From Publishers Weekly
Katz, formerly adviser to four U.S. senators and a staffer in the Clinton White House, has seen his share of "lions" in the government and Fortune 500 companies. These people, he maintains, are the ones who make everyone miserable because they rule their own "jungles" and play by their own rules. Since these lions will not alter their behavior patterns, it is up to their colleagues to learn essential office "taming" techniques: "The lion establishes the territory, but the lion tamer... must maximize the display of the lion's strengths, while managing the risks associated with their possible weaknesses," explains Katz. The author uses anecdotes about business lions along with techniques from both the corporate world and that of actual lion tamers. Rather than fighting the lion in the office, people must learn various strategies to keep the lion happy. These techniques include continually providing a stream of information to the lion, showing off their skills in public so the lion sees their strengths and helping the lion to feel comfortable in the office. Although the author clearly explains his approach to difficult corporate types and some of his strategies seem quite sound, this is a tough book to follow. The jargon related to lion taming slows the reader and sometimes overwhelms the practical advice. Even so, employees who are comfortable with business profiles and management theory may benefit from some of Katz's techniques.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description
What is LION TAMING about? LION TAMING: Working Successfully with Leaders, Bosses, and Other Tough Customers proves that imagination is still the fastest path to learning. Lions are the people we encounter and work with in every organization or business who wield power and influence. They roam freely across all occupations. By applying the metaphor of being a lion tamer, you will learn how to understand these lions and to team with them for effective and rewarding results. LION TAMING is divided into three parts: I. Lions Are Never Tame helps you identify the lions in your midst, distinguish between the good lions and the bad lions, and understand what makes them tick. Lions act differently because they think differently, and we need to understand them as lions to work more effectively together. LION TAMING introduces the concepts of The Lion's Four Senses and The Lion's Instinctive Identity, which will serve as useful tools to "read" the lions you encounter and approach them with newfound ways to help both you and the lions be successful. II. The Art of Lion Taming heightens your self-awareness while teaching you the strategies and methods that real lion tamers use and how to apply them where you work. This includes the use of verbal and nonverbal cues and communication, closing the gap between attention getting and attention using; and how to avoid sticking your head in the lion's mouth! III. Lion Taming Is Really Lion Teaming reflects the cumulative nature of the experiences, lessons, and strategies throughout the book. These are embraced by the ultimate secret and irony of working as a lion tamer: leaders, bosses, and other tough customers are sensitive to being challenged as a lion but welcome the support, influence, and expertise of those who show that they are part of the lion's team. The best lion tamers inside the center ring and the boss's office understand that the foundation for teamwork is rapport, trust, confidence, and respect. LION TAMING: Working Successfully with Leaders Bosses, and Other Tough Customers is able to bring the metaphor of being a lion tamer to life in a way no other book does because the author interviewed real lion tamers, watched them train and work, and blended their secrets and strategies with countless parallel experiences and stories from people across society and the workplace. The book contains more than 75 Secrets of the Lion Tamers, quotes from many of the men and women whose workplace has been inside the steel-caged arena, such as: * "Lions are never tame, it takes strategies to deal with that" * "Lions always have your full attention but it is hard to hold their attention" * "Courage that is self-conscious betrays great fear!" Every chapter concludes with specific take-aways called The Lion's Tale that summarize each chapter and provide tips and strategies to step inside the lion tamer's shoes! Lion taming is everyone's real job, and this book finally tells us how to do it!

