An often invigorating guide to pursuing change with confidence.
Tasler, an organizational psychologist, offers a motivational book on maximizing change.
The author offers a unique perspective on personal and professional growth. His simple framework asserts that “Change happens. You grow. Then you win”; he blends social science with storytelling to reinforce these theories and offers examples from the careers of leaders such as IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Tasler observes that people who’ve reached a certain level of success find themselves at a crossroads: They either cling too closely to their survival instincts and avoid change, or they embrace a growth mindset and evolve. He explains how one can leverage the “spring fever effect,” in which the anticipation of a win triggers a greater dopamine release than the win itself, and explores the “power of a nudge,” such as a mentor’s encouragement, to push one toward new opportunities. The book urges readers to shift from “fragile optimism” (a belief in one specific positive outcome) to “agile optimism” (a belief that one will gain insights leading to any number of desirable outcomes). It also intriguingly questions the role of resilience, noting that “bouncing back to our original form isn’t the optimal response to change.” His “push-and-love approach” encourages leaders to challenge their team members while also reassuring them that they’re capable of more. Similarly, in times of change, rather than infuse subordinates with fear (via “jump-or-fry ultimatums”), leaders can inspire creativity through “dream-and-fly suggestions.” Some readers may find the “Change→Grow→Win” scenario to be overly optimistic, as it assumes people immediately have enough agency to instigate change and will ultimately come out on top. Still, throughout this book, Tasler offers creative conceptualizations of self-improvement, such as contrasting “chameleon resilience” (a survival instinct in which someone returns to the status quo after change) versus transformative “caterpillar resilience.” Overall, his advice is simple and practical, and he offers several insightful exercises, such as considering one’s current situation from a future perspective or writing about oneself in the third person to alter common self-perceptions.
An often invigorating guide to pursuing change with confidence.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781643435466
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Beaver's Pond Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 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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