The Ape in the Corner Office

Understanding the workplace beast in all of us
Richard Coniff

Tired of swimming with the sharks? Fed up with that big ape down the hall? Real animals can teach us better way to thrive in the workplace jungle.

Almost everyone wants to get ahead. But what’s the best way to do it? Simple, naked Social Darwinism? Become the biggest, baddest predator? The proverbial 800-pound gorilla? Or does nature teach us to be more subtle and sophisticated?

Richard Coniff shows us in this book that nature taught us to be nice. Doing favours, sharing food, grooming coworkers with kind words and hot gossip, building coalitions – these aren’t just our best tools for getting ahead, they also come straight from the natural world. The stereotypical Darwinian hard-charger supposedly thinks only about accumulating resources. But highly effective apes know it’s often smarter to give them away. That doesn’t mean it’s a peaceable kingdom out there. Conflict and ugly issues of hierarchy abound but the author demonstrates how we can become more effective in our own lives by understanding how other species negotiate the tricky balance between conflict and cooperation.

“An entertaining safari through the commercial jungle, observing the habits of business apes as they swing from branch office to branch office.”
Desmond Morris, author of The Naked Ape

Award-winning journalist RICHARD CONNIFF is the author of six books, including The Natural History of the Rich: A Field Guide. He writes for National Geographic, Smithsonian, Atlantic Monthly and The New York Times Magazine.

978-1-904879-98-5
£12.99 PB
Rights: English language
Sales territory: World ex. N. America
June 2007