How to Be Useful

Book excerpt: There's a lot of career advice out there. Much of it dumb. But what if someone read all the advice books -- over a hundred years' worth -- and put all the good ideas in one place? Could you finally escape the cube? Stop mailing things? Be happier? In How to Be Useful, Megan Hustad dismantles the myths of getting ahead and helps you navigate the murky waters of office life. Humorous yet wise, irreverent yet marvelously practical, this book will help you learn Why "just being yourself" is a terrible idea. How to be smart, but not too smart. Why you shouldn't be "nice." When not to be good at your job. How to screw up with grace and dignity. Why shoes matter. The right and wrong ways to talk trash about yourself. That ambition, practiced wisely, is a noble thing.