Good Self, Bad Self: Transforming Your Worst Qualities into Your Biggest Assets

A prominent professional crisis manager who has helped numerous CEOs, politicos, and celebrities cope with their messy lives, Smith believes that the same traits that make people successful in their personal and business lives also get them into trouble. The root causes of most crises often lie in an imbalance in one of seven traits that make up the good self/bad self: ego, denial, fear, ambition, accommodation, patience, and indulgence. To make sure your defining traits work to your advantage, Smith tells readers to employ her mnemonic device, the POWER Approach: Pinpoint which trait is in play; Own that the trait can be good and bad; Work it through and process the role the trait has played in your life; Explore how the trait could play out in the future; and Rein in the trait to achieve balance and control. Smith applies her technique to such scenarios as how Johnson & Johnson’s successfully handled its tainted-drug crisis and actor Rob Lowe’s patience when a sex tape derailed his career. Although her case studies are instructive and much of Smith’s advice is sound, albeit familiar, her POWER Approach feels unwieldy and better suited to accompany her services as a crisis manager than as a do-it-yourself program. Agent: Rebecca Gradinger, Fletcher & Co. (Apr.)