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The Corporate Shaman: A Business Fable Richard Whitely $19.95 Hardcover 148 pages ©2002 ISBN 0-06-000839-3

Richard Whiteley believes the mystical healing power of a shaman can be harnessed for use in the business world, and in

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.

An engaging illustration of how the wisdom gained throughout the ages has powerful relevance to modern business dilemmas.
	Deepak Chopra, author of The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and The Way of the Wizard

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It's time to bring spirit into the workplace
At first blush, The Corporate Shaman is dismissable... Who would believe such a tale of rattles, drums, power animals? But, dig deeper and find the heartbeat of this wonderful book by one of Harvard's own, a consummate businessman and corporate leader. You find a way to connect with the deeper energies of people at work -- something leaders, organizations and all of us crave!!

The Corporate Shaman helps us see what trust, cooperation, synergy, creativity, and tapping into higher potential really mean. It's an allegory - a story - like many other business books these days. But the difference is that Shaman practice DOES exist throughout the world. And, it seems to carry with it, a deep-seated knowledge about what makes us tick and how we can connect with each other and higher purpose - including HIGHER BUSINESS PURPOSE.

Richard Whiteley straddles the mythical and the real in a way that only someone who has been there to produce results without sacrificing soul can do.

How can anyone who leads or influences organizations NOT purchase, read, or find ways to assimilate and act on this book?

Take a risk. Take a chance. Go to the edges. Recognize that the only way we can leap forward is by discovering the heart, soul, and spirit of people. When you do, you will realize that The Corporate Shaman is a fabulous allegory and life myth for making these happen.
Patricia A. McLagan

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Finally
Richard Whiteley has written a deeply inspired book no doubt with great help from his own "power animal." It responds to the urgent need for leaders to be silent for awhile, to surrender just a bit, and to listen to the voice of the single intelligence that lies underneath it all. Finally, in an appropriately metaphorical medium, we have a book that will help us wake up. The book's publication could not have come at a better time, a time when the events of 9/11, the collapse of the internet bubble, Enron, Andersen, Afghanistan are causing us, if we're not hoplessly anesthetized, to renew our search for meaning and purpose in our lives.
Curtis R. Berrien

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Multi-Dimensional Leadership
I loved The Corporate Shaman. Richard Whiteley does a phenomenal job of reintroducing ancient knowledge in practical, logical and understandable terms. Somehow, in the last few hundred years, we have forgotten what we collectively have known for thousands of years: that all suffering, illness and maliase, whether corporate or individual, is a result of a loss of spirit or soul which them manifest in the body (corpus) or the collective (corporation). In order to regain wholeness and heal the spirit must be reclaimed. For over 15 years, I have seen the profound impact shamanic work has had on individuals but have not been sufficiently brave enough to introduce these concepts and techniques into the corporate environment. Richard Whitely, and his character Jason Hand, have the courage, precise timing and storytelling ability to make the introduction fascinating, realistic, entertaining and powerful.
Paula Raines

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The Elephant and the Flea:
Reflections Of A Reluctant Capitalist
by Charles Handy (Harvard Business School Press, 233 pg, $24.95).
Leading U.K. business thinker Handy is back with his most personal book yet. This time, he blends autobiography and business meditations in equal parts to create a memoir that offers thoughtful advice on pursuing a fulfilling career, the changing structure of business, and the future of capitalism.

Good Work:
When Excellence And Ethics Meet
by Howard Gardner, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi & William Damon (Basic Books, 304 pg, $27.50). "Good work" is work that is expert quality and at the same time, benefits the broader society, explains this distinguished team of psychologists. Their findings after a half-decade of studying scientists and journalists at every level of their professions: good work works; it feels good; it follows traditions; and it is innovative.