A useful, systematic, and logical approach to leadership development.
Analysis and reflection are at the heart of this debut guide to building a personal brand.
While “brand” is most often applied to a product or service, the concept of a personal one has gained popularity in recent years. In this book, King, who co-founded a leadership development consulting firm, makes a strong case for fashioning a personal brand that intersects with “authentic leadership.” The first part of the volume concentrates on what leadership is, how “leader influencers” in one’s life help shape an individual, and the impact of positive and negative experiences on forging a personal brand. The author relates numerous stories to illustrate these experiences, helping to personalize this section. Part 2 offers a solid overview of six attributes of a business brand (Purpose, Promise, Principles, Experiences, Presence, Description), relating those traits to a personal brand. King employs an “Authenticity Rating” scoring system to evaluate the clarity of each of the attributes, both for a business brand and a personal one. The author includes an example of each and then encourages readers to assess the authenticity of business and personal brands. Finally, readers are guided through a process of self-assessment using the same scoring system. This technique very effectively demonstrates how to apply the concept of business branding to personal branding. The third part of the book covers what King calls “Your True North”; it briefly explores ways to stay focused and authentic even “when life derails your brand.” Part 4 discusses the characteristics of authentic leaders, again relying on several tales as examples. It also encourages readers to identify their own unique strengths and to develop and share “purpose” statements. The manual does require readers to engage in considerable self-evaluation, so it is not for the faint of heart. Still, those willing to make the commitment should benefit from the personal examination and begin to understand whether the potential to be a leader exists. King’s passion for building leaders is evident: “The world needs authentic leaders, leaders who are true to themselves and purpose driven.”
A useful, systematic, and logical approach to leadership development.Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-989059-35-7
Page Count: 196
Publisher: Ingenium Books
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.
Want to get ahead in business? Consult a dictionary.
By Wharton School professor Berger’s account, much of the art of persuasion lies in the art of choosing the right word. Want to jump ahead of others waiting in line to use a photocopy machine, even if they’re grizzled New Yorkers? Throw a because into the equation (“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”), and you’re likely to get your way. Want someone to do your copying for you? Then change your verbs to nouns: not “Can you help me?” but “Can you be a helper?” As Berger notes, there’s a subtle psychological shift at play when a person becomes not a mere instrument in helping but instead acquires an identity as a helper. It’s the little things, one supposes, and the author offers some interesting strategies that eager readers will want to try out. Instead of alienating a listener with the omniscient should, as in “You should do this,” try could instead: “Well, you could…” induces all concerned “to recognize that there might be other possibilities.” Berger’s counsel that one should use abstractions contradicts his admonition to use concrete language, and it doesn’t help matters to say that each is appropriate to a particular situation, while grammarians will wince at his suggestion that a nerve-calming exercise to “try talking to yourself in the third person (‘You can do it!’)” in fact invokes the second person. Still, there are plenty of useful insights, particularly for students of advertising and public speaking. It’s intriguing to note that appeals to God are less effective in securing a loan than a simple affirmative such as “I pay all bills…on time”), and it’s helpful to keep in mind that “the right words used at the right time can have immense power.”
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063204935
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper Business
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
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