Amazon Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review to be helpful:
An excellent resource with practical advice, October 21, 2009
By M. Rosenthal
This is a book worth reading. It gave me an excellent perspective on the traps you can fall into at work (or any other group I am part of)... important so that I can recognize when I am compromising my own core principles because I feel like I have to go along or because somebody has backed me into a corner in a way that I feel trapped. More importantly, it gave me tools and recommendations how to not get trapped. Concepts such as "unpacking yourself" to understand better what is going on, why you are feeling trapped and what is important for you to do to not feel that you are compromising are helpful to understand. Then knowing how to make a positive move... one that does not compromise your core principles while moving the group or organization ahead... is key. An excellent book.
2 of 2 people found the following review to be helpful:
This a a must-read for today's business climate., October 18, 2009
By Hanley Brite
I strongly recommend the Compromise Trap as a practical guide for people at all levels of corporate life as well as others who are seeking to act with more courage and congruency.
The demands of the workplace are challenging at all times and particularly challenging in today's business climate. Well-meaning people at all levels of organizations find themselves facing choices every day that create internal conflicts, confronting them with difficult choices, often resulting in compromises that they might regret later on. Elizabeth Doty's book provides the clearest understanding to date as to how we get ourselves into these traps and how we can work our way through them in ways that support our integrity and self-worth.
The book's description of "Healthy" versus "Unhealthy" compromises lends important insight into how we can navigate through the complexity of our commitments and relationships at work and in our lives. The chapter on "Five Positive Plays" offers excellent and practical advise. There are many other pearls of wisdom and usable tools throughout the book.
1 of 1 people found the following review to be helpful:
Do the Right Thing, December 6, 2009
By rijs83
The Compromise Trap is a really good how-to for leading an ethical life--at work and anywhere else. It's well argued, it flows, it starts in a logical place and it takes a pretty straight-forward way to a logical conclusion. It's full of useful advice, exercises, tools, and other aids to make it easier to follow your conscience. But what I think is most valuable in the book is that it foregrounds the importance of ethics in our work lives. We're overwhelmed on all sides with messages that the most important thing is to be successful, make a fortune, be top dog, outdo your competitors, and so on. That makes it easy to forget that most people thrive when they know they are doing the right thing. The Compromise Trap is very straightforward about the fact that when you compromise your values, you may be "successful" in conventional terms, but you stand to pay a high price in terms of your self-respect.
Although I think the individually-oriented advice is great, I would have liked to see a little more discussion about systemic solutions. The book starts from the premise that there is systemic problem: if you are in a corporate job, you will experience pressure to do things to maximize shareholder value regardless of the social utility or individual impact of the product or service you are helping to bring to market. If the problem is systemic, then trying to be individually ethical is ultimately a losing game, even if you find yourself a community of like-minded friends and colleagues.
0 of 0 people found the following review to be helpful:
An outstanding survey business managers will relish, July 11, 2010
By Midwest Book Review
Elizabeth Doty's THE COMPROMISE TRAP provides readers with a fine survey that offers insight into rules that undermine personal integrity. Six personal foundations for maintaining core values are presented along with fifty firsthand accounts of compromise in business environments, making for an outstanding survey business managers will relish.
0 of 0 people found the following review to be helpful:
Unique and Thoughtful, June 10, 2010
By JimB
This book is very well thought out, and offers a unique perspective on the way that business, ethics, morality, and self development are interrelated. It goes beyond the easy answers and really grapples with the complexities of the issues.
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