July 21, 2025 and the 2600th post in the Every Day With Edgar Rice Burroughs series. On this day 22 years ago in 2003, Fortune Magazine published an article on finance that included references to Tarzan, orangutans, and the Tarzan yell. The lead article in the issue was “The 10 Greatest CEO’s of All Time,” but I don’t know which article contains the reference and I haven’t read it. I know that the table on contents page includes a bunch of bananas. Not having read the article, I’m free to make up whatever I want.
The drabble for today is, “Kreegah!,” inspired my vision of how Tarzan and Orangutan references would apply in a story about management style.
Fortune’s editor said, “I like your piece on the top ten CEO’s ever, but I don’t quite get the Tarzan and monkey references.”
“First, an orangutan is not a monkey, it’s an ape. In the real world, management follows jungle rules. Tarzan was the hands-on CEO of his jungle. His style was ruthless protection of his assets, undying loyalty to his employees, and courage to seek funding from dangerous sources.”
“And the monkey? Sorry, the ape?”
“Orangutans choose Laissez-faire leadership, with more group participation. Live and let live sort of thing."
“And which is best.”
“Sadly, orangutans are almost extinct.”
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