More from Curt Walker

"MONKEY BUSINESS, 7 Laws of the Jungle for Becoming the Best of the Bunch!  A Short Tale of a Company That Gets It! a new book by Sandy Wight, Mick Hager, and Steve Tyink, really has to be read twice.

The first time through you’re struck by the many humorous analogous references to the animal “kinkdom”, and the second time you’re seriously impressed with truisms the authors portray. “The jungle of mediocrity eats superstars for breakfast”—“We judge ourselves on our intentions, others judge us on our words and our actions”—“If you love what you do, you’re living, not working”—“Unless you can tell the color of your customers’ eyes during a face to face service moment, you’re not fully engaged”

And these authors are fully engaged! They KNOW the color of our eyes.

In an easy read, they lead us through many word pictures by referencing Leader, a spider monkey who “gets it” in a world of others who don’t. He loves to gather the best and most bananas, but is often frustrated in his passion by a company, and boss who don’t “get it”. Leader can’t figure why so many others of his kind waste their time in idle chit chat, gossip, customer mongering, and boss-criticizing in his company Republicana, a banana merchant.

Leader’s wife Confidante, is his soul-mate and muse, as he confides his restlessness amid these under performers. While Leader has a great life, he really wants more and wants to find others like himself who share his passion for understanding that customers aren’t problems, but opportunities, to create a loyal and lasting relationship community. “Trust is a fortress—it takes years to build and seconds to destroy” depicts Leader’s determination to start his own banana business (after all he’s a monkey, remember).

At first Leader is looking only for other spider monkeys like himself, although he interviews other animal applicants and is dismayed to find the variety and diversity of prospects. From blaboons (talk too much), to glazelles (small and fast, but her horns are worn backwards), to “whineroceros”, to “lie-ons (a fierce, scary, striking creature with a big mouth and sharp pointy teeth that mangle the truth”, and then on to “mis-leaders”.

Eventually in a bow to diversity, Leader interviews and hires two elephants on the spot when they make the point that they’re especially well suited to power wash and carry dirty, heavy bunches of bananas. Leader decides one of the ways his company will be different is to be sure all bananas offered for sale are sparkling clean and attractive. We’re taken on a fun ride, and offered the opportunity to enjoy a parallel universe of Leader’s accomplishments in forming his new company.  
These three authors deliver body-blows of logic, lessons in employee motivation and respect, and customer satisfaction (each morning ask your employees to dedicate their day to just one 5-minute exceptional customer service act). By extrapolation, the authors calculate that’s hundreds of hours of exceptional service daily at just one company!

Wight and Hager and Tyink have skillfully prepared a nursery rhyme of astute lessons in developing and holding customers. Through the magic of analogy, and lots of whimsy thrown in, they’ve created a primer on customer service that the child in us can love.

Monkey Business Book 2 borrows from the same theme, but is much more detailed with fewer bananas, and more plums. The sub-title A Whole Bunch of Tools, Tactics, & Techniques For Being a Great Leader tells the story. Book 2 doesn’t try to entertain, but recites many important principles of leadership, and how to use them to strengthen your organization.

To those who have become hooked on Leader as a monkey, it’s a crash to realize that in Book 1 the authors were discussing us all the time. This reality doesn’t take anything away from the charm of the first, nor the pragmatism of the second books.

Monkey Business Book 3 is now in the works, and will be a day-by-day journal on commencing a plan for changing a company’s entire customer culture. Taken all together, these books are a standing trilogy on customer service.  It’s a safari of practical ways to hunt in the vacuum that competitors leave, for managements who “get it” to gather.

Curtis M. Walker, Executive Director
MIDWEST GOLF COURSE OWNERS ASSOCIATION