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Don't forget "The 50th Law", a book he co-authored with 50-cent, available at a fine bookseller near you. Why bother with Machiavelli when you can get it with a hip-hop twist.

I'd recommend the book 33 Strategies of War, by Robert Greene.

I think it does what you're trying to accomplish - winning conflicts. The book's philosophy is to be like Athena, not Ares. You don't want bloodlust, but you do want to be just aggressive enough to win conflicts, and yet not put others off. The solution to many conflicts is not just confrontation, but things like alliances and other unconventional warfare. Sometimes you want to win wars without firing a shot. You have boxing training, and learning to be patient while being punched in the face lends you to more options.

The first chapter/strategy is to Declare War. It's good to let go of grudges. But sometimes, something is just getting in the way, slowly chipping away at you. You have to commit to a war until you either win or lose. You shouldn't just try to win a single battle, but rather win or lose several battles in a sequence where you wouldn't have to fight any more battles. Sometimes you just want to establish yourself as a porcupine and discourage them from bullying you.

On a slightly different path is The 50th Law, also by Robert Greene, which is an annotated biography of 50 Cent, and how he built a persona to survive in a violent world.

There's training that could help you too. A lot of leadership/teaching training removes fear of embarrassment, though they're usually not cheap. You'd have to find a very outspoken trainer, someone who resembles Tony Robbins, not your typical consultant in a suit.

In the book "What I wish I knew when I was 20", the Author brings forth a similar point, stating that doing what you love as a standalone piece of advice isn't that helpful, but a widely held conception. What she advocates is to attempt to find the intersection of "what you love" and "what people are willing to pay you for".

From another point of view, Robert Greene tries to mount the horse from the other side, in his book "The 50th Law", where he brings forth that the mastery of any skill at a sufficient level will make you love that skill (kinda like Intellectual Stockholm Syndrome). So there are arguments from the other side as well.

If we are to follow Greene's train of thought, most work can be made enjoyable through an unhealthy dose of obsession.

On the question whether people are sucessful because they are obsessed, I personally think that it's a contributing factor. The existence of people that are obsessed but not sucessful seems to prove that obsession does not lead directly to sucess, but most people I consider sucessful posess some element of obession.

I actually tend to group people by obsession, for example Tim Feriss, Robert Greene, Neil Strauss, Cal Newport, Stephen Key,Perry Marshal etc. by their obsession for different kinds of Systems.

Robert Greene's books: The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, The 33 Strategies of War, The 50th Law, and The Laws of Human Nature.

Stealing the Corner office by Brendan Reid

Assorted works of Niccolo Machiavelli and Balatazar Gracian.

It will be hard to impossible to make transition even after reading these books, but at least you can detect and avoid problems at work. Or at best set up a firewall around you.

Lastly expecting goodness from people is wrong. The fact of the matter is people are bad and do what is good in their interests even if it hurts the whole world, be prepared, be ready and have means to take care of yourself.