From Wags to Riches

If you are looking for a quick read--something in-between say, the Steve Jobs bio or IQ84--then pick up From Wags to Riches, by Robert Vetere with Valerie Andrews. You might recognize Vetere's name as the president of the American Pet Products Association, the trade organization that sponsors the annual Global Pet Expo, one of world's largest pet trade shows and also the voice behind the facts and trends that his organization pronounces each year. It is the American Pet Products Association that tells us how many households have pets, how much those households spend on those pets and whether or not that number is going to go up or down.

Well it turns out that Vetere is a pretty savvy business man as well and he bases his leadership philosophy on dog behavior. Yes, you read that correctly. According to Vetere, dogs, as pack animals, have a lot to teach us about how to work well with others. It's a gimmick, I admit, but he actually makes a lot of great points and uses real life corporate gurus as examples.

Among some of his credos: foster a doglike sense of play in your working environment; reward good behavior when it happens; develop a dog's keen sense of observation, especially about co-workers and don't be afraid to get to know them personally. I especially enjoyed the section in which he challenges readers to take a quiz that defines their leadership styles in terms of dog breeds. There are the terriers (feisty and tenacious), the retrievers (social and outgoing), the collies (herders that keep the pack together and always seem to know what is going on around the periphery) and so on.

It's an enjoyable read that makes a tremendous amount of sense not only when it comes to the ways in which we run our companies but also how we live our lives. Dogs are fabulous teachers--we just need to pay attention.