A clear and intelligent treatment of an increasingly important subject for entrepreneurs.
In this business book, a series of fictional case studies highlights both the challenges and opportunities presented by digital disruption.
Jankovich, Voskes, and Hornsby thoroughly articulate seven fictional stories that exemplify the world of digital disruption. The opportunities promised by digital innovation have forever altered and continue to transform the commercial landscape with such rapidity that no successful entrepreneur can abide complacency—one must forever be testing and inventing, perpetually open to the new and careful to temper the pitfalls of a dogmatically “fixed mindset.” The authors cover a wide range of scenarios and industries, from food and drink to flooring, as well as a broad expanse of problems to solve. In the first tale, Magnus, the CEO of a ball bearings manufacturer, hires “digital guru” Lazlo Hout to reenergize the company in the face of new competitive threats. But Lazlo flounders since he focuses on the media angle, which produces little concrete success, instead of a technological one. The authors argue that an overarching vision is always necessary as well as the right “conceptual toolkit” in order to properly diagnose both threats and opportunities. Moreover, digital success is always ultimately about understanding and winning over people and is therefore more a personal than purely analytical affair: “In short, you need the love. Working with data is perceived as hard science-ey, but it all rests on people’s feelings.” Each story is meticulously limned—the authors even estimate the reading times—with the lessons learned spelled out with lucid accessibility. This volume isn’t designed to be an introduction to the issue for a novice—it simply isn’t systematic enough to qualify as that kind of reference book. But for someone a little more sophisticated who’s looking for a deeper—and completely practical—look into the ins and outs of digital disruption, this is a thoughtful work.
A clear and intelligent treatment of an increasingly important subject for entrepreneurs.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-90-828382-2-0
Page Count: 244
Publisher: SparkOptimus
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.
Want to get ahead in business? Consult a dictionary.
By Wharton School professor Berger’s account, much of the art of persuasion lies in the art of choosing the right word. Want to jump ahead of others waiting in line to use a photocopy machine, even if they’re grizzled New Yorkers? Throw a because into the equation (“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”), and you’re likely to get your way. Want someone to do your copying for you? Then change your verbs to nouns: not “Can you help me?” but “Can you be a helper?” As Berger notes, there’s a subtle psychological shift at play when a person becomes not a mere instrument in helping but instead acquires an identity as a helper. It’s the little things, one supposes, and the author offers some interesting strategies that eager readers will want to try out. Instead of alienating a listener with the omniscient should, as in “You should do this,” try could instead: “Well, you could…” induces all concerned “to recognize that there might be other possibilities.” Berger’s counsel that one should use abstractions contradicts his admonition to use concrete language, and it doesn’t help matters to say that each is appropriate to a particular situation, while grammarians will wince at his suggestion that a nerve-calming exercise to “try talking to yourself in the third person (‘You can do it!’)” in fact invokes the second person. Still, there are plenty of useful insights, particularly for students of advertising and public speaking. It’s intriguing to note that appeals to God are less effective in securing a loan than a simple affirmative such as “I pay all bills…on time”), and it’s helpful to keep in mind that “the right words used at the right time can have immense power.”
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063204935
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper Business
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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