Milligan dubs employees and leaders of the first company, General Light, “Corporate Savages,” while Technical Illuminations and City Public Power are “A Civilized Culture” and “The Emotionally Intelligent.” While the use of savage-civilized language is off putting, Milligan’s careful and often amusing descriptions of the businesses and their interactions with one another do well to illustrate the functional and behavioral differences between toxic and healthy companies. A clear dichotomy is set up between the money-grabbing, emotionally abusive, Machiavellian business on one side and the collaborative, compassionate, and fiscally responsible company on the other.
Readers with experience in the corporate world at every level will recognize these professional personalities and even see themselves in many of them, and while The Corporate Menagerie offers a clear-eyed dramatis personae introducing the kind of people readers are likely to meet, plus a survey of familiar and preventable workplace culture problems, it also shows readers how they deserve to be treated and the kind of behavior they shouldn’t tolerate in their professional lives. Professionals looking for a cohesive, accessible guide to understanding personalities at work will find Milligan’s refreshing debut useful.
Takeaway: A field guide to corporate personalities—and leading a healthy company
Comparable Titles: Michael O’Neill et. al’s The Healthy Workplace Nudge, Susan Hetrick’s Toxic Organizational Cultures and Leadership.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
