I would imagine that at least once in a person’s career he or she will be subject to a rather difficult boss. It has happened to me four times now out of four jobs. You take a job and are excited to start the work only to discover that instead of a helpful and supportive manager, what you’re faced with is an arrogant person who constantly makes you question your own self-worth. It’s a difficult work environment and one that is not conducive to productivity. Tony Deblauwe in his book, TANGLING WITH TYRANTS: MANAGING THE BALANCE OF POWER AT WORK, discusses what we as employees can do to resolve this painful situation. This book is quite the useful tool and is full of great information.Sometimes, it’s hard for us to imagine our workplace being any different than it already is. We accept the reality of the situation and, especially in today’s economy, keep trudging along and attempting to make the most out of a bad situation. Well, Deblauwe’s point of view is that we don’t have to just accept a negative work environment. If our boss is what’s making our working lives miserable, there are solutions to the problem.Deblauwe uses his experiences to outline what negative behavior looks like, how it affects the employee and how we can find a suitable compromise and increase the quality of our work environment. This is probably one of the most useful parts of the book, in my opinion. Deblauwe is now just another “expert” coming in and giving his opinion. He been there and done that. He’s worked in Human Resources and seen other employees in the same situation. Deblauwe really seems to know what he is talking about and infuses TANGLING WITH TYRANTS with his knowledge.Afraid to pick up any sort of self-help book because you don’t know if you want to invest the time and energy into reading it when you already have a ridiculously busy schedule? Well, TANGLING WITH TYRANTS is a short read at only 132 pages; it’s quick and concise. What this does is allow the individual to read through the book in a reasonable amount of time and then go back and focus on the sections that may have the most importance to the individual. I loved that part. With a longer book, sometimes by the time I get to the end I am ready to set it down and move to something else. With TANGLING WITH TYRANTS, though, I still felt energized at the end of the book and was able to go back and reread sections that I really wanted to study more in depth. In addition, Deblauwe’s writing is such that, in and of itself, it leaves one feeling energized. The words flow easily across the page and don’t seem to bog the message down.What really struck me as unique about TANGLING WITH TYRANTS was the ease of use the program seemed to hold. This isn’t something where you’re going to finish and be like, “Yeah right. That’s really going to happen.” Instead, everything Deblauwe discusses seems quite reasonable and I could actually picture myself trying his strategies while reading through the book. Aside from being information, TANGLING WITH TYRANTS is useful as well. If you’re in need of a self-help book and are going to spend your hard-earned money on one, usefulness is definitely an important trait to look for.TANGLING WITH TYRANTS definitely deserves a “Read it now!” rating. The information was informative and the strategies realistic. This is a book that anyone dealing with a tyrant for a boss is going to want to read. My thought was, why continue to struggle in a cruddy work environment? Why not do something to try and change it? ( )