An observant, discerning work on understanding and improving organizations.
An in-depth examination of “the psychology of citizenship.”
Using his dual perspectives as a psychiatrist and an organizational consultant, Shapiro addresses a subject that has vast implications for individuals and organizational leaders. He methodically analyzes human connections in the broadest sense of the word, beginning with the family, progressing to the group, and culminating in organizations. Part I is a crash course in organizational dynamics. It begins with three engaging stories that uniquely demonstrate how a single individual’s actions can significantly impact a group. Shapiro accurately observes, “The more we become aware that our experience of ourselves is affected by others…the less sure we seem to be about where our individual experience begins and ends.” In Part II, Shapiro shows the ways leaders help shape institutions. He relies heavily on his experience as CEO and medical director of the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric hospital and residential treatment center, to both offer an understanding of the CEO psyche and outline the complexity of the leader’s role. At Riggs, Shapiro discovered “central aspects of collaborative citizenship.” Part III is expansive; it moves from a consideration of the ways institutions respond to society’s needs to individuals’ identities within nations, specifically the United States. Shapiro wrestles with some uncomfortable truths in this section and offers insightful observations: “In assuming its own mature responsibilities for contributing to the marginalization of subgroups both within and without, this country might offer a realistic hope for transcending differences in the service of a larger integrative mission.” At the close of Part III, Shapiro ponders what it means to be a global citizen.
The book’s sections flow cohesively from one to the next, so the logical progression of the argument becomes clear. The author explores the complex psychological dynamics of individuals, families, groups, and organizations in lucid writing free of medical and scientific jargon. Throughout, Shapiro cites pertinent examples and includes anecdotes, each of which aptly illustrates a key point. These stories, whether they are about individuals in families, patients in hospitals, or employees in companies, all serve to enrich the theories presented here. The author’s observations also further understanding of the less-than-logical ways humans process their situations, something that seems intuitive only once it’s explained. For example, about workers, he notes, “The fantasies and beliefs that individuals carry about the nature of their workplace has at least as much of an impact on organizational behavior as the workplace itself.” About leaders, he writes, they “must be transparent about their motivations and the effects of their own irrationality.” Shapiro projects his own humility, too; describing an experience as an “Institute Leader,” he steps outside the story and inserts his own reflections, questioning his role and observing his behavior at the time. This adds an element of psychological self-analysis that makes the narrative even more interesting. His hypothesis at the end of the book—“It is perhaps possible to conceive of humanity as a multicellular learning system, with each of us as a working cell”—is worth remembering.
An observant, discerning work on understanding and improving organizations.Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-912691-33-3
Page Count: 204
Publisher: Phoenix Publishing House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
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
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