This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I'm afraid I just didn't get it.

I understand the concept of satire, and this book hit that, however it just wasn't funny to me.

I related to a few items and laughed a couple of times - hence giving it two, not one out of five.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Mascot Books for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

How to Suck at Business Without Really Trying is, if it isn’t nakedly apparent from the title, a satirical text on breathtakingly bad business management.

Written in the style of a self-help business book, it’s designed to impart pearls of wisdom and innovative insights from a sociopathic entrepreneur who has grown their corporate empire from nothing.

These types of books, often penned by self-styled ‘LinkedIn Gurus,’ are ripe for parody and yet How to Suck at Business Without Really Trying falls flat. Amusing in parts, the book unfortunately leans into predictable satire that never truly evolves beyond the first joke.

This book is right between satire and an actual business book. Our narrator is an egomaniacal capitalist who shares his unfiltered view of business and leadership - think, if Michael Scott wrote a book very honestly, without even trying to seem smart or humble.

There is a self-awareness to the narrator that would normally make for a strong book, but for a book that's intended to be entirely satire, it would have been funnier if the narrator lacked all self-awareness at all - if he genuinely believed he deserved the most and owed nothing to anyone. As it is, the narrator occasionally winks at the reader - which leads us to ask 'if you know what you are, why are you like this?'

All in all, a quick read that will make you feel seen if you work in a dysfunctional office setting.

A fun satire on a business help manual for every terrible boss you knew in your life. The voice is very "The Office"-like, so I feel fans of that would especially like this book!