I’ve found Zen philosophy always offers a good kick in the head when it’s needed most. As applied in this book, the philosophy directs one away from trying to achieve control and focuses much more on the art of influence and perception. While less direct, it’s certainly still powerful when living in the realm of the absurd “elephants”, and it’s typically the only power you can expect to exhert on these beasts.

While I felt the last couple of chapters fell flat from being too vague and without any examples to back up the suggestions, I think it’s still worth a read.

While I’m still getting through it, this has been a really worthwhile read. Even though I’ve enjoyed applying Buddhist philosophy in business when possible, I’m typically critical of many of the “Zen” business books out there. This seems to hit the mark well when it comes to managing up.

The author makes great observations on the typical types of folks in management. The politics of managing up that the author describes are not those of backstabbing and climbing to the top, but rather that feeling one gets when it seems like nobody up top is listening to you as you’d like to be heard.

While I’m not entirely convinced that his strategies for dealing with these “elephants” are ones I’d like to use to shape my own path, I think the perspective he offers on the nature of the beast are worth noting anyway.