Animals, Inc.: A Business Parable for the 21st Century (Hardcover)

~ Kenneth A. Tucker (Author), Vandana Allman (Author) "Scarecrow looked out protectively over the Goode Farm through his navy blue plastic button eyes..." (more)
Key Phrases: entire farm, Farmer Goode, Lionel Engine, Goode Farm (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Managers and small business owners who are overwhelmed by the number of business books on the shelves today should turn to this humorous business parable, which is delightfully dramatized by Ward. When Farmer Good decides to retire, his animals take on the business themselves. This proves to be no easy task, however, even for a seasoned pig like Moe. Moe makes his biggest mistake early on-he values the knowledge he gleans from business books over common sense. Moe sets up training classes, believing that any animal can fill any role with suitable education. Thus, the Scarecrow is promoted to egg production, and Chucky the crow fills the Scarecrow's old security position, which proves to be disastrous. All the while, one power-hungry land developer watches and waits for the farm to fail. The authors' message-use your common sense-is simplistic, but their characterizations are as memorable as Ward's performance. Ward has the uncanny ability to make listeners feel right at home with the animals on the farm, and he does an exceptional job of drawing out the humor in the text (his rendition of Piggy Banks's rap number is especially side-splitting). Enhanced by animal sound effects and snippets of folk music, this spunky farm fable will charm both adults and children.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Description

In the tradition of Who Moved My Cheese? and the Fish! series comes an entertaining and time-tested parable about how to maximize a business career around one's strengths. A group of animals with self-perceived shortcomings but great aspirations decides to attend school to become more well-rounded. But as the rabbit tries to swim, the pig tries to climb trees, and the others try to improve upon their 'weaknesses,' they end up frustrated and unhappy with each other. ANIMALS, INC. is a simple but powerful parable explaining a basic but vital business lesson: executives, managers, and employees need to focus on their strengths rather than spending too much time concentrating on their weaknesses. Gallup shows readers how.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Business Plus (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446530492
• ISBN-13: 978-0446530491
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #131,930 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I can't believe Gallop approved this book!, September 3, 2004

By	Organizational Consultant (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

Given the success of Gallop's other books, Now, Discover your Strengths and First Break all the Rules, I was excited to read their latest venture. A parable that teaches the lessons of their first two books sounded interesting. Unfortunately, the title is the only thing of interest.

Distilling wisdom through the ENDLESS puns and barnyard "humor" is near impossible. The countless jokes were unbearable -- and I use the word "jokes" lightly because it is so unfunny. Anyway, here's what I learned:

1) Reading books about management and running organizations is a waste of time, as the authors conceded that most books are "good for firewood." Funny, isn't this a book about management and running organizations? Hmmm...
2) 360-degree feedback is a waste of time, except for the fact that "it can get dang cold in January" and once again, you can use the reports for firewood. Also, they go into great detail, page after page, describing ridiculous animal competencies, then go on to use the report for role/job selection. WRONG! 360 should never be used for role/job selection. 360 is a developmental tool. However, in one sentence in the Epilogue, they say that 360 is useful on a limited basis, but never really explain or demonstrate how to use it or that they used it incorrectly to prove some unknown point.
3) Organizational Climate surveys...also a waste of time. But certainly not more so than pages of goofy questions with silly barnyard humor. (In the Epilogue, in one sentence, they say these surveys can be valuable. Incidentally, the only reason I got to the Epilogue was that I wanted to be fair when I wrote this review.)
4) Training to help develop new skills is a waste of time (OK. I get it. Let people do what they are best at. There, I just saved you from reading this book, as this is the only valuable sentence that I took away from the entire book. But of course, I already knew this because I read their first two books.)
5) Meditation and stress management are useless. This is sad because I know several people who meditate and they seem to manage their stress quite well.

This entire book was a great idea...then came the reality. I can almost see the authors laughing to themselves, saying, "let's see how many puns we can squeeze into one book." Animals Inc. was not aMOOsing, as the cow might say, EGGstremely informative as the chicken might say, or anywhere in the NEIGHborhood of being valuable, as the horse might say. If those jokes annoyed you, do not buy this book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing and what really is the message?, June 29, 2004

By	Mark F. Vincent (Brisbane Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Any blurb that says "humorous" has to be treated with caution. This book is mildly clever in places but one is left wondering what really is the 'takeaway'. Yes we all know that the right person is needed in the right job but how profound is that as a business lesson. Even "Who moved my cheese?" had more to offer than this somewhat trite attempt at a business parable. Give me books like "The obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive" and "Death by Meeting" any day.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally! A book that talks about common sense!, February 24, 2004

By	Joel R Carter (Canton, MI United States) - See all my reviews

Tucker and Allman do a masterful job in highlighting what is wrong with corporate America today. We have all watched countless companies jump from fad to fad in search of the next great competitive advantage, only to get lost in a sea of buzzwords which eventually causes them to lose their identity. Animals, Inc. presents this scenario in a humorous way that kept me laughing and, ultimately, will keep me from blindly accepting the next "revolutionary" business idea that consultants try to sell to my business. It was a great book, and a very quick, easy read.