Customer Reviews

Throwing the Elephant: Zen and the Art of Managing Up

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The elephant referred to in this title of this witty and joyfully manipulative little book is your boss, the powerful but lumbering and self-involved authority figure that Fortune columnist Stanley Bing believes is comfortably ensconced in your company's corner office. Bing begins his manual on the care and feeding of these "business elephants" with the admonition that people don't get to choose their bosses; like the weather or gravity, bosses exist as laws of nature that exceed the control of the mere mortal mosquitoes that hover about them. "Throwing the Elephant" is likely to become the kind of book that people start reading because it makes them laugh and end up giving to their friends because there's so much to learn from it. While it's a little lopsided to see the boss/employee dynamic as exclusively a power-based relationship, there's still a lot of wisdom about corporate life packed into this little book, which, like the "Dilbert" cartoons, succeeds in suggesting aspects of workplace culture that almost everyone can relate to. Now, of course, someone needs to write a book for the elephants, telling them how to deal with those pesky mosquitoes who keep buzzing around them, clamoring for attention and drinking up their lifeblood. I also highly recommend another little book of wisdom titled "Open Your Mind, Open Your Life" by Taro Gold which has helped me greatly deal with the elephants in my life!

I discovered this great book after starting my own business, having left my cubicle at a large wireless telecom firm only a few months prior. I wish I had read it while at that miserable job. It would have helped me to that perfect state of blissful not-caring that I tried so hard to achieve. For someone who is passionate about what they do, is professional, wants to accomplish something in life (besides kissing someone's a**), this book also helps you realize that unless you want to live in that state, maybe Corporate America isn't for you. The book also reveals exactly what is wrong with the state of corporations today--they are run by big fat egos-- that are truly overpaid, get bonuses for losing money, and don't go to jail even when they steal from their own employees. So thank you Stanley Bing for your clever insights and reinforcing my decision. Keep 'em coming.

"Throwing the Elephant" deals with the situation that the majority of us have had to face at one point or the other...just exactly what do we do with this great big elephant (read: manager) that is towering over us? Throuout the book you will find tales of the Buddha fast forwarded into the modern day in support of the ideas that the author wishes you to learn in order to deal with the elephant at hand. The topics range from how to prepare yourself for the first meeting with the elephant, keeping the elephant well fed, and even how to deal with your own inner elephant. While I do have some experience with Zen in other areas, the lessons that are given throughout the book are easily grasped regardless of any familiarity with the concepts behind Zen.

While this book is focused primarily on the elephants that you encounter in your work a day world, the information is helpful in any situation where you may encounter elephants in your life. If you are looking for a quick read that will have you laughing to yourself, while learning how to deal with elephants and still maintain a sense of calm and serenity, then this book is for you.

If you read Stanley Bing's regular column in Fortune magazine, you know what a wonderful way he has of capturing the idiosyncracies of the corporate world, and letting those of us who don't occupy a corner office in on the real reality of our daily lives.

No doubt Bing is funny, and this book will sometimes have you wondering if he's really joking -- you will certainly be able to relate his humorous stories to some situation of your own. The true gift of "Throwing the Elephant" is that it offers us "corporate monks" what it is we really need -- some humor in our work lives, and the permission to laugh at the randomness of the world. And, of course, verification that the "elephants" we all serve are just as crazy sometimes as we really think they are.

But be forwarned -- this is no traditional "how to make it in business without really trying" book. Before reading, you must first have the ability not to take your position and work too seriously -- you must be able to prioritize the truly important things in life. As Bing whispers to us over the pages, that is where true wisdom and true success really come from.

The allegory of the herding of the ox appeared in English as long ago as 1934 in Alan Watts's first book: The Spirit of Zen: A Way of Life, Work and Art in the Far East. It has since appeared again and again in the literature of Zen Buddhism, but see especially D. T. Suzuki's Manual of Zen Buddhism. Here Fortune magazine columnist and sometime corporate cog and very funny guy, Stanley Bing brings us up to date on how the allegory might play out in the corporate structure. Instead of an ox that the boy innocent manages to tame, Bing gives us an elephant. And instead of taming one's inner self (which is the point of the ox herding story) one tames one's boss, who is after all but a dumb animal. However again, and very cleverly, Bing shows us that to tame one's boss or to tame one's self amounts to the same thing.

Curious. But true.

There is a kind of The Tao of Pooh meets Dilbert and Murphy's Law on the Way to Enlightenment, done up with the kind of side bars and shaded boxes and cute graphics that one finds in computer learning or "Dummie's" guides "feel" to this little gem. The design of the book is gorgeous, and the book itself is small enough even in hardcover to fit into a suit jacket pocket, should the need arise.

Bing's "Buddha Bullets" and other asides (scattered throughout) are sometimes funny, sometimes illuminating, and sometimes just plain dumb, but always in the Zen spirit of kicking the Buddha by the side of the road (should you meet him). His "portrait" of the elephant will amuse, delight and find ready acknowledgment by any who have ever served an elephant--powerful, inimitable, crude, primitive and cagey force that the elephant is. Remember, the elephant is BIGGER than you are, so it never hurts to kiss it up, fairly well sums up Bing's deep and strangely moving message.

The quotes at the beginning of each chapter from the Ten Ox Herding Paintings to, e.g., The Dhammapada, Groucho Marx, Dan Quayle and various CEOs--not to mention Mary Meeker, The Doors, and Mark Twain--blend together seamlessly so that curiously they become one in their wisdom or ironic lack thereof.

On a deeper level the elephant is the corporation itself, at once your master, your mother, your livelihood. Bring that broom and shovel and follow along as you must until, as Bing has it in the last chapter on page 196, you "become proficient in the Zen art of elephant handling." At such time, your heart "drained...of desire," your mind "emptied," you have the elephant on leash, and the elephant knows that is where he belongs (as the boy has the ox by the nose ring).

Some might say that the deeper meaning of the ox herding story is it serves as a guide to meditation, the ox being the recalcitrant mind of the boy who becomes a man. And so it is here: and so Bing advises as he ends the book: "sit down and don't think at all."

Bottom line: this is a deliciously clever idea beautifully realized.

I gave this book 3 stars instead of 2 because it really made me laugh. However, if you have been in corporate American for more than 5 years, you probably already know that "elephants" (Sr. Management) are self-centered weirdos, not normal people like you and me. And the best way to get by is to let them be what they are and ensure you simply manage around their craziness. If you are hoping for useful advice, seek elsewhere. For a funny read, enjoy this book.

I'm a big fan of Bing's column in Fortune, but I was a bit disappointed by this book. He offers his usual ironic insights on upper management -- but I found the entire zen-buddha framework somewhat forced and tiring. If you know a lot about "zen" philosophy, I'm sure you'll be able to appreciate more of the subtleties than I could. However, I mostly found myself reading quickly through the zen quotes and references, eager to get on to the more meaty actual business stories and anecdotes. Maybe it just wasn't the book for me. I look forward to some of Bing's other works, instead.

It must have been fun to write this book. It is much better than Mr Bing's What Would Machiavelli Do? There is more humor than knowledge in this one. Even if you are a Bing fan, I would suggest you borrow it from the library.

This book was worth the money for sure!! Awesome read and inspirational. Helps you get focused on what really matters in life.

What a great and original writer Stanley Bing is! The book was so clever, so right on, so insightful, so fun...and more. Thank you Stanley for your wonderful book!