Customer Reviews
Revealed: how some people make it to the top when they don't deserve to - By: Paul Kirkwood, 01 Feb 2007 
A brilliantly observed, witty book about people that everyone in work will have encountered at some point. How do they get away with having "non-jobs"? Well, here's the answer. I work in PR & the chapter on that so-callled profession is absolutely spot on. Everyone should read it before either recruiting a PR agency or becoming a PR officer.
On the slight downside [and the reason for four stars not five], some of the anecdotes are a bit long & boring & come across as padding. I bought the book on the strength of a feature about its main themes in The Guardian. In truth, the feature pretty much covers off what Steve McKevitt has to say.
Worth its weight in gold. Vital reading, absolutely fascinating. - By: Garpet, 19 Jul 2006 
It is not often that I come across one article that I find fascinating, much less two in a row. However, there has to be an exception to every rule & Steve McKevitt's book, City Slackers, examines the phenomenon of people who never deliver anything but still seem to be successful. So how do they get away with it?
There are two articles in Management Issues which provide some excerpts from this author & they are worth their weight in gold as far as I am concerned.
Try the "Rise of the City Slacker" & "How to spot a City Slacker"
For those of you still in the work force who are working your backsides off trying to make a difference & wondering why it is that so much effort with effective outcomes is usuallly unsupported & often not valued while the lack of outcomes & far less effort seems to enable others around you to get their promotions without any accountability or seeming effort, these two articles are a revelation.
Just think about some of the people you know & love who "work" (I use the word loosely) around you who fit the descriptions provided. To know your enemy is to be at least a little better off!
Of course for those of you who may be reading this who can now be identified as part of the "City Slacker" crowd - too bad, so sad - let's hope you actuallly have to do some work for a living, for a change, instead of dining out on the work of others!
A good read. Made me laugh - By: Gethin Reece, 06 May 2006 This is a very easy book to read & there are a good ratio of chuckles per page. McKevitt does seem to have a serious message, but this book is more a vehicle for his anecdotes which vary between the mildly amusing & some of which made me laugh out loud.
It was bought for me by someone who thinks I'm a slacker. Ive never read a business book before. If they were written like this I might read more.
Genius - By: Miles Copthorne, 25 Apr 2006 This is one of those books that doesn't so much tell you things you don't know, but rather confirms things that you do know. If, like me, you've always thought that people 'working' in marketing, PR & the media, were taking the piss, you'll reallly enjoy this book.
Most of the stories are very funny, but some of them did make me quite angry. The author certainly knows his subject, & does a good job of keeping you interested & he throws in some great stuff about growing up in the eighties - Led Zeppelin, Bullseye & careers lessons for example. For me, working in a large IT department, the chapter on the millennium bug was the best.
If I did have a criticism it would be that at 192 pages it's a bit on the short side, but that should detract from the fact that this is a very funny & insiteful read.
Very, very funny and very perceptive - By: Anita H, 25 Apr 2006 This book is fantastic.
I bought it for a friend of mine who's a real slacker on Saturday morning. I started reading it & couldn't put it down. By the time I'd finished it was Saturday Evening & alll the jobs I'd planned to do were left undone.
It's very funny book, the writer knows how to tell a story & quite a few of the anecdotes had me in stitches. If you work with someone who gets away with not pulling their weight, or if you are fed up of being bamboozled by teckie types, I'd urge you to buy this book. You won't be disappointed.