From the Publisher
Why is LION TAMING important? LION TAMING: Working Successfully with Leaders Bosses, and Other Tough Customers is the first book to recognize that everyone's real job includes the need to understand the people who wield power and influence and have strategies at their fingertips to communicate and work more effectively with them. It does so through the use of a metaphor that is already in people's minds. Lion taming is an identity and a role that you can step into whatever your actual job, position, title, or occupation may be. From executive assistant to CEO - there is always a bigger lion. Most books that explain leadership, management, and organizations are written with the goal of having the top executives identify with the story and tell everyone around them to read the book. LION TAMING is the book everyone else will read but they won't tell the boss they are reading it! LION TAMING: Working Successfully with Leaders Bosses, and Other Tough Customers uses both the metaphor of being a lion and of being a lion tamer to enable readers to read their own experiences into the book and create a strategy that fits their own personality and position. Being a lion is personal in a way that makes people in the workplace unique in the eyes of others -- and so is being a lion tamer! How will LION TAMING benefit its readers/affect their lives? * Establish your own presence, authenticity, and credibility in the eyes of leaders, bosses, and other tough customers * Learn to identify the lions all around you, and separate the good ones from the bad ones. * Get inside the lion's skull by learning these tools: o The Lion's Four Senses o The Lion's Instinctive Identity * Understand that lions in the work place live in two social worlds: o The hierarchy -- the world in which they establish they are a lion o The pride or organization that supports and enables their role as a lion * Learn that if you compete with or threaten the lions in your office, they will assume you are challenging their place in the hierarchy. But if you show that you are supporting their status, role, and objectives, you can be a very influential member of the pride or organization! * Lion Taming contains more than 75 secrets of the lions tamers * Lion Taming contains specific strategies that come directly from the methods that real lion tamers use to: * Enable lion tamers and lions to adjust to each other * Approach the lions so the lions will approach you * Close the gap between attention getting and attention using -- and do it on cue! * Lion Taming Is Really Lion Teaming: Spark the kind of communication and behavior with the people who are the lions and others around you by using the golden nugget of lion taming wisdom: by building rapport, trust, confidence, and respect, Lion Taming Is Really Lion Teaming! What are three words that you feel best describe LION TAMING? Roaring with Insights! (Insightful, Dynamic, Witty) How is LION TAMING unique? Does it use a different approach to its subject? LION TAMING: Working Successfully with Leaders Bosses, and Other Tough Customers is unique because it successfully taps into an image in everyone's mind and translates it into experiences, secrets, and strategies that apply to virtually every job. Lion Taming is not a theory, but a role that you step into, and it can be done whether you are an executive assistant or the CEO. There is always a bigger lion! In addressing everyone's need to strengthen personal awareness, communication, and behavior when working with people of power and influence-a subject sometimes addressed in the context of "managing up"-the metaphor of being a lion tamer provides readers with new and personal identity that also makes them feel stronger and more capable. The metaphor and the stories about both lion taming and business experiences blend together to enable readers to visualize their own experiences, their own lions, and their own opportunities to begin to work as a lion tamer! The majority of business and worklife books tell a story from the standpoint or experiences of a well-known or accomplished leader, such as Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric. However, very few people can arrive at work and step into the shoes of someone like Welch or any other CEO who books are written about. As a result, such people are really metaphors themselves, but ones of very narrow value and use to others. LION TAMING: Working Successfully with Leaders Bosses, and Other Tough Customers fills an unmet need for books that establish that there is an art to working with leaders, executives, clients, and customers-and that the art is in the nature of the understanding, relationship, and behavior between you and them. LION TAMING opens your eyes and provides the secrets and strategies to those important links to success. As one reader commented - "Finally, a book for the rest of us!"

About the Author
Steven L. Katz, has worked for more than twenty years as a right-hand executive and senior advisor to leaders and executives across the worlds of business, politics, government and non-profit organizations. From Capitol Hill and the White House to boardrooms, clients, and customers, the author has developed the art of lion taming and added it to the lexicon of the workplace. Steven L. Katz has degrees in anthropology, history, and law. He lives with his family outside Washington, D.C.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

