Book Review: An Analysis of Belasco's Teaching the Elephant to Dance

This report provides a comprehensive book review of James A. Belasco's 'Teaching the Elephant to Dance: The Manager's Guide to Empowering Change'. The review highlights the book's core message: the critical importance of leadership in managing change within organizations, using the metaphor of an elephant to represent the slow pace of change in companies. The review discusses the need for a clear vision, instilling a sense of urgency, and the importance of top management's involvement in implementing change. It analyzes the book's strengths, such as its high-energy approach and emphasis on leaders leading by example, while also pointing out its weaknesses, including the age of the case studies and the lack of focus on employee-level strategies. The review concludes that the book is a valuable resource for managers seeking insights into change management, although it acknowledges its limitations in terms of contemporary relevance and a balanced perspective.

Running Head: BOOK REVIEW
BOOK-REVIEW
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Author Note

1BOOK REVIEW
The book ‘Teaching the Elephant to Dance: The Manager's Guide to Empowering
Change’ by James A. Belasco is a book that has a special place in the bookshelves of
managers and learners alike to understand the importance of change in an organization. This
book is composed of constant reminders that focus on the need of a crystal clear leadership to
manage change in this company. This paper is a book review that will be exploring this book
to find out the importance of the same.
He uses ‘Elephants’ as a metaphor of showing that companies area as slow as
elephants when it comes to change. That is a particularly difficult thing to be especially when
the organization already has a strict set of rules. He talks about these rules and conveys
methods that will be beneficial for these changes. Decisions that are taken for the
implementation of change require a lot of effort to be put in by top management to ensure
that the effort reaps profitable results that will be good for the company in the long term.
However, often these sectors come up with solutions that are short term in nature. If this is
the case the company will have to keep changing strategies and policies on a regular basis.
Metaphors like these are present throughout the book to make people understand corporate
terminologies with a different take.
Each change, according to him, needs a revision of the vision for the company. A
sense of urgency needs to be imbibed within the employees without making them feel
pressured. The new urgency should be for making strategies and policies for a more
profitable outcome. “What’s the bottom-line impact this quarter?” asks Belasco. This is to
show that a common ground needs to be achieved for all the members of the organization to
channelize their energy in a similar way. It is a very high energy book that reiterates the fact
that leaders need to put in combined effort along with then employee to achieve credibility.
He talks of various leaders who head organizations getting together with their employees on
the fields to ensure that employees do not feel like they are only ones putting effort in the job.

2BOOK REVIEW
The changes are right out there in the field an if they do not see their leaders getting their
hands dirty and leading by example, the employees have no incentive for working. The book
presents one case after another, each leading up to each other and keeps up the momentum.
He talks about the unwillingness of companies to change to the trainers who bind the
elephants in captivity to chain them. This rigidity will prove fatal if not overcome by proper
planning. The author talks about all the companies that failed because they could not
overcome the rigidity. Many companies have gone from the heights of successes to
nothingness because they did not consider the impending threat of different companies
entering the competition, changes in the economy or how a product is received. Changes arise
because of the changing tastes and needs of people and these must be taken into consideration
by the top management and effectively communicated to the employees so that they can
brace themselves for the change and deal with the new work culture or new aims that will be
set for the company.
However, it must be noted that the case studies that are present in the book are rather
old and new examples need to be included. The methods of tackling change and making sure
that the management is effective have radically changed. Although the book is a gem for
focusing on basic concepts, the fact that it lacks present examples gives it a bad rating at
relevance in accordance to time. It focuses on CEO’s and the management who are
responsible for the decision making that will influence change management within the
company however, it lacks pointers that will help the employees who are the very basic
executives of the changes.
The pace of the book is fast that will immediately set the mood and is reminiscent of
how fast work is done within the organization. It draws out the principles soundly and
focuses on the methods of implementation of each principle to help the organization

3BOOK REVIEW
significantly. However, it goes from inspirational to very bland in a few moments, the
writings is not standardized throughout. However, it does beautifully bring out the
importance of anticipating changes. It does make countless strong points however, it is not
the sole book one must be dependent on.
In conclusion, it is a book that is a good manual and deserves a read by the managers
within various organization to gain deeper insight into change management and the need to
allow changes for the company to flourish in various ways. It is quite average overall but can
be read for the part limited for the management of change.

4BOOK REVIEW
References
Belasco, J. A. (2012). Teaching the elephant to dance. Crown.