An intriguing book we probably won't review in T+D

Here's a book you most likely won't be seeing reviewed in T+D magazine: How's Your AQ Today? Corporations Stripped Naked, by former IBM executive Ed Rychkun.

What does AQ stand for? So I wondered as I was skimming the press release, one of many that I received today. Let's just say the A is for a not-very-polite word for jerk. The Q is for quotient.

Despite the flippant title, the book seems to have some meat to it. According to the release, Rynchkun examines whether one of the major qualifications for a successful career is being a jerk. His answer seems to be yes.

The release reads, "An honest look at how to be a jerk and how to deal with upper management, Rychkun examines the social behavior of corporate culture and develops a
theory called the AQ...which measures the direct impact an AQ has on how fast one climbs or falls from the corporate ladder."

The book "reveals how the real professionals—the executives—use a set of secret tricks to hide their incompetence and maintain their positions of power within the corporate hierarchy."

Semi-retired, Rynchkun runs his own publishing company. More info on the book can be found at http://www.rrpbooks.com/aqtoday.htm.