The Dung Beetle Manager Reviewed By Amy Lignor Of Bookpleasures.com
- By Amy Lignor
- Published November 28, 2009
- Business
Amy Lignor
Reviewer Amy Lignor: Amy is the author of a historical fiction novel entitled The Heart of a Legend, and Mind Made, a work of science fiction. Presently, she is writing an adventure series set in the New York Public Library, as well as a teen fiction series, The Angel Chronicles. She is an avid traveler and has been fortunate to have journeyed across the USA, where she has met the most amazing people, who truly bring life and soul to her books. She lives in the Land of Enchantment (for now) with her gorgeous daughter, Shelby, her wonderful Mom, Mary, and the greatest friend and critic in the entire world - her dog, Reuben
View all articles by Amy LignorAuthor: Scott W. Dunlap
ISBN:
978-1-4327-4416-8
Click Here To Purchase The Dung Beetle Manager
Wow! A book that was expressly
written for me. I guarantee you a great many readers out there
will think that Mr. Dunlap knows our workplaces intimately and has
been following us around during our daily grind, watching the piles
of dung that are left behind by the higher echelon of executives for
us middle managers to clean up. Let me explain. If you're
a romantic at heart, you believe that Stephenie Meyer knows you to a
T (although why you'd all want to date a dead guy, I'll never know.)
If you are an adventure lover, than Spielberg and Ford have given you
movies to glom on to. And if you are a trekkie, or wish to live
in the world that is stippled with stars, not only do you have
thousands of books, but you also get conventions where you can dress
up to look like the strangest creation in the universe. And
here..with this book...there is finally a person in our universe who
says, enough! With his chapters he will not only explain why
and how the excutives, on a daily basis, can leave the huge piles of
dung right there on your desk, but he will also explain the
strategies that us "lower ladder rung people" need to learn
and understand in order to identify the various types of dung and how
to clean it up to the best of our ability.
If you read
any of my reviews, you will know that I live on sarcasm. In
fact, I believe that all truth in the universe can be found in the
complete and utterly attractive brains of the people who use sarcasm
to live their daily lives. Because, frankly, without sarcasm we
take ourselves too seriously and then we're in trouble. We
might as well all go into politics and be done with it.
The
chapters of this book begin with the author's remembrances of his
childhood in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, and tells of the wonderful,
gas-inducing foods of the deep south. This chapter is titled
Poospiration and is, quite frankly, a stellar way to begin any
story. In fact, it tells of the underlying principle of life:
No matter how bad yours smells, someone elses' always smells worse.
And the ones who smell worse? Yes, these are the ones who will
become your boss someday. The author also mentions politics and
war. Saltpeter was the primary ingredient in gunpowder that was
needed during the wars that formed our country. In the 1700's,
the primary source of saltpeter was organic animal refuse.
Thereofre, during that time, there were actual poop collectors
working for the government and military. Now, as we all know,
politicians and other government officials no longer need to collect
the piles anymore; our politicians come already armed with their own
bags and bags of...poop.
The reader is also
introduced to the rules of dung. I won't tell you all of them,
because you NEED to go out and buy this book and read it in the
silence of your own home. (Not only will your life be better
for it - but you will have a fantastic conversation to bring up at
the dinner parties of people you don't really like). My
favorite rule written in this book is #4. "Dung beetles
have to eat to live. Put another way, if you find yourself
always on the poop delivery side of the equation you will not
survive...You have been exposed to executives and managers who seem
to do nothing proactive or positive, and eventually move on..."
In other words the shelf life of the people who only "make"
the dung is about thirty-six months - because you have to roll in it
too. Your hands can't stay clean if you want to keep your
job.
Oh, and, of course, the one we all should live by:
"One person's 'dung' is another person's fertilizer."
Read this book. It's like winning a free session with Sigmund
Freud.