On-point leadership advice outshines some overly simplistic counsel.
A guide to becoming a braver and less fearful leader.
Success is not for the meek—per Warrell, the braver you are, the more successful you will be. The author breaks down her path to success into five steps, which comprise the five major sections of this book: “Focus on What You Want, Not on What You Fear,” “Research What’s Kept You Scared or Too Safe,” “Breathe in Courage,” “Step into Discomfort,” and “Find the Treasure When You Trip.” These practices are all fleshed out in detail in an effort to help readers to wipe away fear and fill that gap with courage. The first section sets up the rest of the book, hammering home the idea that readers should be focusing on what they want to achieve, not what scares them about that goal or their situation. “The fearful mind creates the gap,” Warrell writes. “The brave heart closes it.” The following chapters are devoted to ways to achieve this closure, including creating your “story,” or reality, in a way that will benefit you best; coming to embrace discomfort; and learning from your mistakes. The author sums it all up with a closing chapter on making those around you less fearful and more courageous, too. (“Measure yourself by how brave you make others feel,” she writes.) While the text contains some simplistic advice, such as admonitions to not cast yourself as the victim or become hemmed in by labels, Warrell, who has a background in business and psychology, also digs deeper at times, discussing how psychology and biology relate to her topics. There are some clever moments (the author describes human brains as “Teflon for good and Velcro for bad”), but some of Warrell’s advice comes off as a bit too elementary and disingenuous. For instance, her list of tips for telling your story includes using the word excited instead of scared and characterizing setbacks as learning experiences rather than failures. For the most part, though, this is a solid effort, filled with thoughtful guidance for overcoming the mundane.
On-point leadership advice outshines some overly simplistic counsel.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781523007240
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 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
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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