All I Need to Know about Business I Learned from a Duck


Praise

What Others Are Saying About This Book

“All humans benefit by reconnecting to nature, even in settings where we believe there is little opportunity. In “Learning from a Duck”, Tom has borrowed nature’s lessons and found relevant metaphors that can help guide, inspire, and teach the business world some of the time-tested wisdom that Life has honed over millennia. This perspective might just change how you think about nature, and your business.”

Dayna Baumeister, PhD,
Co-founder Biomimicry Guild

“A management book with a wealth of pictures speaks to the heart and the brain, exactly what is needed to move our economy towards sustainability.”

Gunter Pauli
Founder, Zero Emissions Research & Initiatives

“Humanity emerged from the natural world. Personal interactions, group dynamics, universal Human values, and global commerce all derive from the ancient laws and relationships of nature. And yet far too many people have forgotten or never learned this fundamental, inescapable fact of life. Tom’s book can help us all get back in touch with that which sustains us and we urgently need to embrace these timeless lessons.”

Ted Townsend
Founder, Great Ape Trust

“There was a time when humans learned many lessons from nature. That was before TV, computers, and the internet, but those lessons are still available. If now, in the 21st century with all the email, Facebooks, Twitters, and so on, you doubt that there’s anything nature can possibly teach you about business, then read this book. Tom Porter has, in effect, created a new piece of wisdom literature.”

James A. Autry
Author, The Servant Leader and Looking Around for God

“Everything is part of the natural world, and not only is it not nice to try to fool Mother Nature, in the end, it is impossible. Nature will always win. Tom Porter has pointed to the primal insight that understanding natural forces are as relevant in the boardroom as they are in the woods, and has done so with wit, wisdom, and delight.”

Robert Fritz
Author, The Path of Least Resistance for Managers

“Refreshing, engaging, humane, thought-provoking; don’t read this one too fast.”

Stephen Kaplan & Rachel Kaplan, Professors, University of Michigan
Environment and Behavior School of Natural Resources and Environment

“In our modern lives the opportunity to explore ourselves through nature has become increasingly scarce. However our need for self-reflection and the type of renewal which nature provides is more important than ever. Tom Porter’s latest book provides us with a collection of mini-expeditions that are as energizing as they are insightful, and make the perfect companion for those moments at the office when the door is just a bit too far away.”

Charlie Wittmack
Adventurer, Attorney, Speaker
(Probably best known for climbing Mount Everest in 2003)

“The natural world is beautiful to behold. Within its beauty, there is a wealth of insight to explore and hold within each of us. Tom captures these rich wisdoms, then connects them to business, in all its complexity and pure simplicity. This is not a text as much it is a collection of poems to the business leader, through the eyes of a caring thinker.”

Peter Gerritsen
President, TAAN (Transworld Advertising Agency Network)

“In stillness, our ancestors, gleaned the profound lessons of nature, brought them back to their communities, told stories about what they had learned and applied the lessons to their daily lives. Tom Porter is our modern day emissary, reminding us of the wisdom that nature freely offers, if we are willing to listen. This book is a can’t-do-without, esthetically pleasing, very practical, well-researched guide to conscious business practices.”

Ann Romberg and Lynn Baskfield, Principals
Wisdom Horse Coaching, LLC

“Tom’s uncanny gift to see and hear what others often miss served him well in his successful business career. Now, in his new book, he shares how each of us can sharpen our senses and glean practical life and business lessons by being a better student of the world around us…you’ll never see things quite the same. A fascinating read!”

Graham J. Cook, President & CEO
Homesteaders Life Company

“Tom Porter, in his book, “Learning from a Duck” has delivered sophisticated nature lessons that provide us with unique insight about nature and important lessons for running a business. If green is the color of this millennium, then the successful business of our time will be green as well, less management by cliché more in the simple interdependent and ethical way that nature teaches us.”

Rick McMaster, Executive Director
North Idaho Health Network