WINNING BY LETTING GO: Control Without Compulsion, Surrender Without Defeat

by Elizabeth Brenner ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 24, 1985

Citing sources that range from Henry Ford to Virgil, Brenner aims to show how limiting the need for control is and how expanding or ""life-serving"" letting-go can be. Observations from psychotherapists, material from interviews with executives such as Malcolm Forbes, Vidal Sassoon and Pete Peterson, along with comments from many others (identified only by first name) supposedly show how concepts that are often paradoxical and hard to grasp can be applied to situations of daily life. ""The most successful managers know that once they've established the ground rules, it's letting people go--not controlling them--that increases productivity and profits."" The how-to side of the author's presentation is also seen in the techniques she suggests for increasing self-control or breaking ""overcontrol"" and in chapters about love, sex and marriage. But overall the book is wordy, its focus fuzzy--as if the author were addressing, at different times and for some reason exclusively, careerists looking for a quick leg-up, the psychology-oriented eager for insight into the dynamics of their personal relationships (or a new approach to dieting), or readers with a more metaphysical bent. There's something of substance for many here, but they'll have to work hard to find it.

Pub Date: May 24, 1985

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1985

Categories: NONFICTION