business book review

If you’ve ever tried to convince someone of your point of view (and who hasn’t?), then Negotiating the Impossible: How to Break Deadlocks and Resolve Ugly Conflicts (without money or muscle) by Deepak Malhotra is a must-read. Negotiating the Impossible is a high-value book that offers its readers accessible and practical lessons in the art of negotiation.… Continue reading Negotiating the Impossible

The End of Average by Todd Rose is about a widespread institutional perception of how individuality doesn’t matter and why it should. Mr. Rose’s book could have been called, How We Came to Have Screwed-up Ideas and What to Do About Them. Instead of building systems to fit the individual, organizations still try to fit people… Continue reading The End of Average

Margaret Atwood’s book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, is fascinating. Her list of glittering prizes is long. The reader is treated to a mature voice, a voice of wisdom, and playfulness. In other words, she knows how to tell a good story. Debtors and creditors are joined at the hip. Debit and credit… Continue reading Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth

Payoff: The hidden logic that shapes our motivations by Dan Ariely is a short book about meaning and motivation. The central thesis is that intrinsic motivators shape long-term beneficial results, whereas extrinsic rewards don’t. This small-format TED book is a companion to Dan Ariely’s TED Talks online. At 103 pages, it’s a quick read, something you… Continue reading Payoff

A dangerous book Which messages cause people to comply? Robert Cialdini’s new book addresses this question. Pre-Suasion is a revolutionary way to influence and persuade. Pre-suasion operates by creating favorable conditions a few moments before trying to influence. This is a powerful book, and not without its ethical concerns. I’ll get to that in a minute. A conjurer intentionally misdirects an… Continue reading Pre-Suasion by Robert Cialdini

Whether you’re speaking to a child about putting on her shoes, or you’re the head of an organization trying to solve a global problem, you need to understand and be understood. The Master Communicator’s Handbook, by Teresa Erickson and Tim Ward, is written primarily for professionals who need to communicate better. Yet anyone can learn from… Continue reading The master communicator’s handbook

There’s a sucker born every minute. Whether circus promoter P.T. Barnum actually uttered those words is a matter of dispute. Yet there is reason to beware. Phishing for Phools is crammed with examples of beastly things intelligent evil doers do to unsuspecting, lazy, or naïve folks. And it’s these stories from personal finance, medicine, politics, banking,… Continue reading Phishing for Phools

Everyone needs to decide, yet deciding is no simple matter. In Decisive: How to make better choices in life and work, Chip and Dan Heath explain why the process of decision-making is more effective than analysis. They then go on to show what a nuanced process looks like. In this short and popular book, the authors… Continue reading Decisive