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Lion Taming
Book

Lion Taming

Working Successfully with Leaders, Bosses, and Other Tough Customers

Steven L. Katz
Sourcebooks, 2004
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Recommendation

Imagine these scenarios: Your corporate leaders are always "difficult." You butt heads with your superiors and even your clients. As a middle manager, you have trouble figuring out what the boss wants. You seem to fight too much with your spouse. If any of these examples are familiar, you need to learn how to tame the "lions" in your life. Using analogies from training actual lions in the circus ring, author Steven L. Katz shows you how to work with human lions - people who demand dominance and control - from a bossy supervisor to a stubborn spouse. This is intended to be a textbook for the study of human psychology and interaction. Though you might wish it were a little deeper, the jungle beast analogy keeps it interesting. getAbstract.com recommends it to those who want to learn how to stand their ground in business, politics or modern day culture.

Summary

The Lion Personality

Many bosses achieve their positions because their "lion" personalities drive them to take charge. Workplace lions value and desire power and influence, and when they attain authority they wield it skillfully. They have an innate need to dominate and to push their organizations forward into different ways of thinking. They do what they must to mark and control their territory - the area where they exercise power and influence - and they fight to protect it. Lions value their social standing and will act fiercely to protect their status in the hierarchy.

Lions think and act instinctively, which usually serves them well. However, one of their instincts is to treat all newcomers - including you - as potential threats to their dominance. Everyone is either their enemy or their prey, and you do not want to become either. Yet, if you are neither enemy nor prey, your boss may simply ignore you. That’s fine in the animal kingdom, but it can kill your career.

Lions don’t enjoy analyzing. Instead, they take in tons of information, process it rapidly and adapt their thinking. They react quickly, and they may not make the right decision the first time...

About the Author

Steven L. Katz has spent more than 20 years as an advisor to executives in business, government and nonprofits. He holds degrees in law, history and anthropology.

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