The Ape in the Corner Office
I was only a quarter of the way into this book when I realized what an effective manager my cockatiel is. He has clear goals (pasta! toast! you!), communicates them effectively (wheet! WHEET! WHE-WHEET!), and knows how to motivate staff (cooing, cute eyes, sheer bravado). Anyway, he gets results from his employees!
I would really like to read more books by Richard Conniff because of his keen observational skill and wry wit. With his vast experience observing animals and humans, he takes some of the stereotypes that we love to pepper our speech with (dog eat dog, monkey see monkey do) and relate human behaviour to mostly that of our primate cousins. It's not to suggest that when dealing with problem people, it's time to toss the psychology books and start pounding on one's chest, but more to realize that animals and people have a lot in common. Self-organizing behaviour, cliques, hierarchy, even economics - there's a lot of invisible things at work in human relationships that we might not even realize or unconsciously go along with. Much like the chimps mentioned in the book, people are constantly jockeying for status within their own troop, be it family or work.
It's hard to put this book into a nutshell, but there were so many theories I found fascinating. Studies of chimpanzees has shown that they are much better at making up than humans; vervets trained to use stones as money were noticeably ticked when one vervet was given a grape for his money (the others got cucumber); the smile is akin to the "I'm not a threat" grimace in chimps; and gossip is akin to social grooming in apes.
This book is not a self-help book; it can't solve certain problems like other tomes. Rather it is meant to decode people behaviour that is sometimes puzzling. My favourite chapters were actually near the end, such as overcoming "facial pre-destination", which us baby faced people know well, and "Why do jerks prosper". There's even a chapter on animal economics, which explains why piranhas don't go into feeding frenzies or lions don't jump at every antelope.
I would write more, but my manager is telling me to stop dawdling around on the Internets and give him a cracker, so I gotta go!
I would really like to read more books by Richard Conniff because of his keen observational skill and wry wit. With his vast experience observing animals and humans, he takes some of the stereotypes that we love to pepper our speech with (dog eat dog, monkey see monkey do) and relate human behaviour to mostly that of our primate cousins. It's not to suggest that when dealing with problem people, it's time to toss the psychology books and start pounding on one's chest, but more to realize that animals and people have a lot in common. Self-organizing behaviour, cliques, hierarchy, even economics - there's a lot of invisible things at work in human relationships that we might not even realize or unconsciously go along with. Much like the chimps mentioned in the book, people are constantly jockeying for status within their own troop, be it family or work.
It's hard to put this book into a nutshell, but there were so many theories I found fascinating. Studies of chimpanzees has shown that they are much better at making up than humans; vervets trained to use stones as money were noticeably ticked when one vervet was given a grape for his money (the others got cucumber); the smile is akin to the "I'm not a threat" grimace in chimps; and gossip is akin to social grooming in apes.
This book is not a self-help book; it can't solve certain problems like other tomes. Rather it is meant to decode people behaviour that is sometimes puzzling. My favourite chapters were actually near the end, such as overcoming "facial pre-destination", which us baby faced people know well, and "Why do jerks prosper". There's even a chapter on animal economics, which explains why piranhas don't go into feeding frenzies or lions don't jump at every antelope.
I would write more, but my manager is telling me to stop dawdling around on the Internets and give him a cracker, so I gotta go!