Summary of Gorick Ng's The Unspoken Rules

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of Gorick Ng's The Unspoken Rules in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: No one tells you how to navigate your first day in a new role. No one tells you how to take ownership, manage expectations, or handle workplace politics. No one tells you how to get promoted.

The answers to these professional unknowns lie in the unspoken rules—the certain ways of doing things that managers expect but don't explain and that top performers do but don't realize.

The problem is, these rules aren't taught in school. Instead, they get passed down over dinner or from mentor to mentee, making for an unlevel playing field, with the insiders getting ahead and the outsiders stumbling along through trial and error.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Dec 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781952482953

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

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Insights on Gorick Ng's The Unspoken Rules

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

You can apply these rules to your career by observing and learning from the people around you, and by asking for what you want and deserving it.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

Your job is to convince your managers, coworkers, and clients that they should answer Yes! to all three questions: can you do the job well, are you excited to be there, and are you compatible with each other.

#2

Competence means being able to do your job without being micromanaged, and without making others look bad. It implies not underperforming to the point of looking incompetent, and not overperforming to the point of looking arrogant.

#3

Your actual competence still matters, but your perceived competence can be just as important. Managers often rely on inputs, like how much progress you make on a project, to judge your competence.

#4

Being enthusiastic is key to being liked by others. You don’t want to overshoot being enthusiastic, though, because that makes you seem aggressive.

#5

Being committed does not always mean that people perceive you to be committed. Little things, like arriving late to meetings, not volunteering for tasks, not speaking up enough, or not replying to emails as quickly as your coworkers do, can reflect poorly on your commitment.

#6

Being compatible means making others feel comfortable and wanting to be around you. You don’t have to fake anything, and you don’t have to over- or under-sell yourself.

#7

The workplace is not a level playing field. For some, competence is expected; for others, incompetence is expected. For some, commitment is assumed; for others, commitment is questioned. For some, compatibility is effortless; for others, compatibility is tiresome.

#8

You are unique, and that is what makes you so special. Your