Hustad, 34, culled from every inspirational book she could find, talked to all kinds of experts and then penned this amusing, enlightening and funny book.

“Start paying attention to how you treat cashiers,” she says. “If you want to be successful in the long run, you need to start worrying more about other people. You need to not just treat them well and express interest in them but make up your mind that to the extent possible, whoever you’re talking to, whether it’s your boss or cab driver, will feel better after having encountered you than they did five minutes earlier.”

Advice Hustad wishes she had gotten when she was 22?

• If you’re not naturally perky, start practicing. “Happy people—people who are quick to smile, easy to make laugh—rise faster in corporate environments. If you act sardonic, you’re flirting with permanent support- staff status.”

• Chill on the critiques. “You think your ability to skewer pretensions makes you sound clever and incisive, when it really just makes you sound snotty.”

• Beat the boss to the office: “Everyone I interviewed told me that this was expected. But no one was informed ahead of time. They learned the hard, getting-chewed-out- by-the-exasperated-bosses way.”

• Share knowledge. “Strategic moves made in your mid-career 30s will involve colleagues you befriended as a twenty-something. If you’re too shy, secretive or hypercompetitive, you severely limit your future options.”