HTBU has been described as "smart" (Chicago Tribune), "engaging" (The Washington Post), "helpful" (New York magazine), "frequently hilarious" (The Guardian), "pretty terrific" (January magazine), "sharp [and] witty [and] brimming with advice" (Minneapolis Star Tribune), "odd" (The Montreal Gazette), "fortuitous" (Utne Reader), and "clever and, as the title promises, useful" (Newsweek).

How to Be Useful is out now from Houghton Mifflin. It’s about working as a corporate underling. The inspiration was my time spent as a peon in book publishing, but if I’ve achieved what I set out to do, the book carries relevance beyond my immediate experience. (Because, honestly, who cares?)

It has an irreverent tone, but its aims are painfully earnest — to help other young mystified souls navigate the choppy waters of organizational life. How to Be Useful is, ultimately, about upward mobility, class, ingratiation, storming the gates, being kind, being deliberate, and why ambition is good.