Surviving Your Serengeti

Surviving Your Serengeti
Author Stefan Swanepoel
Country United States
Language English
Genre Business / Self-help / Motivational
Publisher John Wiley & Sons
Publication date
March 2011
Media type Print (Hardcover)
Pages 175 pp
ISBN 978-0-470-94780-7

Surviving Your Serengeti: 7 Skills to Master Business and Life, published March 2011, is a motivational business fable based on author Stefan Swanepoel's experiences in business[1] and growing up in Africa.[2]

The book is a New York Times[3] and Wall Street Journal[4] bestseller.

Synopsis

Swanepoel compares modern-day business and personal challenges with the life-and-death struggles of the millions of animals of Serengeti plains of East Africa whose 1,000 mile-long migration filled with hunger, thirst, predators and exhaustion is often considered one of the natural wonders of the world. The book matches a person's dominant instinctive skill with its corresponding anthropomorphised Serengeti animal. According to the book the seven skills and animals include the "enduring wildebeest", the "strategic lion", the "enterprising crocodile", the "graceful giraffe", the "efficient cheetah", the "risk-taking mongoose" and the "communicating elephant".

Review

Soundview Executive Book Summaries states that this fable does not suffer from forced attempts at making the story fit the lessons and therefore the narrative is easy to follow. Two primary criteria for evaluation of a business fable are the strength of the story and the applicability of the lessons: From a story standpoint, the book entertains; from an applicability standpoint, its biggest value is that at the end of each chapter the author summarizes the qualities that define each skill and then maps out a plan of action for readers to follow.[5]

References

  1. The Dominant Species Is Not The Strongest, The Swiftest or The Largest, Steve Denning, Forbes, 12 April 2011.
  2. What Business Animal Are You?, Matthew May, “American Express”, 17 March 2011.
  3. New York Times
  4. Wall Street Journal
  5. http://www.summary.com/book-reviews/_/Surviving-Your-Serengeti/?s=MTo5OjA6OjQwNTY6Ojo6MA%3D%3D
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