Book review
Audio book
Self help non fiction book genre
Rating- on its own 4/5; as a follow up to power of habits 3/5 (that is also the issue with expectations)
The book begins by describing a Surgeon which instantly got my attention since bird of a feather!
The author talks how this surgeon was a multi talented and extremely adept at handling multiple things at the same time!
Charles was so amazed by this surgeon that he mailed him asking for few minutes of his time so that he could give inputs on his own life! On how he manages to juggle between so many things! The doctor replies initially that he may not have time for him that day which leads our Charles to conclude that even he has limits! But he had actually misunderstood him! That week apparently the doctor was on a vacation with his kids that week but he was free the next!
So the management of time and better habit is what started the book!
Charles previous book on the power of Habit is like the prequel of what’s to come and this one also follows that same pattern!
The book follows some inspiring stories and then makes us look into the chief reasons why someone or something is a success!
The books first story was of a couple who in their seventies in the middle of a very successful personal and professional life went on a vacation and the husband Robert suffers a stroke especially of the basal ganglia region which leads to personality changes! He narrates how he immediately loses all resolve to do any work. He basically becomes unemotional and that makes a huge impact to his life. The author also narrates several such cases of people who had similar brain injury and that made them unemotional and lethargic to start any activity.
Further to this he describes a research using an fMRI machine where the fact that when one has a control of action then that’s the way people would like to go or are happy! Or when you feel you are in control of the decision then you are more happy as demonstrated by the scan!
One story was of a poor student called ERIC QUINTANILLA and basically a misfit who finally joins the marine corps and excels in the training since he has nothing else to do in life! This was the only thing he can do! And how the training was inspired by an officer who in real life wanted the marines to not only follow orders but when the time and stress is high, must also be able to make decisions on their own! The story of the training has been narrated rather well and is a must read!
In a completion of sorts the author also spoke about the struggles of Viola Philippe the wife of Robert who overcame that and much more!
Then the author talks about Julia and how her team in a project where everyone’s idea is welcome and everyone is involved is very effective! That how many companies like the Google also makes sure that everyone in the team is allowed a chance to contribute and every idea is encouraged no matter how small! This was apparently secondary to a project called the project Oxygen; this section is an interesting read indeed which essentially distinguished good managers from everyone else and how they can improve!
Then Charles discusses about Edmondson and how they conducted survey on team work and error rates! They found that strong teams made more mistakes paradoxically which in fact actually means that the team members feel open enough and courageous enough to accept and admit the mistakes in the first place!
The importance of team work is further elaborated in a extensive discipline which was followed during the filming and production of the very popular show Saturday night live in spit of the infighting, ego tussle, romantic liaisons and what not!
Then later the extended project Aristotle by Google is described and some key points are enumerated like how a team must feel that their work is important, meaningful, team needs clear goals and defined roles and dependence to each other and finally most important was psychological safety!
The author then talks about cognitive tunneling which is like a freeze response in tense situation and the importance of team work is enumerated in two separate incidents of plane crash, one which happened because of team failure and one which was averted! The narration of both was epic and tense! In between he also tells about automation which has made our brain lethargic and slow to act!
He also spoke about those who were calm during emergencies like a nurse who picked up a good call!
He then narrated how one single leaders biased opinion in Israel’s military almost bought them to a loss and the loss did happen in form of war which was predicted and in front of them but the general Eli Zeira just could not see the obvious since at this time they wanted concrete evidence and not speculation.
He talks about cognitive closure which for many is a big advantage while for many it is a big disadvantage!
Then comes a very interesting story of General Electric and Toyota and the andon cord! This is one of the best stories for me and you must read the book just for his one!
Thea author in between his stories adds many technical terms and analysis which juice up the narration and this is a very interesting way to learn though sometimes there is an interruption of flow and you just can’t wait to get back to the story!
One thing added were how goals can be specific, or measurable or achievable and if you make them like this then any habit can be formed by being realistic and making a timeline!
He tells then about the goal setting flow chart which is essentially a plan to make a habit work! It is really interesting so to speak!
Then he introduced a kidnapping and the hero is introduced which is a program called the Sentinel which again goes into a sub story how FBI after several such loss making incomplete program got a specialist on team work and made this very successful program which of course saved the day so to speak!
He also talks about star culture, engineering culture, bureaucratic culture and autocratic culture which are the forms of work culture which every management person is familiar with and finally they speak about the best culture for the success of a team or company; the commitment culture!
He then talks about a poker player and how she took care of her nerves by doing what she is good at and which makes her calm! In this case legitimate poker as a champion! He sub goals into how to predict different future and then make a decision!
A vey interesting story is how the story of the popular movie FROZEN had this particular story line and how the music was made and for people who really liked the movie this is a very interesting trivia! You must go through this to realise the effort which goes to make a movie like frozen! He also talks about how a slight change in authority or homeostasis so to speak can make you see the trees from the forest! The same was narrated in the very popular West Side Story where a modification of a familiar pattern gave rise to big dividends making it one of the most successful shows ever!
He then talks about the schooling system and how a plan and goal analysis and careful interoperation of data can make a huge difference! Since there is so much data it leads to cognitive blindness and
Once it is analysed and broken down then you have great result!
He then tells about the golden rule of the engineering design process of defining the Delian, collect data, brainstorming solution, debating approach and experimentation!
As the first book, here also the author tells how he applied the principles of the chapter in his own life and how he managed his time! The best way to demonstrate is self!
All in all a good book to listen!
Hopefully you may learn a thing or two!
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