The Compromise Trap How to Thrive at Work without Selling Your Soul [Paperback]

Healthy compromise is necessary for accomplishing any meaningful goal with other people. But when your job presses you to betray your word, your principles, or other important commitments, it becomes profoundly unhealthy and deeply stressful. And it can happen even while working for an organization or leader you otherwise respect and admire.

Elizabeth Doty offers the antidote: redefining the game. When you feel pressured to play by rules that undermine your integrity, Doty shows how you can tap into six personal foundations that will allow you to stay true to your deepest values and aspirations. Through more than fifty vivid firsthand accounts of compromise and courage in business, she provides guidance for anyone at any organizational level who wants to act with greater clarity, strength, and purpose, as well as for senior leaders striving to lead organizations that allow people to remain true to themselves.The Compromise Trapdetails a strategy that enables you to remain a positive force—for yourself and whatever you define as the greater good—no matter how difficult the circumstances.Foreword
Introduction
1. The Compromise Trap
Healthy and Unhealthy Compromise
Healthy and Unhealthy Pressure
Which Game Shall I Play?
The Compromise Trap
Playing a Bigger Game
Personal Foundations
Thriving at Work without Selling Your Soul
2. A Devil’s Bargain by Degrees
An Appreciative Inquiry into the “Dark Side” of Work
General Pressure to Conform
Routine Pressure to Compromise
Making a Deal with the Devil
How Does Playing a Smaller Game Become the Compromise Trap?
How Do You Know If You’re in the Compromise Trap?
Freeing Yourself
3. Ten Misconceptions about Compromise at Work
Misconception 1: Compromise Is Always Healthy
Misconception 2: Good Companies Don’t Create Unhealthy Pressure
Misconception 3: Unhealthy Pressure Is the Leader’s Fault
Misconception ls’