Moose on the Table: A Novel Approach to Communications @ Work

The Other Kind of Smart: Simple Ways to Boost Your Emotional Intelligence for Greater Personal Effectiveness and Success The interesting and colourful title and my knowledge of the author's work immediately drew my interest to this book. Since the beginning of time storytelling has been one of the most effective and interesting ways to teach and get messages accross. Jim Clemmer uses his many years of practice in the human development field as a rich source of information on what works and doesn't work in personal interactions. He mines this source to weave an entertaining and thought provoking story about Pete Leonard, who is struggling through life, not only at work, but also at home. Pete is bullied by his boss at work but denies the problem (The Moose). He is also at a complete loss as to what to do about his problems at home. A pivotal point in Pete's life occurs when he attends a workshop and meets a consultant that he agrees to work with. Slowly Pete is able to make changes and develops the courage to confront his boss and make changes at home. As Jim Clemmer points out, ignoring problems will not make them go away, it only makes them worse. Often the worst fears that we have about confronting our boss, or anyone else for that matter, are in our minds and do not materialize when we decide to take action. I found the book to be stimulating, well written with a good smooth flow. The analogies are clear and well thought out. What I appreciated most about this book is that it shows recognition of the fact that what happens in one area of our lives directly effects all the other areas. Overall this book offers a lot of valuable leadership and life lessons dished up in an interesting, user friendly manner.

Moose on the Table is an endearing book written by leadership consultant and author Jim Clemmer. This book is Jim's first endeavor to teach principles and morals using a fictional approach. It is an established fact that many people learn more effectively from storytelling... an imaginary approach to instruction rather than the pedagogic method. Clemmer mentions early in the book, "I've thoroughly enjoyed studying and applying the timeless art of storytelling to allow you to be a fly-on-the-wall witness to many of the kinds of ineffective and effective conversations and actions I've seen during my twenty-five years in the personal, team and organizational-development fields." Moose on the Table is centered on the personal life of Pete Leonard. Pete's life is a mess. His marriage is struggling, his children are drifting and his career is in shambles. He works for an autocratic boss named Doug Drake who believes that leadership is a "command and control" function of management. Doug is a bully and is critical of Pete because he doesn't believe Pete exhibits strong leadership. Doug also knows Pete's coworkers have lost confidence in him. Since the company that Pete works for is in rapid decline, Pete is feeling a large amount of stress and knows his job is in jeopardy. Reluctantly, Pete attends a seminar workshop and is introduced to a consultant named Jason Reynard. With Jason's patient coaching and instruction Pete begins to make a personal life renovation moving from fear to courage. This process changes every aspect of Pete's life including his family and career. Eventually, Pete confronts Doug about his destructive autocratic approach toward people and the result is surprising. The concept of Moose on the Table was introduced in Clemmer's previous book The Leader's Digest. The "moose" represents the fact that families and teams often avoid difficult and tough conversations. Because of fear these problems are not addressed. Everyone knows the problem (moose) is there but no one mentions it. As time goes on the moose only gets bigger and it attracts other moose. Eventually moose are everywhere. This environment of avoidance and fear will continue until someone courageously acknowledges the problem and addresses it. Clemmer has once again written a book that is pure joy to read and mentally stimulating. The more you think about the examples and analogies of Moose on the Table the more you appreciate how well it was written. This is a book that continues to enforce leadership principles long after you have read it and put it on your shelf.