A useful addition to the leadership genre.
Readers may assume that the Army has no problem taking risks, but McChrystal, a retired four-star general and commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, emphasizes that the opposite is true: “to the very marrow of its bones, the United States military is an intensely risk-averse entity.” Charged with defending the nation, the armed forces cannot fail, so “most military leaders prefer belt and suspenders, and a backup set of each.” Yet, despite full knowledge of a threat, the military has been caught by surprise in disasters from Pearl Harbor to 9/11, and civilian leaders have dithered in confronting crises such as Covid-19 and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. McChrystal emphasizes that organizations and individuals fall victim because they focus on the probability of something bad happening (and, if it’s unlikely, paying little attention) instead of what they must do about it. As a solution, the author presents the “Risk Immune System,” a process similar to our body’s defenses against infections. An efficient Risk Immune System detects threats, assesses the risk they represent, and responds. Readers will learn this in the introduction, but these pieces represent only the tip of the iceberg. McChrystal follows with 10 key dimensions essential to his strategy (leadership is “the indispensable factor”) and then a series of solutions to reinforce individual skills and collective collaboration. This is more information about risk than most readers need, but the author lightens the load with a steady stream of stories illustrating disasters (and the occasional success) from history as well as his own experience. A career military officer who rose to the top of his profession, McChrystal has spent a lifetime dealing with risks. While his insights seem directed at fellow officers or business executives, average readers will enjoy the anecdotes (mostly about war and business) and have no quarrel with his advice.
A useful addition to the leadership genre.Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-19220-7
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Portfolio
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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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