by Jim Bohn ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 12, 2016
A highly accessible, refreshing, and action-oriented approach to leadership by a sagacious observer.
Practical leadership wisdom in an abbreviated, punchy format.
Former Fortune 100 company manager and change-management consultant Bohn (Architects of Change, 2016) serves up an intriguing, if not entirely new, spin on the topic of business leadership. His book is essentially a collection of rapid-fire, pithy tips and advisories that even the busiest executive will have time to take in. It’s divided into four sections (“Self Leadership,” “Team Leadership,” “Organizational Leadership,” and “Philosophy of Leadership”), each comprising “Tools, Techniques & Hot Spots” subsections that deftly identify desirable behaviors, leadership concepts, and touchy subjects worthy of attention. One “Tool,” for example, quickly covers the concept of “leadership persona,” while another touches on how to “create the conditions for motivation.” One “Technique” asks the provocative question, “Is Your Organizational Behavior Driving People Away?” “Hot Spots” is perhaps the most interesting component, offering eye-opening, pointed discussions of real-world leadership challenges, such as “Career Wake-Up Calls,” “How to Survive Organizational Dragons,” and “Want to Think Outside the Box? Stop Putting People in Them!” Part of the value of Bohn’s book is in his down-to-earth ability to authoritatively convey advice without sugarcoating it. He seems to delight in busting myths and raising eyebrows, and some of his statements are both amusing and insightful, such as, “Listen, but ignore the noise,” “Leadership craziness leads to Organizational Attention Deficit Disorder,” and “Buzzwords can be a sign of organizational laziness.” Such a blunt attitude isn’t a bad thing, and the author’s overall message is decidedly uplifting. He also offers personal experiences that highlight moments of fallibility, which should make leaders think twice about the impact of their own actions.
A highly accessible, refreshing, and action-oriented approach to leadership by a sagacious observer.Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5328-9592-0
Page Count: 250
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Daniel Kahneman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2011
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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by Rebecca Henderson ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2020
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.
A well-constructed critique of an economic system that, by the author’s account, is a driver of the world’s destruction.
Harvard Business School professor Henderson vigorously questions the bromide that “management’s only duty is to maximize shareholder value,” a notion advanced by Milton Friedman and accepted uncritically in business schools ever since. By that logic, writes the author, there is no reason why corporations should not fish out the oceans, raise drug prices, militate against public education (since it costs tax money), and otherwise behave ruinously and anti-socially. Many do, even though an alternative theory of business organization argues that corporations and society should enjoy a symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit, which includes corporate investment in what economists call public goods. Given that the history of humankind is “the story of our increasing ability to cooperate at larger and larger scales,” one would hope that in the face of environmental degradation and other threats, we might adopt the symbiotic model rather than the winner-take-all one. Problems abound, of course, including that of the “free rider,” the corporation that takes the benefits from collaborative agreements but does none of the work. Henderson examines case studies such as a large food company that emphasized environmentally responsible production and in turn built “purpose-led, sustainable living brands” and otherwise led the way in increasing shareholder value by reducing risk while building demand. The author argues that the “short-termism” that dominates corporate thinking needs to be adjusted to a longer view even though the larger problem might be better characterized as “failure of information.” Henderson closes with a set of prescriptions for bringing a more equitable economics to the personal level, one that, among other things, asks us to step outside routine—eat less meat, drive less—and become active in forcing corporations (and politicians) to be better citizens.
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.Pub Date: May 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5417-3015-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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