Surviving your Serengeti: An ActiveRain Challenge

This was an Active Rain Challenge that I could sink my tiger teeth into. I had put off this task because, as a general rule, I am not inspired to write book reviews. I am making an exception to that general rule of mine by writing this review of the soon to be released, and much publicized, book -- "Surviving Your Serengeti".

The concept of a human better understanding his or her strengths and weaknesses, as a result of relating to an animal, is not alien to me. Many people have dogs and cats as mascots or buddies, so they understand, at least to some degree, the insight and inspiration that can be provided by animals. I take it a step farther: At my firm, my certifried home inspector assistant, Nutsy S. Wallenda (shown below) is a key part of King of the House Home Inspection's business success.  In fact, due to my benefiting so greatly from his innate wisdom, I was a wee bit disappointed that the squirrel did not come up as one of the animals on the quiz that accompanies the book. 

I spent several years, 30+, working in the field of broadcasting. My responsibilities ranged from being a disc jockey, to a news director, to management and owner of a radio station. Over those years I read any number of motivational or instructional books. The ones that immediately come to mind are "Guerrilla Marketing" and the Tom Peter's "In Search of Excellence" series. By the way, that spelling of the word "guerrilla" ties in more with Che Guevara than Bobo the Great Ape of the Serengeti.

It is obvious, from the clever marketing that precedes this book, that this text will not only "survive" but make a nice profit. I downloaded the first two chapters, per the challenge, and I was surprised. I expected to be bored. I had gotten a cup of coffee and I thought "Okay, I will trudge through this and then get on to the challenge." The fact of the matter is that I read every word in those two chapters. I thought the book would be dry and, in different words, spout the standard motivational chant -- "be the best that you can be"; "grab victory from the arms defeat"; etc.  However, the author has woven the point of the book, and the motivational message, into a very interesting and readable story that I was able to relate to. Now I want to read Chapter III and it isn't there. I guess that is the point of this promotion, eh?

On to the quiz: I answered the questions as honestly as I could, to see what came up. I did not want to game the quiz to see if it would make me something with bigger teeth than what I actually have. I will be the first to admit that the author of the quiz did a good job with the questions and interpreting the results. 

I came out as an elephant. And if I was speculating, that is where I would have expected to be categorized. It says:  

"The elephant shows us that the art of good communication depends on both verbal and non-verbal signals. Within each parcel of words we deliver is buried a non-verbal message that provides insight into what the words really mean. Skilled communicators understand the need and nuances of both."

My whole professional life has been based on communications: Journalism and speech degrees in college; writing and broadcasting news and radio ad copy, writing and negotiating business contracts,  writing the initial "demand" letters in a law firm, marketing various businesses, including my own. Today, I look upon good reporting and communicating as equally crucial to performing a thorough home inspection. Knowing lots of things about a house, and not being able to clearly communicate the findings, seriously marginalizes the value of an inspection report.

Based on my initial read of this soon to be released book, and taking the quiz, it seems to me that the concept of this book is interesting. And I like the way the author weaves his point into text that is interesting and very readable. It should be a good resource for those people who are negotiating difficult economic times.