A flashy and well-researched, if at times self-promoting, commentary on modern leadership.
A corporate consultant outlines effective 21st-century leadership principles in this nonfiction book.
“The work of leadership isn’t just about building organizations,” writes Grossman; “it’s about building people who then create something extraordinary together.” Drawing on the “collective wisdom” of his clients and colleagues in the business sector, as well as data amassed by the Harris Poll on behalf of his consulting agency, the author argues that the most effective modern leaders balance “emotional intelligence with analytical thinking.” In other words, they combine an empathetic, encouraging approach with strategic thinking focused on efficiency. While the book’s ample selection of anecdotes from CEOs across numerous businesses lend a personal touch to the work, what stands out most is the poll data taken from more than 2,000 employees. This research indicates the persistence of antiquated “command-and-control” leadership styles, with only one-third of employees willing to call their organization’s leadership “exceptional.” Grossman convincingly uses the Harris Poll data to identify six traits characteristic of exceptional leaders and devotes an entire chapter to each, including leading with gratitude, fostering an inclusive culture, and “communicat[ing] with context.” (The author reports that leaders designated exceptional by their employees were more than seven times more effective at “adjusting their communication to meet employee needs.”) Grossman conveys his research-backed claims in an enthusiastic writing style that makes for an absorbing read rich with real-world examples and commentary from the author’s corporate cohorts. The book boasts a wealth of visual elements, such as colorful fonts and high-resolution, full-color illustrations, diagrams, and photographs; occasionally, the work feels like a stimulating collection of streamlined infographics. It also reads at times like an extended advertisement for the author’s consulting agency, the Grossman Group, since the text is full of trademarked phrases, references to the author’s other books, and QR codes linked to additional products and services.
A flashy and well-researched, if at times self-promoting, commentary on modern leadership.Pub Date: March 24, 2026
ISBN: 9798900260860
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Amplify Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 18, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
IN THE NEWS
A passionate and accessible guide to humanizing the workplace.
Helbig and Norman present a game plan for making leadership more responsively human.
In this expanded update to The Psychological Safety Playbook: Lead More Powerfully by Being More Human (2023), the authors provide “practical strategies for responding to resistance, sparking change, embodying the change we want to see, and moving forward deliberately,” specifically in a business setting. They suggest ways to encourage what they call “changemakers” through the use of five key “plays” from their playbook: Communicate Courageously, Master the Art of Listening, Manage Your Reactions (“shift from automatic reaction to conscious response to stay better connected to yourself and others”), Embrace Risk and Failure, and Design Inclusive Rituals. The goal is to ensure that organizational cultures promote psychological safety, guided by leaders who “walk the talk” by emphasizing their own humanity at every turn. (“We must be the first to share our own failures with our teams, which will start to make it possible for others to do the same.”) This call for example-setting is sounded throughout the book as Helbig and Norman urge their target audience (leaders and would-be leaders) to go beyond mere instruction and instead embody the qualities they want to see in their subordinates, such as continuous learning, active curiosity, and self-reflection. Each chapter includes a detailed “Recommended Reading” section and text with extensive numbered and bulleted points formatted to make the core concepts more immediately digestible. The authors effectively employ clear and empathetic prose to assure readers that psychological safety is slow to build and quick to break, observing that such safety requires steady attention and delivers outsize payoffs as a result. They refreshingly ground a great deal of the material in psychology and neuroscience, pointing out, for instance, that research has demonstrated that the parasympathetic nervous system responds to honest appreciation, which improves creative thinking. Some wistful readers might consider some of the authors’ suggestions beyond the reach of their own organizations, as when group facilitators are advised to “gently intervene when someone dominates the conversation,” but hope springs eternal.
A passionate and accessible guide to humanizing the workplace.Pub Date: May 19, 2026
ISBN: 9798993550503
Page Count: 170
Publisher: Crazy Idea Press
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
