career16 MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2004

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BY KATHERINE BOYDSpecial to amNewYork

Career Warfare: 10 Rules forBuilding a Successful PersonalBrand and Fighting to Keep It

By David D’AlessandroMcGraw-Hill, 2004

The Gist: A successful CEOgives solid advice on how torise to the top.

Lowdown: Despite theprovocative title, “CareerWarfare” is not about taking atire iron to your professionalrivals like Tonya Harding in abusiness suit. Instead,D’Alessandro suggests youbuild and maintain your brand(or “character”) through goodmanners, taking chances,keeping it real and making theboss happy.

Tone: Your wise, charming,witty uncle takes you underhis wing for a few hours.

Highlights: D’Alessandropunctuates each idea with areal-life, often personal andalways hilarious story.

Best anecdote: Just as he’sabout to receive a highly cov-eted promotion and raise, ayoung D’Alessandro pukes allover his boss’s boss.

Drawbacks: Be prepared tospend a few sleepless nightsagonizing that you’ve alreadyinadvertently torpedoed yourown brand.

Nugget of wisdom: Takingan old-fashioned numberfrom mom, D’Alessandrosums up a major point aboutgetting ahead: “do the kind,polite, discreet, dignifiedthing whenever you can.” Somuch for career warfare.

Who should read it: A must-read for beginning and mid-career professionals in anyfield. Older professionalsmight want to read it for thechapter on dealing with themedia.

Name: Laura BenkoAge: 34Position: Feng Shui Consultant

What do you do? I go into people’s homesand businesses and I helpthem create a healthy envi-ronment that supports theirlife goals.... I walk throughtheir home from the frontentrance on in, looking at itin many different levels. I’mlooking at the aesthetics ofdesign. I’m looking at thebalance of the elements,position of furniture, theflow of energy. And I’m alsolooking into eliminating theharmful bio effects fromelectromagnetic fields.

Is a certificate required topractice?Not necessarily.

How did you pick this field?After being diagnosed witha life-threatening blood dis-ease, I left my job to thinkabout my life’s purpose andtreat my illness through

She’ll get your life in orderHOW TO BE A ... MASTER OF FENG SHUI

JOBPROFILE alternative means. Thebook, “Feng Shui andHealth: The Anatomy of aHome,” by NancySantoPietro, literally fell onme as I walked through thebookstore one day. Afterreading the book and mak-ing changes in my home, Ifelt this immediate and pro-

found difference. Shortlyafterward, I found out theauthor was giving a lecture.I attended and was inspiredby [her] work. I contactedher office and asked if Icould work for her inexchange for going throughher training program. After

working for her for over ayear, I decided to start myown consulting firm.

What do you enjoy mostabout your job?I have looked at hundredsof floor plans and it neverceases to amaze me how thechallenges that the occu-pant faces are clearly indi-cated to me in the imbal-ances I see in their sur-roundings. I love being ableto help people create a bal-anced, harmonious andhealthy environment wherethey immediately feel a dif-ference and are greatlyaffected by their newlyadjusted space. The posi-tive feedback from clients Ihave helped has been quiterewarding.

Any advice for people inter-ested in your field?If you feel this is your call-ing, I highly recommendtraining directly with thehandful of masters in thisfield, diversify your mentors,study every day and followyour intuition. (Mina Hochberg)

You don’t have to fightto get those top jobs

NINE TO FIVEQ. My pay stub has analphabet soup of cate-gories like FICA and FIT.What’s it all about?A. Two categories everybodywill see on their pay stubs areFICA and OASDI, said SamKerch, a tax research analystwith Symmetry Software ofScottsdale, Ariz. FICA, whichstands for the FederalInsurance Contributions Act, isthe line for the 6.2% of yourwages that goes to SocialSecurity. The employer isrequired to make a matchingcontribution.

OASDI — which stands forOld Age, Survivors andDisability Insurance but is bet-ter known as Medicare —takes 1.45% of wages, andalso gets an employer match-ing contribution.

The next most common cate-gories cover taxes, Kerchsaid. These include FIT forfederal income tax, sometimeslisted simply as “federal” or“fed,” and SIT for stateincome tax, which also can berendered as “state” or “st.” Insome states, employees willalso see a line for SDI, whichstands for state disabilityinsurance. (AP)

Be nice to the crewMean managers sometimes get pies in their facesBY PATRICIA ELIOT TOBIASSpecial to the Los Angeles TimesDave Barry once said, “Aperson who is nice to you,but rude to the waiter, is nota nice person.” The businessequivalent is: “A managerwho is nice to clients butindifferent, unpleasant orunfair to the staff is not agood manager.”

Which leads us to the verypublic troubles of MarthaStewart and Michael Eisner.Academics long ago learnedthat companies and businessleaders fared better whenthey created positive, con-firming corporate cultures.

A confirming culture is onein which employees feel val-ued. If you say, “I just turnedin my project,” a confirmingresponse might be: “That’sgreat! You worked hard.”

People who receive con-firming responses tend tohave better morale, workharder and longer, don’t jump

ship, take fewer sick days andare more productive.

But far too often, managersoffer a “disconfirming” re-sponse: ignoring you, cuttingyou off in midsentence, chan-ging the subject, being con-descending, reacting ambigu-ously, etc. The subtext is thattheir time, their lives aremore important than yours.

When moguls Stewart andEisner required help, thepeople they needed were the

ones they had demeaned.The assistant who was treat-ed rudely by Stewart was will-ing to testify against her. Theemployees and shareholdersat Disney made it clear thatEisner’s regime needed tochange.

Managers and corporateleaders should be as account-able to their subordinates asthey are to the annual report.Otherwise, no one will catchthem when they stumble.