LION TAMING: Working Successfully with Leaders Bosses, and Other Tough Customers is able to bring the metaphor of being a lion tamer to life in a way no other book does because the author interviewed real lion tamers, watched them train and work, and blended their secrets and strategies with countless parallel experiences and stories from people across society and the workplace. The book contains more than 75 Secrets of the Lion Tamers, quotes from many of the men and women whose workplace has been inside the steel-caged arena, such as: ￯﾿ﾽ         ￯﾿ﾽLions are never tame, it takes strategies to deal with that￯﾿ﾽ ￯﾿ﾽ         ￯﾿ﾽLions always have your full attention but it is hard to hold their attention￯﾿ﾽ ￯﾿ﾽ         ￯﾿ﾽCourage that is self-conscious betrays great fear!￯﾿ﾽ   Every chapter concludes with specific take-aways called The Lion￯﾿ﾽs Tale that summarize each chapter and provide tips and strategies to step inside the lion tamer￯﾿ﾽs shoes! Lion taming is everyone￯﾿ﾽs real job, and this book finally tells us how to do it! Why is LION TAMING important? LION TAMING: Working Successfully with Leaders Bosses, and Other Tough Customers is the first book to recognize that everyone￯﾿ﾽs real job includes the need to understand the people who wield power and influence and have strategies at their fingertips to communicate and work more effectively with them. It does so through the use of a metaphor that is already in people￯﾿ﾽs minds. Lion taming is an identity and a role that you can step into whatever your actual job, position, title, or occupation may be. From executive assistant to CEO - there is always a bigger lion. Most books that explain leadership, management, and organizations are written with the goal of having the top executives identify with the story and tell everyone around them to read the book. LION TAMING is the book everyone else will read but they won￯﾿ﾽt tell the boss they are reading it! LION TAMING: Working Successfully with Leaders Bosses, and Other Tough Customers uses both the metaphor of being a lion and of being a lion tamer to enable readers to read their own experiences into the book and create a strategy that fits their own personality and position. Being a lion is personal in a way that makes people in the workplace unique in the eyes of others￯﾿ﾽand so is being a lion tamer!   How will LION TAMING benefit its readers/affect their lives? ￯﾿ﾽ         Establish your own presence, authenticity, and credibility in the eyes of leaders, bosses, and other tough customers ￯﾿ﾽ         Learn to identify the lions all around you, and separate the good ones from the bad ones. ￯﾿ﾽ         Get inside the lion￯﾿ﾽs skull by learning these tools: o The Lion￯﾿ﾽs Four Senses o The Lion￯﾿ﾽs Instinctive Identity ￯﾿ﾽ         Understand that lions in the work place live in two social worlds: o The hierarchy￯﾿ﾽthe world in which they establish they are a lion o The pride or organization that supports and enables their role as a lion * Learn that if  you compete with or threaten the lions in your office, they will assume you are challenging their place in the hierarchy. But if you show that you are supporting their status, role, and objectives, you can be a very influential member of the pride or organization! ￯﾿ﾽ         Lion Taming contains more than 75 secrets of the lions tamers ￯﾿ﾽ         Lion Taming contains specific strategies that come directly from the methods that real lion tamers use to: ￯﾿ﾽ         Enable lion tamers and lions to adjust to each other ￯﾿ﾽ         Approach the lions so the lions will approach you ￯﾿ﾽ         Close the gap between attention getting and attention using￯﾿ﾽand do it on cue! ￯﾿ﾽ         Lion Taming Is Really Lion Teaming: Spark the kind of communication and behavior with the people who are the lions and others around you by using the golden nugget of lion taming wisdom: by building rapport, trust, confidence, and respect, Lion Taming Is Really Lion Teaming!     About the Author:

Steven L. Katz, has worked for more than twenty years as a right-hand executive and senior advisor to leaders and executives across the worlds of business, politics, government and  non-profit organizations.  From Capitol Hill and the White House to boardrooms, clients, and customers, the author has developed the art of lion taming and added it to the lexicon of the workplace. Steven L. Katz has degrees in anthropology, history, and law. He lives with his family outside Washington, D.C.

