Mixing inspiration and practical advice, this is a useful read for leaders at every level.
The president of the Rockefeller Foundation shows why big problems require big responses.
Often, the world’s problems seem too large and complicated to even describe, let alone overcome. Shah recognizes this sense of being overwhelmed, but he insists that finding a solution is always possible. The author’s experience is appropriate to his subject: He started his career at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he played a central role in a massive program of vaccination in developing countries, and he went on to serve as the administrator for the United States Agency for International Development under Barack Obama. As the author notes, there was a debate about the most effective way to improve public health through philanthropic aid, but when the goal of vaccinating 900 million children was eventually set, everyone signed on. The key was to break down the problem into manageable segments, determining the crucial obstacles. Keeping the target firmly in mind reduced the danger of becoming bogged down in complexity. Reliable metrics were also necessary to gauge progress and identify problems with implementation. Shah took the methodology with him when he jumped into the head role of the Rockefeller Foundation. He had to gain the endorsement of heads of state and corporate leaders to provide financial backing, political support, and technical expertise. He guided a number of important projects to fruition, including a program to bring sustainable electricity to rural areas in India. While Shah underlines the critical role of experts in any “big bet” project, he also accepts that input from the community being affected is essential. He concludes each chapter with a distilled list of lessons, highlighting the importance of a clear purpose and firm strategy. His tone occasionally becomes a bit self-righteous, but in the end, he offers a lot of important information about getting from vision to outcome.
Mixing inspiration and practical advice, this is a useful read for leaders at every level.Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9781668004388
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon Element
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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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