Guest Post by: CRayChapman

Waiting at the top of the Corporate Ladder is the Corner Office. In Scott Aylward & Pattye Moore’s new book, Confessions from the Corner Office: 15 Instincts That Will Help You Get There, the corner office is the metaphor – and often real destination – for having achieved success. Learning and practicing the behaviors needed to reach your goals is the key.

Presenting such “soft skills” as sharing the spotlight (“Of Course I Want Your Opinion – As Long As It Is the Same As Mine”) and finding your voice (“Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace and Possibly Your Career”), the fifteen chapters each discuss a single skill, or “instinct”, that the authors believe are the “attitude instincts” and “performance instincts” that can help you reach your goals.

Aylward and Moore didn’t have MBAs or inside contacts to get them to the top echelon of corporate America, but the instincts they present in Confessions helped gain them impressive positions at their respective companies and, ultimately, their own company, INSTINCTS, LLC.

Aylward was named president, CEO, and finally chairman of Barkley, Evergreen and Partners, one of the 50 largest ad agencies in the U.S. under his leadership. Moore was executive vice president, a member of the board of directors for publicity, and president of Sonic Corp., the Forbes ranked franchisor for a chain of drive-in restaurants.

However, don’t let the impressive resumes fool you. While the achievements clearly give the authors credibility, they never forgot their audience. Confessions is written in a very relaxed, casual manner and is filled with personal and often humorous stories illustrating real examples of successful and unsuccessful applications of each instinct.

Unfortunately, some of their attempts at humor fell flat. Each chapter begins with an “opening dialog” between the two authors. I’m sure the intent was to illustrate their relationship through some witty banter and to increase their approachability, but frequently the effect was too relaxed and Pattye reads as rather uptight and humorless through the first half. This impression lessens as the reader understands more about the authors and their relationship, though.

The book also runs into a bit of trouble with the ordering of its chapters. Through Chapter 6, the reader is engaged. I loved it. Like Veruca Salt, I wanted a “corporate soul mate,” and I wanted one NOW! Then I read Chapter 7, “9 to 5 Was Just a Movie.” The second paragraph tells the reader that, in order to achieve their dreams, they need to devote up to 60 to 65 hours or more to their career and refers to the “politically correct movement” to work fewer hours, thus making time for themselves and “others” (read: family & friends).

I understood the intent as the book encourages finding work that you love and thereby don’t mind working long hours; however, the implication is that not devoting this time will keep you from your dreams. The introduction even describes the instincts as “critical” to achieving the corner office. But do I, the reader, even want dreams that can only be achieved by such sacrifice?

The last chapter addresses this question by telling the reader to create a work-life balance, but by then the reader has started to wonder if their goals, and this book, is for them. The book would have been much better served by placing this chapter first. Confessions suffers, not from bad content or writing, but from lazy editing. Besides the aforementioned pages, which should have been rewritten, reordered, and/or removed, the overall arrangement of the book results in a disjointed read.

This is a disservice. Confessions presents many useful tips to help you succeed and does so in a genuinely unique voice and style. Some of the ideas are similar to those touted in other business books, but while many of these use fictional stories and parables to illustrate their points (Ken Blanchard’s books are one example), Aylward and Moore support their “instincts” with real-life tales of success and, more interestingly, failure.

The “instincts” themselves are all very insightful. The chapter “Get Married Again – Your Spouse Won’t Mind” talks about the concept of a “corporate soul mate,” and could very well change the course of your career. It’s also the one I’ve begun to initiate in my own life. This book is sure to provide readers with valuable ideas that could change their careers, as well.

Organizational problems aside, Confessions from the Corner Office: 15 Instincts That Will Help You Get There is a great book that offers some wonderful and useful tips that help you navigate your way to the corner office with two successful business leaders as your guide.

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