Joshua Elzy

Improve your decision making through examples of cognitive biases. The author set out to write a nearly comprehensive account of the ways our decision making goes wrong. This book helps make you more conscious of your biases and perceptive in observing biases that creep into group decision making.

Understand how our decision-making processes work and how that behavioral economics differs from what classical economics suggests. This book presents some of the Nobel Prize winning insights Kahneman discovered along with Amos Tversky. It can help you be more conscious of your decision making and better understand the decision making of your colleagues or stakeholders.

“Coaching is a relationship, not a meeting.” This is the most enjoyable work I’ve ever seen on giving and receiving feedback. The authors made the material so engaging, understandable, and useful, especially with example dialogs dealing with many circumstances and challenges. To drive home their analysis and recommendations, the authors addressed not just managerial relationships, but also spousal, parental, mentoring, friendships, etc. The authors and voice actors enacted these examples well for the audiobook, which is the version I had. If you’re looking for a great gift for all your employees, I highly recommend sharing this book.

I’ve worked with many managers (and HRs) who could benefit from this book, hopefully reducing the conflict avoidance that turns small problems into big ones. As remote and matrix organization structures proliferate, communication skills can take equal weight with technical skills in determining career success. Celeste Headlee demonstrates her points with relatable personal and professional examples, including a great illustration of how managers could address performance issues with employees. I especially recommend the audiobook! The author is a professional speaker and her inflection adds to the examples.