Word: korda
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London-born Michael Korda, 42, is a sophisticated and well-connected editor, a graduate of Oxford who rides his horse each morning in Manhattan's Central Park. But no one doubts that both are working the same side of the street...
Ringer's Winning Through Intimidation is No. 5 on the Publisher's Weekly bestseller's list, one rung above Korda's Power...
...Korda dispenses breezy bits of office one-upmanship (jam a visitor's chair into a small space to make him feel powerless, speak softly to an elderly rival -it may make him think he is going deaf). Ringer's book is a heady parable of the worm (himself) who turned predator and earned a spectacular $849,901 in a single year of real estate wheeling and dealing. Despite the differences in style, the message is the same: death will come soon; meanwhile, there is nothing left to believe in but success and power in a cruel world...
Both books are cashing in on the nation's current mood of disillusionment and individual helplessness, which social scientists see as the sour product of the recession and the dashed hopes of the 1960s. In insisting that hard work will get you nowhere, Korda and Ringer are preaching to a growing number of converts. Says Paula Landau, consultant for an "assertion" training group in North Hollywood, Calif: "There is an unprecedented feeling of loss of control. The middle class is losing out, and they know it." According to U.C.L.A. Psychologist Manuel Smith, author of the self-assertion bestseller When...
...Much of Korda's book concentrates on dress and the trappings of power, including which briefcase and footwear to buy (Gucci loafers are "power shoes"). Some of his advice reads like a mad parody. Rising executives should practice a strong "power gaze" in front of a mirror. If they can't maintain it without twitching, Xylocaine, an anesthetic ointment, should be applied to the face before important meetings. It is all reminiscent of former Adman Shepherd Mead's 1952 book, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Mead, now living in Switzerland, says, "I wonder...