Publisher's Synopsis
Control freaks and micromanagers, love them or not - be one or know one. These people provide the world with creativity, innovation, and importantly, constancy. Control for some is a means of maintaining emotional security and for others an opportunity to gain approval. Their behaviors can grate on family and coworkers though some of the most famous people in science, entertainment, and technology are fanatical control freaks and micromanagers.
This book provides understanding for how these people are created and go on to manifest great success and frustrating bottlenecks. Knowing the how and why, control freaks, micromanagers, and those who must deal with them come to a greater peace and effective use of their enormous talents.
Epigenetics, gestative processes, and the infant and toddler environment combine to deliver a complex set of personality traits that in some instances are emotional and sophisticated though possibly regressive in their adult lives. In some cases it foments rebellion and "outside the box" thinking and in others, "stick to the rules." The accumulated work on this subject should give men and women a chance to proudly proclaim they are Control Freaks and Micromanagers and the world is a better place for their efforts.
Everyone knows or is related to one, and if you don't or aren't, you may be one. Men and women who manage the positive deconstruction and reformulation of moribund institutions and have a vaunted capacity for details are essential to society. Yet, we worship the famous one and complain about the one on our team or in our family. Some of them take great pride in work but don't communicate well or share responsibilities making group efforts more difficult. They can be great solo warriors, even leaders with the right management.
My work is based on hundreds of ongoing interviews and years of research. The enormous volume of quantitative research on workplace unhappiness anchors this work, showing that a lack of agency, poor boundaries, and poor health related to working environments are expensive global problems. A workplace requires that you bring your best to a group effort and leave some parts of your personality at home. What traits certain people choose or leave makes for a very different group dynamic.
This work is founded in genetics, social psychology, infant and adult development, and organizational tenets and possibilities. Readers have said they view their siblings, parents, and co-workers in a very different light after reading it.
