Sub-titled “how to thrive in a world of lying, backstabbing and dirty tricks” this book aims to give you skills to survive corporate power games.

Among the gems are the fact that researchers have identified four components of office political skill : astuteness, effectiveness, networking and the appearance of sincerity. According to the author, there are three basic types of people at work: psychopaths, machiavels and narcissists.

The book paints a very cynical view of business and advises readers to be aware of the many dark arts in corporate life. The author, a psychologist, uses a variety of characters from his experience; some particularly unsavoury.

To improve your chances of thriving in this tough environment you need to develop key skills. One of the most important is the ability to act.

According to James, the more you can acknowledge you act and the more conscious you become about when and how you perform, the more authentic you can be. Ideally, acting is something you should do to achieve specific goals.

Simulated emotion or views do not necessarily mean you betray who you really are and they may be the only way of achieving your aim.