Does your boss ever remind you of an ape? Snorting around, grunting orders, lurching through the office with his knuckles dragging the ground, beating his chest and growling every five minutes just to prove that he’s Chief Chimp in Charge. Gorilla bosses have more in common with their grub-eating counterparts than you might think. Neurobiology research reveals significant parallels between the brain activity of workplace bullies and that of chest-thumping gorillas. “The need to dominate, intimidate, and oppress has its basis in an innate, instinctual, primitive need,” suggests David Weiner, author of Power Freaks: Dealing With Them in the Workplace or Anyplace. Buried beneath our big modern brains is a more primitive limbic brain, an instinct-driven, survivalist-oriented system that closely resembles that of an ape. It’s the monkey mind that often takes over in times of stress or when there’s no fear of reprisal. A bully boss may display a thin veneer of humanity in front of higher-ups and customers, yet buried beneath his (or her) fancy car, cushy office, and endless PowerPoint presentations is the mind of a monkey. Weiner explains how ape-like behaviors manifest in the workplace. “The primitive brain mechanism drives us into creating hierarchies (promotions, executive perks, bonuses and salary ladders) and defending our territory (corner office, best parking spot, taking credit for the success of a group-generated project), two behaviors essential for primitive organization and survival,” he writes. As a species that shares 98.5 percent of its DNA with chimps, it’s not surprising that the modern workplace—with its cubicles and organization trees— often resembles a fancied-up version of Planet of the Apes. Weiner says,  “Tension to move up the ranks or defend one’s position exists innately within our instinctual-emotional minds http://www.mcleodandmore.com/2014/02/03/managing-the-monkeys-in-the-middle-of-management/