A knowledgeable and convincing call to view SDG and ESG initiatives as profitable.
Two forward-thinking logistics experts weigh in on environmentally and economically responsible leadership strategies in this nonfiction debut.
Wood and Nakazawa offer a vision of better, more responsible corporate leadership that, they assert, is both realistic and good for the bottom line: “If they choose to, corporations and governments can utilize resources without damaging the environment,” they write. “They can find ways to add value to the world while being extraordinarily profitable.” The authors take as their starting point the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), pointing out that in the modern era, investors are becoming more sophisticated when it comes to environmental goals, as well as concepts such as gender equality, antipoverty, and antihunger initiatives. Those who ignore such issues may actually do damage to their companies, they point out, by creating “social problems, management problems, and even legal problems and lawsuits from employees.” The authors, who in 2019 co-founded Smart Vision Logistics,draw on their experiences advising other companies to examine, in part, the ways that “environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals” can affect future performance. To aid the formulation of such strategies, Wood and Nakazawa present researched chapters, key takeaways, and “guided reflections” such as “How are you currently demonstrating to investors that your business is not only in the business of making outsized profits, but is also adding value to society?” The authors infuse most of their discussion with an infectious enthusiasm, urging their readers to see SDGs not as a burden but as a series of opportunities: “For while a company doesn’t have to solve the world’s problems, it’s time to consider that solving someof them is the right business strategy,” as it can not only attract investors who want the same goals, but also reduce risks of scandals. Their narrative can sometimes take surprising turns, as when they digress about the “very authoritarian” corporate environment of Japan, comparing the system to China’s. However, the bulk of the book deals effectively and very knowledgeably with fundamental changes in the business world.
A knowledgeable and convincing call to view SDG and ESG initiatives as profitable.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781544540948
Page Count: 296
Publisher: Lioncrest Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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