Tiger at Home. New York: Kiplinger Books,

¶ … Tiger at Home. New York: Kiplinger Books, 1998.

In this age of the Internet and virtual rather than physical space, one might wonder -- who is buried underneath a barrage of magazines, documents, and papers? Barbara Hemphill would suggest quite a few individuals still want to get organized, paper-wise. However, don't be fooled by the idea that this book simply offers a glorified guide to closet organization of sorts, with an emphasis on paper or office filing. Rather, the author offers important and valuable assistance in determining which official papers and documents are important and which old papers are not important and should be discarded.

This is helpful in better understanding one's finances, income tax reports, and bank statements, as well as gaining insight and clarity through office aesthetics. Hemphill also offers insight into how becoming physically better organized at work can result in an individual becoming a more efficient and thus a more productive employee. A desk full of unnecessary clutter transmits the wrong message at work. It makes an employee seem burdened and unable to control or make sense of assignments. This image of lack of professionalism can result in fewer chances to gain plumb job assignments, even promotions and raises.

Hemphill suggests that the image one projects to the office and at home is just as important regarding one's desk and one's office space as well as one's personal appearance. This is particularly important for women to remember, since culturally women have been taught to focus more on how they look than what they say with other accoutrements of success. However, the executive suite isn't called the front office for no reason -- space and what one says with one's personal space communicates just as much, if not more than one's sense of organizational capabilities of one's attire and one's personal management skills on the job.