Malcolm Gladwell's bestseller "Blink" delves into the powers and dangers of intuitive decision making. "Blink" explores "The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" and the potentially remarkable accuracy of snap decisions. Malcolm Gladwell calls these snap judgments and decisions rapid cognition. Presented with a new circumstance we take about 2 seconds to reach instant conclusions. Malcolm Gladwell proposes that these can be remarkably accurate and powerful. In "Blink" he presents a number of examples where individuals with expertise based on substantial experience instantaneously reached accurate conclusions that ran counter to extensive, detailed analysis and scientific testing. The conclusion is that the subconscious mind is able to draw accurate conclusions with limited information. The power of this intuition develops as individuals apply conscious effort toward a particular endeavor and gather experience to become experts in their areas. "Blink" provides a powerful endorsement of intuitive decision making. The implication for decision makers and businesses is that such decision making should be given serious weight alongside analytical decision making, and can be use to verify or challenge analytical decisions.
While rapid cognition is a powerful tool, "Blink" provides ample examples of the dangers inherent in such snap judgments. He provides examples of situations where rapid cognition led to poor decisions with disastrous results. Other dangers include subconscious prejudices related to such things as race, height, sex, and appearance, and how such things can cause rapid cognition to lead to erroneous and sometimes unjust decisions.
Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" covers a subject of utmost importance. Understanding the power and dangers of this facet of human nature is important for everyone, but is especially critical for organizational decision makers.
Dr. Cialdini's book on "The Psychology of Persuasion" is persuasive. The premise of this book is that there are six psychological "Weapons of Influence", the title of his first chapter, which can be wielded to persuade others to act or decide as the influencer wants. More accurately, there are certain elements of human nature that can be exploited to cause desired behaviors from others. Furthermore, these characteristics are so engrained in our nature that compliance is almost automatic and we are normally unaware they are being used on us - without knowledge of these principles, we are defenseless against them.
In "Influence", Dr. Cialdini weaves together surprising scientific studies from the field of human psychology and dramatic, sometimes shocking, real life examples to make a convincing argument for his propositions. Additionally, he is a good writer whose presentation of this potentially difficult information is clear and enjoyable to read.
Anyone can benefit from this book from both perspectives - as the salesperson or the consumer, the teacher or the student, the leader or the led. As information technology explodes, persuasion is more prevalent, sophisticated, and subtle. The knowledge gleaned from this book will provide you with the awareness needed to fend for oneself in the modern world, and to more effectively promote change through leadership of others.
Scholar Thomas Sowell describes the role of the intellectual class, of which he is by definition a part, in modern societies. Intellectuals, as described in Dr. Sowell's "Intellectuals and Society", form a class made up of those whose occupation it is to produce ideas. More specifically, in "Intellectuals and Society", Dr. Sowell says of Intellectuals, it is those whose work "begins and ends with ideas". Sowell differentiates between Intellectuals and a larger intelligentsia, of which the Intellectuals form the core. Surrounding the Intellectuals, the larger part of the intelligentsia is made of those who develop, disseminate, and advocate the ideas flowing from the core. Around the core, these sycophants gather from a variety of motivations, but basically analogous to moths gathering to a candle either seeking or blinded by the light. Nonetheless, this ring of sycophants provides the means by which the intellectual core of the intelligentsia exercises its power. It seems the intelligentsia's power in society began to expand rapidly at the dawn of the 20th Century when it began exercising greater direct influence on societal, particularly government, leaders. Indirectly, it advocated programs seeking to change cultural norms into compliance with its vision and to cultivate societal docility toward change contemporarily unacceptable. With the rapid expansion of communication technology over the last hundred years, the power of the intelligentsia has grown beyond influencing government leaders directly and society through steady but patient indoctrination. Using technology and proven techniques of persuasion the intelligentsia can now directly manipulate society at large, thus compelling its leaders to implement the Intellectuals' ideas and vision upon society. In short, there has been an unprecedented shift in power from leaders on the one hand and from the people on the other to this relatively small class of people defined as Intellectuals.
Thomas Sowell does not attack intelligence or a legitimate role for intellectuals in society. Rather he has identified historical events which show this power shift has resulted in disaster after disaster befalling humanity. Although citing multiple historical events to prove his contention, Thomas Sowell is particularly persuasive in his contention that the role of Intellectuals in shaping policy from World War I through the Great Depression led to the devastation of World War II. In particular, intellectual thought has consistently led to policies based on Intellectuals' ideals and myopia rather than realistic assessment of conditions, events, and patterns. The basic reason behind this is the limitation of human capability. In summary, there is just too much information for a small class of people, let alone any individual, to absorb and process. Additionally, implied although not directly stated in "Intellectuals and Society", it seems the closed nature of the intellectual class, its incestuous processing of ideas unabated by reality outside its circle, and the tendency for arrogance to attach to intelligence, drive out the humility that is prerequisite to wisdom. In fact, consistent and disastrous failure, like some strange sect on the morning after the promised ship failed to arrive, has only served to cement their vision and reinvest their ideas. The resulting pomposity of the intelligentsia has led to its disdain for the other classes of society. The intelligentsia sees itself as ascendant above society, and Intellectuals as above all. As a result, the intellectual class assumes the moral high ground in compelling our compliance with its vision - as it is, in their view, for our own good.
Thomas Sowell provides an alternative vision of society; one which compels society toward the best economic outcomes for its members. On the one hand, a small class of intellectuals makes decisions for its members. Regardless of the intellectual prowess of this class or its members, the task is daunting and consistently good decisions impossible. Essentially, the rise of the Intellectuals is another form of the age old struggle between the ruled and its rulers. Thomas Sowell takes the side of liberty; to minimize the power of the rulers and protect the freedoms of the ruled. Each individual is far more capable of making decisions in his or her own life than is some far off, class cocooned intellectual. Millions of free, individual choices, made with relatively detailed information about the circumstances at each point of decision, will result superior outcomes for society.
In "Drive", Daniel H. Pink explains "The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us". In particular, he explains the human motivators identified by science and how organizational practices are normally in conflict with these scientific facts. Science related to human motivation has continued to develop on psychological ideas first developed by Abraham Maslow in the 1950's and made a foundation of modern managerial thought by Douglas McGregor in the 1960's. "Drive" brings us up to date on the science of human motivation and how it should be applied to organizations.
Daniel Pink's "Drive" seems especially relevant to answering the perplexing question first identified and asked by Peter Drucker in the 1960's - how to motivate the knowledge worker. Knowledge workers are now economically predominant, and their performance is critical to most organizations. "Drive" provides the answers necessary to maximize performance of these workers. Interestingly, according to Daniel Pink, one of the main human motivators is mastery, a concept intensely discussed and developed by Peter M. Senge in "The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization". The ideas developed in Daniel Pink's "Drive" are consistent with those proposed by the best and most influential business thinkers of the last half century. Pink's contribution is in gathering the current scientific understanding on this subject and presenting it in a focused, easy read. "Drive" is thought-provoking and designed to help the reader generate ideas to apply their newly acquired knowledge to their particular managerial challenges.
