TOP DRAWER BOOK REVIEW
by
HL Carpenter

 

The Path to Corporate Nirvana
by Judith Anderson
284 pages; hardcover; $24.95
Silver Falls Press, Salem, Oregon, 2003

So what’s your E.Q.?

The Path to Corporate Nirvana chooses other terms to describe how to create a motivational atmosphere in the office. But the syrup left at the bottom of the pot when the cooking is done amounts to E.Q. – your emotional quotient, or how you deal with conflicts and other interpersonal undercurrents.

Author Judith Anderson, a consultant, has an MS in Economics and an MA in Spiritual Psychology. She uses both, plus her work experience, as the basis for The Path to Corporate Nirvana. She also coins the requisite business-book phrases and acronyms (PNV for Popping Neck Veins, found in the chapter titled ‘Learning to Love PNV's’ is just one example), and provides plenty of examples culled from her years of consulting.

The Path to Corporate Nirvana is very much the personal journey of Ms. Anderson through her own – still ongoing – transformation from self-centeredness to greater consciousness.

There’s good information here – you might recognize yourself as a ‘balking head’ or a stuck-in-your-blind-spot complainer and be motivated to change – but the theme is soft-core New Age, and may not appeal to more traditional managers. In addition, empathy for others requires more effort than reading a book about someone else’s method of achieving it.

If you enjoy inspirational books, The Path to Corporate Nirvana might be worth a read. If the idea of E.Q. has you shaking your head, the soft, sweet and sticky concepts may be too much for you to handle and there’s no point in cracking the cover.

Just be advised that attitude is why your co-workers may feel compelled to recommend it to you.

 

Review originally published April 2004.