If you don’t have a good answer to the question “Why Climb the Corporate Ladder When You Can Take the Elevator?” (Villard), you might want to read John M. Capozzi’s list of 500 secrets to achieving success in business. Among them: “Wait at least one hour before speaking to someone who has just screwed up.” “When you’ve got a good banker, take him to lunch from time to time, not just when you need money.” “It isn’t the people you fire who make your life miserable, it’s the ones you don’t.” “Leave your business at your office or you’ll leave your marriage at your lawyer’s.” “Only jerks lose their tempers.” “Call everyone back.” “Look busy,” “Call your switchboard at least once a month and ask for yourself.” And, most important: “Never dance slow with your boss’ spouse.”
In “Bunny Bunny” (Villard), Alan Zweibel relives his friendship with actress Gilda Radner through a series of dialogues. The two met in the early “Saturday Night Live” days. She was a budding comic, he a beginning writer. But what brought them together was a profound sense of inadequacy. They were overwhelmed by such people as Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd. Radner recognized Zweibel as a kindred spirit by the way he hid behind a potted palm at staff meetings. She asked him if it was OK if she hid next to him. He agreed. Not only did the tree offer coverage, but Zweibel believed it served another important function. “If either of us feel like fainting, we could get oxygen from these leaves,” he told her and then went on to explain photosynthesis-the process by which plants take carbon dioxide and convert it to oxygen-to her. A fascinating subject, but Radner pointed out that the tree was plastic. “I knew that,” Zweibel said. From this, a friendship was born that lasted till Radner’s death in 1989 of ovarian cancer.
