If Sun Tzu had written career advice and been born in a galaxy far, far, away, then Be More Vader: Assertive Thinking From The Dark Side is the book might have written. You know if it wasn’t for the fact that he was an ancient Chinese military strategist and general who wrote the seminal text on military tactics.
High praise indeed you might say, could this really be the Star Wars equivalent to The Art Of War for would-be business leaders? Well, maybe not but that doesn’t stop this fabulous little book being the perfect gift for would-be rulers of the Empire. A tongue in cheek guide to climbing the career ladder, Be More Vader takes you from interviewee to seasoned leader in 25 pieces of advice from the dark side.
From “Perfect your interview technique” to becoming a leader you are guided through the labyrinth of professional pitfalls with advice guaranteed to make you the Darth of your workplace.
The double-page spreads for each nugget of guidance, have a still from one of the Star Wars movies on the left, with a quote underneath. Opposite in the advice couched in such a way that it is equally applicable to start-up or death star.
In order to make Be More Vader work as a guide to your career journey, the chronology had to take a back seat. For some hard-core Star Wars fans, the fact that the images and quotes do not follow the chronological order of the movies may be a problem. However, I feel Darth Vader would have ultimately approved. After all, he did say:
You are free to use any methods necessary
Even though this is a book with its feet firmly planted in the fun camp, the pieces of advice are pretty much what you might find in any other career guide. It’s just that in this book the advice has rather more references to Jedi Knights, the Empire, and mind control than the average “How to get ahead at work” guide.
With that in mind, if you want to take your career from disposable stormtrooper to all-powerful, corporate Darth, then Be More Vader is the perfect book to guide you.
Disclosure: I received the item(s) featured in this article for free in exchange for a review on this site. I only recommend products I personally use or would be happy to use and believe would be suitable for my readers. All opinions are my own, and the points of view in this post were not influenced in any way by the sponsor.
