BJ Gallagher

I saw this book recommend on lkernagh's thread and decided to pick it up. I thought it would be useful at work, and I have used it in a couple of diversity and inclusion moments, and it has worked really well. It's about a company run by penguins; some of the penguins have traveled to other lands where different kinds of birds are having successes, so the penguins decide to bring one of them into their company - a peacock. It's a fairly simple fable of something I have definitely seen in some companies where I have worked. A good little story, nicely illustrated.… (more)

I do enjoy when life lessons are conveyed through the use of storytelling. Gallagher has crafted a very clever fable focused on birds to communicate the importance of diversity and change within and across organizations. The personalities - Perry the Peacock, Edward the Eagle, Helen the Hawk, Mike the Mockingbird and Sara the Swan - all have unique personalities that make them "different" from the penguins. "Penguin" is the metaphor used throughout this book to refer to "anyone who is narrow-minded, tradition-bound, risk-averse, conservative, resistant to new ideas or different perspectives and tied to the way he or she has always done things.", making the Land of Penguins a hard place for the non-penguins to survive and thrive in. What I really like is that Gallagher points out that the Land of Opportunity - the opposite of the Land of Penguins - is a state of mind:

The Land of Opportunity is an attitude.
It is an openness to new ideas,
a willingness to listen,
an eagerness to learn,
a desire to grow,
and the flexibility to change.

Originally published in 1995, the 20th anniversary edition copy I read contains a "Tips and Tools for Feathered Friends" where on can assess their "Penguinesque" personality and that while there is a little bit of Penguin in all of us, even Penguins can be taught how to fly (change), but the favorite part of this book for me is the special bonus parable that examines the rise of millennials and the corporate downsizing years where even those older Penguins were cut adrift and Perry the Peacock coming to the rescue with the following words of advice:

• Business is all about relationships


• Getting good at getting along is essential


• Don't look for safety - look for opportunity


• The key to surviving and thriving in turbulent times is feel your fear and get into action anyways


• Don't judge a bird by its feathers - don't be preoccupied with visual diversity while overlooking invisible diversity


• Don't let what you can't do stop you from what you can do


• Focus on what you can do, not what you can't

A wonderful, and very short book packed with excellent advice on how the non-penguins of the world can help the Penguins to create a Land of Opportunity where "we stop judging each other by superficial criteria and begin to see and appreciate everyone as uniquely talented, capable and valuable."… (more)