When someone bugs you, it’s tempting to characterize that person as a jerk. But is the person truly a jerk, or is it just some aspect of the person’s behavior that’s annoying? What, actually, makes someone a jerk? Naomi Karten defines a jerk's characteristics and tells you how to deal with them.

If teammates or customers view you as a poor listener, it’s unlikely they’re going to tell you. Instead, they'll let their impression of you color their attitude toward you and their satisfaction with your work. But you can avoid that. Naomi Karten gives you advice on becoming a good listener.

You can’t avoid conflict at work. Once differences surface, a catalyst for serious conflict is the tendency for the parties to treat their differences as a zero sum game: For one party to win, the other has to lose. It doesn't have to be that way. Naomi Karten gives some tips for managing conflict.