Filled with stories and advice, Surviving and Thriving at Work is a practical guide from attorney Eric Sirotkin's decades of counseling employees and litigating cases.
Develop creative skill sets to address challenges such as a demanding boss, a hostile work environment, a poor review, or unfair treatment. Become versed in your rights and learn how to resolve and diffuse conflict.
This important and easy-to-read resource demonstrates how to preserve your job and enhance relationships with both co-workers and bosses. Special chapters address effective communication techniques, litigation options, choosing a lawyer, and reducing stress, and include updated information on managing remote work and leave options in the COVID-19 era. A primer for anyone who works with others.
Attorney Eric Sirotkin assists employees, workplaces, and nations in navigating conflict in ways that enhance the health and well-being of all participants, stakeholders, and our planet. He trains lawyers to integrate wellness principles into their practices to benefit both themselves and their clients so that legal conflict becomes an opportunity for transformation and growth.
Since 1981 he's been engaged in complex litigation in cases against major multi-billion-dollar corporations, universities and governmental entities that have addressed constitutional violations, free speech rights, discrimination, fraud, racketeering, assault and battery, wrongful discharge, and breach of contract actions. He served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of New Mexico School of Law, holding classes in Labor Law and Modern Employment Law, taught dozens of continuing legal education (CLE) programs, and regularly guest lectures on campuses. He is the author of Witness: A Lawyer's Journey from Litigation to Liberation (White Cloud Press 2017) and Labor and Employment in New Mexico: A Desktop Guide to Employment Law (Lexis/Nexis 1994).
Around the world, he has spoken about ubuntu, peace and justice, and engaged in peacebuilding activities in India, Peru, Cuba, South Africa, Japan, Vietnam, North and South Korea, France, Canada, the Netherlands, and China. In 1991 he assisted with the new Constitution in South Africa, was a UN-sponsored election observer at President Mandela's election, and coordinated an international monitoring Project of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It was through this experience, and working with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, that he learned about the wisdom of ubuntu and interjected a new, more holistic method to his efforts to resolve conflict. Most recently, he spearheaded a Restorative Justice process to address reconciliation in Santa Fe after a monument was toppled by protesters. He continues to litigate and mediate COVID retaliation, discrimination, and wrongful discharge cases.
Eric co-founded the New Mexico Human Rights Coalition, the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission, the UbuntuWorks Education Project, the NLG Korean Peace Project, and is the Executive Producer of the award-winning film, "Committing Poetry in Times of War." In 1992, he was the recipient of the City of Albuquerque Human Rights Award.
"Eric Sirotkin does what only the very best lawyers can do—transform combat into co-creation, aggression into appreciation, and ultimately fear into love." - Gary Zukav, author of "The Dancing Wu Li Masters"
"Eric is my model for what attorneys should be, moral compasses and ethical mentors for navigating troubled waters. I celebrate this, his most recent contribution, and recommend it as a touchstone for realistic thinking when surrounded by biased shouting matches." - Will Wilkinson, author of "Now or Never" and "Thriving in Business and Life"
"The topic of Eric Sirotkin's most recent book has never been more relevant. Even as work becomes a more and more important and dominant part of the identity for most people, we feel less secure. There is a sense one can be fired with no notice and for no reason. That is contributing to a deep sense of unease among many Americans. Sirotkin provides helpful tools to understand how to thrive in that new landscape." - Ted Merz, former Global Head of News Product at Bloomberg LP
"Good advice for the workplace." - J. Kim Wright, Founder & CEO Cutting Edge Law Enterprises, author of "Lawyers as Peacemakers" and "Lawyers as Changemakers"
"Justice has always been a constant struggle and Eric Sirotkin exemplifies the type of lawyer activist that impacts hearts and minds and our world at large." - Paul Bardacke, former New Mexico Attorney General and mediator
"The depth and sincerity of Eric Sirotkin's commitment to equality and human rights never ceases to amaze me. His capacity to communicate this knowledge in such a spell binding, down-to-earth and easy-to-comprehend way is refreshing—a master in the art of reaching out and truly educating others." - Frank Miranda, former SNCC activist and Director of the New Mexico Human Rights Office
"Eric breaks new ground with his new book. Keen insights. A pleasure to read and extremely helpful to navigate negotiations at work." - David Wanetick, CEO IncreMental Advantage, and author of "The Strategic Negotiator: A Manual for Negotiating at the Elite Level"
"In a world driven by crass consumerism and conspicuous consumption, Eric Sirotkin is that rarest of creatures: an internationalist in every best sense of that word and a champion of selfless service to others. Eric is a grassroots intellectual with impeccable integrity. He is that rarest of lawyers, always being humble yet caring, placing his clients' cause foremost, imbued by a great work ethic, and by always being the consummate professional." - Johnny Delange, member of Parliament South Africa 1996–2016 and Chair of the Parliament Justice Committee
