A pleasant but familiar and sometimes-spacey take on common self-improvement themes.
Consultants Desiderio and Frino, the authors of The Beekeeper(2023), offer a starry-eyed tale that connects nature, business, and personal growth.
Inspired by “the energy from our star system,” visits to wolf sanctuaries and wilderness trails, and the work of astronomers, this book is an upbeat, self-described “leadership fable” focused on “unleashing the brilliance of building brighter teams.” In it, Jack, a small winery owner, meets Grayce, an astronomer and teacher. Jack has doubts about his business and struggles to define his personal concepts of purpose and growth. On a retreat at a state park, Grayce introduces him to the “star system”—the celestial bodies that the book uses as a metaphor for how to build a supportive network and embrace one’s curiosity and sense of connectedness. From chapter to chapter (each with partially italicized titles such as “Starburst” and “Lodestar”), Jack and Grayce stargaze and have meandering conversations about work, nature, and their pasts. Jack writes in his journal about how to “be brilliant” and his thoughts on plants and the natural world, interpolating facts he learns from signs posted in the park. He begins to reevaluate his challenges and apply lessons from astronomy and the environment to his leadership style. Thanks to his conversations with Grayce and a series of others, he begins to see setbacks as opportunities for growth, and parallels between the stars and his relationships. Desiderio and Frino’s bookworks well as a companion on a self-help journey, as it’s as cozy and reassuring as a glass of red wine while lounging by a firepit. However, some koanlike passages, such as “sometimes in the dark we need the light of the moon to illuminate the path forward,” may strike some readers as too far out to be effective advice. The book touches on common personal and professional challenges, and tries to share actionable advice about resilience, connectedness, and pursuing greatness. That said, its major insight—that focusing on human connection and fostering a “growth mindset” can transform one’s business—will already be well known to most readers.
A pleasant but familiar and sometimes-spacey take on common self-improvement themes.Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781394280537
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Wiley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
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
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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