An empowering guide to positive leadership that could use more modern cultural touchstones.
Cognitive science is combined with coaching strategies in this how-to on positive thinking for leaders by Burke, Berman, and Power.
According to the authors, negative self-talk undermines confidence, intensifies stress, and reduces effectiveness and productivity in the workplace. They introduce the concept of the “Monster,” an inner voice that “runs your corporate aspirations straight into the ground.” The authors contrast this with the “confident, positive, determined inner voice” of the “Maverick.” Evolutionary, genetic, and societal factors that stoke fear and exacerbate negative thought patterns are discussed. Examples of imposter syndrome, even in obviously successful people like actor Tom Hanks and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, are offered. Readers are then encouraged to analyze how confirmation bias, experiential avoidance, amygdala hijacking, and overthinking have impacted their careers. The authors then introduce their “3-C Maverick Method,” consisting of “catch[ing],” “confronting,” and “changing” negative thought patterns, emotions, and behaviors. The book also explores the “Big 5 Monster Archetypes” (or cognitive distortions) that show up most frequently at work: the “Catastrophizer,” “Always Righter,” “Mind Reader,” “Overgeneralizer,” and “Should-er.” The book then shifts to “team-talk,” providing tools to shift from vicious to virtuous cycles, foster psychological safety, and improve communication. The book concludes with a reminder to “Trust your inner Maverick to create a new story for you.” This straightforward guide equips leaders with concrete tools to shift the workplace narrative. The book’s language is casual but engaging, using “we” and “us” throughout to reframe negative self-talk as a universal challenge rather than a personal failing. The book includes many insightful exercises, like an audit of the messages received during various life stages or writing a letter to your “Monster.” The authors also provide personas like “Overblowing Olivia” and “Jump to Conclusions John” so readers can practice the 3-C method on them. Discussion of how loneliness impacts leadership is also timely and unique. However, some of the pop culture references, like to the movies 8 Mile and Forrest Gump may feel dated to younger generations.
An empowering guide to positive leadership that could use more modern cultural touchstones.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781774585894
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Page Two
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 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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