Corporation Man

the long version

The ultimate merging of The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris with The Manager's handbook by Arthur Young and considerably more entertaining and informative than either. This has been my bible since I first laid hands on it around 1972. It is witty, observant, educative, entertaining and has the endearing charm of being one of those books you can open at any page or chapter and dive right in or skim. If there is any negative criticism I might lay at its pages, it would be a lack of cross-indexing. But this being the 21st Century, I'm sure there is an electronic version with a word search. A tiny quote from the chapter entitled "When is a Leader not a Leader" illustrates perfectly why I love this book and why it has been my rock when I have been in a hard place:- ... the normal corporation interview [is] to me as 'about as scientific as a couple of dogs sniffing each other's arses'. That could ONLY be written by the man who later was to produce the extraordinary insight into British Politics and the Civil Service:- "Yes Minister" and "Yes Prime Minister".