Let's admit it: our bosses score pretty high on our animosity charts. Somehow, they always find innovative ways of messing up our weekends and making us feel bad about ourselves. On particularly cheerful days, with one word they cut that optimism by half. They are the living manifestation of everything we detest in another human: the odd outfits and humorless hairstyle, a lot of resistance to change but a strong inclination towards greed, a touch of evil disdain for others' wellbeing in their every decision, squares in the circle of leadership. This book presents you with a set of irrefutable strategies to be your boss's boss. Gleaned from the wisdom accumulated throughout human history which are slowly being validated by modern sciences, these strategies show you the path to becoming and staying your own master. In this quest for influence and power, you will follow the paths shown by masters from all ages, discarding false tactics, resolving mysteries and trusting science, so that before the end of this book you will command the external world while mastering your own internal world to become truly invincible. As you will see, success comes only through our mastery of both the worlds. Even if we have intellectual superiority, incompetence in social and political dimensions of our profession will hold us back from reaching our maximum potential. Rather than wading smoothly through the many hurdles, our incompetence enlarges every hurdle for us. Similarly, despite our perfect outward appearance, our hollowness within will eventually shatter us. Masters of the past had always had a far stronger control of their inner world which they readily transmuted to external power. This book has two parts. In Part I, you will discover strategies to master the external world. The core mission of this part is to train your observation power on the opportunities and threats in your environment. You learn how to navigate your way without stepping on your boss's toes or rubbing your colleagues the wrong way. You then learn to go for what you want. Part II is where you will draw all your strategic power from – within yourself. This is where you will build the foundation for influence and power just like the masters of yore did.
