Two years ago, I attended the Foundations for Leadership Program of the Society for Organizational Learning facilitated by Peter Senge, founder of the organization. The SoL is a global community of corporations, researchers and consultants dedicated to the “interdependent development of people and their institutions.” Each participant received the one leadership book that Senge said we must read and re-read: “Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn (Bantam, 1992).

The book is a philosophical conversation between the narrator and a gorilla. When the book begins, the narrator has just read a classified ad in the newspaper that says, “Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.” The teacher calls himself Ishmael, and when the narrator meets the teacher – a gorilla – he sees a sign hanging on the wall that asks, “WITH MAN GONE, WILL THERE BE HOPE FOR GORILLA?”

Almost the entire novel consists of the dialogue between these two characters. Ishmael guides the narrator in learning how to “see” some our deepest assumptions — assumptions shared by most modern societies that are so taken for granted that it is almost impossible for us to realize their impact. Ishmael’s teachings through Socratic questioning help us think about the land-hungry hierarchical societies — which he calls Takers — that overwhelmed the ecologically healthy hunter/gatherer cultures — which he calls Leavers. The Taker culture that produced modern civilization does not see man as part of nature, but as separate from and superior to the rest of creation.

By the end of this book, my own view of the world had changed. As Senge said, “We consider the living universe around us as nothing more than ‘natural resources’ that exist solely for us to take and use. We must start now to think differently about this.” The book had such a profound effect on me that it is required reading for my management students.

Then I discovered the Great Ape Trust of Iowa. Reading “Ishmael” made me pay special attention to articles in the newspaper about this new institution. A few months later, I had the opportunity to hear Duane Rumbaugh, director of academic and community relations at the Trust, speak. According to Rumbaugh, the Great Ape Trust is a place where together “we learn of our behavior, of our thought and of each other.” He told me that the gorillas are not ordinary beings. “They remind us that we are not the only significant life on this planet,” he said. “They have taught us more than we have taught them.”

Rumbaugh emphasized that what we are learning from the great apes can be applied to the benefit of human children and adults, and can contribute to a better understanding of the rest of the creatures with whom we share the planet, especially other primates. He also emphasized that these apes encourage us to question our assumptions about how we live, how we operate and what we think is best for the world. The apes are a bellwether to monitor how the planet will continue to sustain life.

It is not until the end of “Ishmael” that we learn what is printed on the other side of the sign: “WITH GORILLA GONE, WILL THERE BE HOPE FOR MAN? In one of his books, Senge wrote: “What is man’s purpose in the larger web of life, within the universe? What if humans actually have a purpose beyond ourselves? What if we have something to contribute — something to give rather than to take?”

These are questions that leaders at all levels should be asking. Because Iowa is fortunate enough to have the Great Ape Trust, “Ishmael” should be required reading for all Iowans.

Jann Freed is a professor of business management at Central College in Pella and holds The Mark and Kay DeCook Endowed Chair of Leadership and Character Development.