"Primal Management"--A book that breaks employee engagement into its component parts

[Paul Herr]

Dear Enlightened Managers, HR professionals and Consultants,

I've been a member of the Employee Engagement Network since November, 2008, and I have enjoyed the honest, enlightened, and sometimes spirited, discussions on this site.

Today I am announcing the release of my book, "Primal Management: Unraveling the Secrets of Human Nature to Drive High Performance," which hit the bookstores several weeks ago. PM is a featured book this spring by the American Management Association, an icon in the management-training field.

The early uptake by the national business media, academia, the business community, the consulting community, and groups like the "Winning Workplaces Organization" has been gratifying. These reviews are available on my website: www.primalmanagement.com.

I wrote Primal Management partly in response to my experiences at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business—a very analytical place with little appreciation of the people-side of business. I wrote Primal Management like a deductive proof to get the point across to University-of-Chicago types that motivation matters.

In Primal Management I portray emotions as the fundamental forces that move us. As forces, they obey the laws of “emotional physics.” Primal Management proves, using simple logic and the latest science, that it is unbusinesslike not to understand, measure and manage these propulsive forces in the workplace.

Human beings survived the ice age hunting and gathering in small bands without managers, rule books, job descriptions, regulations or artificial systems of control. We didn’t need artificial systems because we have an elegant guidance system woven deeply into our brains. Corporations that work harmoniously with this natural emotional guidance system, I suggest, will harvest far more motivational energy than those that work against it. I call management that aligns harmoniously with human nature—“natural management.” My goal is to create a natural-management revolution to replace the traditional, impersonal, top-down, command-and-control style of management.

Primal Management has gotten a warm reception from enlightened managers who feel deep in their gut that people and motivation matter. It describes a more promising future where everybody wins: employees win because their work becomes more intrinsically rewarding, managers win because the company becomes more productive, innovative and profitable, customers win because they get faster and better goods and services from employees with a good attitude, and shareholders win because they make money. Remind me again why we don’t do this?

If you are a consultant looking for something new and cool to incorporate into your consulting practice, this might be it. Please take a look at the attached chapters and give me a call if you are interested (608-833-9446).

My network of consulting partners is growing almost daily. Some of them met me on The Employee Engagement Network. I currently have partners in Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Japan and the US. My first Mexican partner called me excitedly, and, with a strong Spanish accent, said, "Paul, this is FANTASTIC! I have not been this excited since I read Dan Goleman's book, Emotional Intelligence 12 years ago." When consultants read PM for the first time, they often tell me--"Paul, this is exactly what I've been looking for--a hard, logical approach that proves to the business community once and for all that people and motivation matter." Please take a look. Perhaps PM is what you have been looking for too.

Viva la Revolución!

Paul Herr
Author of Primal Management
[e-mail]
www.primalmanagement.com
608-833-9446

[Larry Underwood]

Paul, I'm your biggest American fan...That guy in Mexico sounds like he was mucho excitisimo por favor mas grande primo d'ella hoy! managementia. Si.* I was just thinking about those radio guys back east...Maybe they'd like a copy of my book before they make a decision...If so, let me know and I'll shoot one out to them, pronto, Senior Herr. H' atsta la vista, baby, Lorezo*

*Not really Spanish, but looks good enough