The Corporate Shaman: A Business Fable

PRIMETEC is a midsize company in crisis. Without realizing that he is a major part of the problem, CEO Leon King is pointing the finger at his executives, managers, and just about everyone else. As a result, the company's executives are caught in a stranglehold, preoccupied with thoughts of quitting or being fired, as the company quickly spins out of control. Only with the aid of Jason Hand, the corporate shaman -- a man well versed in ancient shamanic traditions and modern corporate culture -- can the organization hope to turn itself around.

Jason's knowledge and use of animal totems that empower people begin the healing process for PRIMETEC. Working with and understanding animal spirits enable Leon's beleaguered staff to envision and implement unconventional solutions to chronic problems and renew their enthusiasm. And finally, Leon King himself must confront his own role in the failing business. With the help of the corporate shaman, King begins todevelop the awareness and compassion required to salvage his floundering company. After first stumbling as he embraces his new leadership behavior, King successfully begins the arduous healing process that promises to bring his company back to prominence.

In the tradition of "The One Minute Manager" and "Who Moved My Cheese?, The Corporate Shaman" is a business fable, one that depicts the high-stress organizational environments that many employees experience today and how an ancient system for healing and rejuvenation can transform such stress into productive activity. PRIMETEC is a composite of many real organizations and mirrors real-life results of integrating spirituality into the workplace. Engrossing, involving, and right on time to feed a spiritually hungry workforce, "The Corporate Shaman" offers recognizable characters and powerful insights into the difficulties of balancing the private and professional self and the nature of leadership, change, and growth. Through the inspirational lessons this book teaches, business leaders will learn how to restore the souls -- and profits -- of their corporations.

Amazon.com Review
Richard Whiteley believes the mystical healing power of a shaman can be harnessed for use in the business world, and in The Corporate Shaman he explains his philosophy--along with ways these traditional seers might actually function in such an environment. Whiteley, an entrepreneur, speaker, and author involved in the practice himself for the past decade, describes a shaman as "one who enters an altered state of mind, at will, and journeys to other worlds and uses the power, wisdom, and energies of those worlds to create positive change in people and the environments in which they live." Recognizing that this concept will be alien to many in his intended audience, Whiteley couches it in the currently popular form of a business fable. Using a composite of common situations and easily recognizable people that, in this case, populate a fictional company missing its numbers and threatening to pull everyone into a downward spiral, he introduces the basics and shows how they could be employed in the workplace. An addendum offers additional details for those who wish to test the ideas themselves. Readers open to new routes for personal and professional growth should find this intriguing and potentially useful. --Howard Rothman