: Redefining-the-game Opportunity Map
    3. Activity #3: Discovering Your Professional Quest
    4. Activity #4: Strengthening Your Connections with Allies
    5. Activity #5: Redefining-the-game Action Planning
    6. Activity #6: Personal Goal Review
  21. Online Resources
    1. Diagnostic Questionnaires
    2. Decision Point Tools
    3. Individual and Small-group Activities
    4. Professional Quest Groups
    5. More about the Interviews
    6. Further Reading
  22. Acknowledgments
  23. Notes
  24. Index
  25. About the Author
    1. About WorkLore
  26. Footnotes
    1. chapter1_fn
    2. chapter2_fn
    3. chapter3_fn
    4. chapter4_fn
    5. chapter6_fn
    6. chapter10_fn
    7. chapter11_fn
    8. chapter12_fn

Product information

  • Title: The Compromise Trap
  • Author(s): Elizabeth Doty, Art Kleiner
  • Release date: November 2009
  • Publisher(s): Berrett-Koehler Publishers
  • ISBN: 9781605093833