SYNOPSIS

What is LION TAMING about? LION TAMING: Working Successfully with Leaders, Bosses, and Other Tough Customers proves that imagination is still the fastest path to learning.  Lions are the people we encounter and work with in every organization or business who wield power and influence. They roam freely across all occupations. By applying the metaphor of being a lion tamer, you will learn how to understand these lions and to team with them for effective and rewarding results. LION TAMING is divided into three parts: I.    Lions Are Never Tame helps you identify the lions in your midst, distinguish between the good lions and the bad lions, and understand what makes them tick. Lions act differently because they think differently, and we need to understand them as lions to work more effectively together. LION TAMING introduces the concepts of The Lion￯﾿ﾽs Four Senses and The Lion￯﾿ﾽs Instinctive Identity, which will serve as useful tools to ￯﾿ﾽread￯﾿ﾽ the lions you encounter and approach them with newfound ways to help both you and the lions be successful. II.    The Art of Lion Taming heightens your self-awareness while teaching you the strategies and methods that real lion tamers use and how to apply them where you work. This includes the use of verbal and nonverbal cues and communication, closing the gap between attention getting and attention using; and how to avoid sticking your head in the lion￯﾿ﾽs mouth! III.   Lion Taming Is Really Lion Teaming reflects the cumulative nature of the experiences, lessons, and strategies throughout the book. These are embraced by the ultimate secret and irony of working as a lion tamer: leaders, bosses, and other tough customers are sensitive to being challenged as a lion but welcome the support, influence, and expertise of those who show that they are part of the lion￯﾿ﾽs team. The best lion tamers inside the center ring and the boss￯﾿ﾽs office understand that the foundation for teamwork is rapport, trust, confidence, and respect.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Katz, formerly adviser to four U.S. senators and a staffer in the Clinton White House, has seen his share of "lions" in the government and Fortune 500 companies. These people, he maintains, are the ones who make everyone miserable because they rule their own "jungles" and play by their own rules. Since these lions will not alter their behavior patterns, it is up to their colleagues to learn essential office "taming" techniques: "The lion establishes the territory, but the lion tamer... must maximize the display of the lion's strengths, while managing the risks associated with their possible weaknesses," explains Katz. The author uses anecdotes about business lions along with techniques from both the corporate world and that of actual lion tamers. Rather than fighting the lion in the office, people must learn various strategies to keep the lion happy. These techniques include continually providing a stream of information to the lion, showing off their skills in public so the lion sees their strengths and helping the lion to feel comfortable in the office. Although the author clearly explains his approach to difficult corporate types and some of his strategies seem quite sound, this is a tough book to follow. The jargon related to lion taming slows the reader and sometimes overwhelms the practical advice. Even so, employees who are comfortable with business profiles and management theory may benefit from some of Katz's techniques. (June) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Soundview Executive Book Summaries - Summary

If you feel like you need a whip and a chair to work effectively with your boss, client or customers, the techniques of real lion tamers can help you achieve better results. Lions are the people in all organizations who wield power and influence, and they are roaming freely in our lives. They act differently because they think differently. But they don't have to be difficult to work with!

Lions are the people all around us with power, responsibility, authority and talent - as well as the people who may simply be preoccupied with gaining more power and authority. They can be leaders, bosses, executives, professionals, managers, owners, partners, boards of directors, elected and appointed officials, colleagues, customers, clients and employees. Lions roam freely everywhere, across all occupations and professions - throughout life. Following the lions in the workplace in order to find out how to act, and as importantly when to act, leads to a twisting trail.

According to Steven L. Katz, a right-hand executive and senior adviser to leaders and executives across the worlds of business, politics, government and nonprofit organizations, lions are never tame, and you need strategies to deal with that. Katz explains that lion taming is really lion teaming, and helps you get inside the minds of the lions in your life to communicate and work more effectively together.

Many lions look to seize the advantage, even if it is by taking many small unobtrusive steps closer to power over a long period of time. They will patiently plan, wait and make their move. Lions thrive on whatever they get, whether it is information, intelligence, compensation, authority, territory, budget, head count or recognition. We need people who are good at being lions. We need them to use their persona to lead in a new direction; face challenges head on; expand the territory; and put their strength, power or position to use.

Lions at Work Are a Different Species
Of all the realities that must frame your outlook as a lion tamer in the workplace, it is that you are dealing with lions. As one executive who spent 25 years working his way to the top of his company observed about the company president, "He's a different species, and that's how I treat him."

You need to feel that you are a lion tamer before you walk into the equivalent of the steel-caged arena at work. As one astute lion tamer observed, "I know that I am about to enter a cage full of lions, and I think carefully about it before, during and after I go in." You need to be in possession of the self-image and strategies that put you on top of the situation as both a participant and an observer.

Lions in the wild and the workplace share four important traits: Lions need to be dominant and be secure in the feeling that they are dominant. Lions need to control territory and know when and how to preserve, protect and expand it. Lions need to know where they stand in the social hierarchy. Lions are fine-tuned to any potential threat to their survival.

Lions in the workplace are always highly aware of the people they encounter and the environment that surrounds them, and they see through any organizational framework to compete for a place in the hierarchy.

Hierarchies are particularly prominent in both the social lives of lions and the social order of the workplace, and have deep and often invisible effects on everyone. Lions often make the effort to operate beyond their existing terrain. But when they do, it is not to interact with just anyone - it is to satisfy their impulse to know where they stand as a lion.