The Ape in the Corner Office: Understanding the Workplace Beast in All of Us

By Richard Conniff

Book Overview

Tired of swimming with the sharks? Fed up with that big ape down the hall? Real animals can teach us better ways to thrive in the workplace jungle. You're ambitious and want to get ahead, but what's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 140005219X
• ISBN13: 9781400052196
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Crown Business
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.3" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

A Must Read For everyone!!!

This book was selected by the teacher (American Lit) for my son's summer reading. I was flabbergast by the name but as I read a few pages, I get to find out the APE is a replica of the real "working world" we're living in. I encourage everyone to read it along with your children...you/they will learn alot through this book. Enjoy!!!

As much fun as an office full of monkeys

I've seen Conniff's work before in some documentaries he did for National Geographic. His loving look at praire dogs being sucked into giant praire dog sucking machines, all seen through a special 'dog cam' inside the machine, should give you some idea of his sensibility. It's all true, it's all facts and it provides a perspective on the larger world- but it's also hilarious. He balances the right mix of anecdote with hard facts to produce an accessible and breezy book that says some very disturbing things about our close relationship to the animal world, and what we're really doing in our day to day interactions at the office. But if you are in fact a monkey, my friend, the gig is up.

A fun read and one that will make you think

I liked this book so much I did an interview with the author on my podcast, The Invisible Hand.

The Great Ape

This book is an excellent treatment of how we behave in organizations. The comparisons and metaphors to apes, tribes and others in the animal kingdom provides a terrific lens through which we can view all sorts of corporate behavior. As a management consultant and executive coach, I am always looking for unique and interesting ways to teach my clients new approaches for performance improvement and organizational effectiveness. Conniff's book gives you all that and more.

Great resource!

The Ape in the Corner Office is an interesting, entertaining and often too truthful a read. It appears we cannot divest ourselves fully from our instinctual ancestors, the Ape and even the Rat. We share too much biological similarities.Richard Conniff has researched and written a credible account of how our ancestral behaviors play an important role in establishing and maintaining a sense of safety, social hierarchy, community and competitive advantage. This could be a terrifying thought, yet, Conniff's storytelling ability, vast business experience (reads like a who's who in business), well-cited research and humor serves to pacify the reader, at least momentarily. As a trainer and speaker I want to beware The Ape in the Corner Office, lest I become buffaloed by a passive, yet, hostile audience. This is a book I will return to for insights anytime I see the furry face rising in either myself or others. Conniff candidly shares how his behaviors have at times prevented him from endearing the client and gaining the contract. His advice: if you are going to let your beast roar, compete or fight consciously, be aware of the risks, rewards and lasting implications your instinctual behavior may have. The book is entertaining, thought provoking and a useful tool for people who want to know the human and beastly side of their business. And we are not out of the woods. Just because humans have verbal communication, a relatively newly acquired form of communication, it only serves to cover up our more instinctual responses. Despite polite words and social appropriate manner it is still our nonverbal communications that reveals the truth. Armchair Interviews says, after you read The Ape in the Corner office, you'll have a pen handy to jot down any of the great contacts and resources the author gives you to navigate the river of commerce that runs through your office jungle.