"Serenity Now". . - WIP - Throwing the Elephant: Zen and the Art of Managing Up - Brief Article - book review

Automotive Design & Production, April, 2002 by Gary S. Vasilash

As viewers of Seinfeld may recall, when the world became too much For Frank Costanza, he would repeat the mantra "Serenity Now." Clearly, the Folks on the show were making a light jibe at those people who believe that mantras can solve problems. (It surely didn't solve Frank's.)

Stanley Bing, columnist For Fortune, author of the generally disturbing/amusing What Would Machiavelli Do?, and one of the few novelists who has ever used graphs and charts to propel the story (Lloyd: What Happened), has written a new "guidebook," Throwing the Elephant: Zen and the Art of Managing Up (HarperBusiness; $20.95).

While there have been what are ostensibly "business" books that look at the subject through the lens of characters ranging from Attila the Hun to Dogbert, why a zen-oriented send-up is au courant is something that I clearly don't get.

The "elephant" of the title is one's boss, especially if one works directly for the CEO of a Fortune 50 company. Consequently, For all but a Few hundred people, the book has to stand on its merits of potential amusement and accidental insight. As For the Former:

"You are an empty vessel. You are a medium through which things pass. You are nothing. "What a relief!" and as for the latter: "Your job is to do your job. Keep going!" One more thing: "Serenity Now."