A well-written, straightforward business manual that covers familiar material in an effective and engaging way.
A debut handbook for managers addresses all aspects of shaping and guiding a business.
In this volume, Gaston draws on decades of experience in security and defense-related industries to provide a list of rules for managers working on both day-to-day issues and broader questions of strategy and procedure. Using an outline-style format with frequent bullet points and subheadings, the author steers readers through managing their own career paths (“Take time to determine what you want to do, when you want to do it, and where you want to be”), serving as significant assets to their superiors (“Your boss is the most important person in your organizational chain”), limiting the impact of overhead expenses (“Be prepared to close down failing non-core business initiatives that exceed budget, break deadlines, or do not meet basic return-on-investment expectations”), and ensuring the security of proprietary information (“The theft of trade secrets is alive and well”), among other matters. Each facet of management strategy, personal development, and leadership techniques is presented in its own chapter, concluding with a checklist of action items on the topic and Gaston’s summary of his key points. The author’s defense and security background brings a unique perspective to traditional management advice, with recommendations to hire veterans included among the tips for staffing a successful company and frequent mentions of working with government contracts throughout. While none of the information in these pages will be groundbreaking to readers already familiar with business literature, Gaston does an expert job of offering his strategies in a highly readable format ideal for quick reference. In addition, the author delivers a substantial amount of solid advice that readers new to the topic are likely to find useful. The concise guide also includes detailed information on subjects like contingency planning and physical security that are less often addressed in volumes on management theory, adding to its value in a collection of resources.
A well-written, straightforward business manual that covers familiar material in an effective and engaging way.Pub Date: April 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5127-7739-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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
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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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