‘Making Work Fair: Data-Driven Design for Real Results’, by Iris Bohnet and Siri Chilazi
At a time when diversity, equity and inclusion programs are under fire, Harvard-based gender equality experts Bohnet and Chilazi offer a host of practical, evidence-based approaches to help ensure equity at work. If DEI is “ripe for rethinking,” as both the authors and the recent energy-sapping culture wars suggest, “equity” might be an acceptable replacement term. “Very few people are against justice,” although “not all of us agree on what it entails.”
Bohnet and Chilazi’s definition is: “true equality of access and opportunity to prosper.” Their data-driven paths to justice include clever behavioral tricks and more ambitious organizational programs. In the first category comes a workaround for CV gaps that trip up candidates, often women, who have taken career breaks. One study shows that simply listing work experience by years worked, without dates, increases the likelihood of an interview by 15 percent. In the latter category there is a strong call for paid, gender-neutral, non-transferable parental leave. All ideas are supported by abundant references to our own and others’ research.
Bohnet’s first book. What worksmade it to the finals of the 2016 Financial Times Business Book Award with its simple, behavioral science-based alternatives to ineffective diversity training programs. Make work fair is a timely guide to the latest research, aimed, the authors write, at “the activist working to promote DEI, as well as the activist working to limit DEI.” andres hill
‘99% Perspiration: A New Practical History of the American Lifestyle’, by Adam Chandler
Chandler’s book is the story of an idea and the damage it has wrought on American life. The title refers to a quote from inventor Thomas Edison, who is supposed to have said that genius is “1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” But Chandler challenges the idea that hard work always pays off and that individuals determine their destiny through their own efforts. He calls the thinking behind Edison’s creed “American Abracadabra,” a myth that is “part Rosebud, part Excalibur, part Sisyphus, and part ‘Free Bird.’”
The first part of the book examines how Americans came to fetishize labor and how myths often contradict historical facts. Chandler writes, for example, that one of the reasons so many white Americans resist acknowledging the far-reaching impact of slavery is because it grotesquely exposes how the myth that hard work pays off is contradicted by reality.
Chandler explores the dark fruits of obsession with self-success in the second part of the book, identifying them as at least a partial cause of contemporary overwork, division, isolation, and more. From time to time it feels as if, to borrow a work-related aphorism, you have a hammer and are looking for nails.
So be it. A book that seeks to reframe a way of thinking that profoundly shapes the American psyche, life, and society needs to be argued aggressively, and Chandler’s intervention offers much to consider. Claire Bushey
‘Judgment at Work: Making Better Decisions’, by Andrew Likierman
Likierman, former dean of the London Business School, director of the Bank of England and member of boards of directors from Germany to the United States, has made many decisions. But although there is an extensive literature on decision making, few books examine the critical element of judgment.
What exactly is judgment? Likierman defines it as combining relevant knowledge and experience with personal qualities to form opinions or make decisions. He argues that we should not be deterred by the fact that judgment is “hard to pin down”: we can get better at it, using a clear framework that begins with experience, awareness and trust, through feelings and beliefs, choice and finally delivery.
Likierman appeals to a wide range of examples of good and bad judgment. Describes how professionals in areas ranging from medicine to law exercise judgment by noticing details, listening to people, and understanding culture. Speed, managing uncertainty and taking hunches into account are also part of it, as is avoiding “complacency, overconfidence or habit.”
This is a book based on both theory and philosophical issues related to judgment. But it is also a practical guide, largely dedicated to applying judgment in business situations, with an accessible and fun section that includes quizzes and activities to put ideas into action. Bethan Staton
Inspire: The Universal Path to Guide Yourself and Others, by Adam Galinsky
This book begins with accounts of two terrible crises. In the first, the pilot of Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 assures passengers that his plane is not going down, guiding it to land after its left engine exploded, a success he attributes to a casual conversation with his crew before landing. exit. In the second, the captain of the ship Costa Concordia abandons his vessel as it sinks, a breach of duty for which he is later sentenced to 16 years in prison.
The very different results highlight contrasting examples of leadership on what Galinsky describes as an “enduring continuum,” between inspiring and infuriating.
Galinsky, drawing on years as a professor at Columbia Business School, delves into how leaders can become more aware of the impact their words and actions have on others, no matter how insignificant or small they may seem. Silence, for example, can be exasperating. Have you ever emailed an employee saying you wanted to talk to them without telling them why? They may be filling the void with worst-case scenarios.
“Awareness that our behavior may be sending unwanted signals can help us install daily tricks to prevent others from panicking,” says Galinsky, while offering a “scientific path to staying on the inspiring end of the continuum.” Its principles offer a meaningful blueprint for addressing business challenges, from producing innovative ideas to allocating scarce resources. Janina Conboye
‘Mindmasters: Data-driven science to predict and change human behavior’, by Sandra Matz
A computer with access to several hundred likes on your social media might know you better than your spouse. In a world where we have become accustomed to exchanging large amounts of personal data for personalized technological experiences, mental teachers explores how digital footprints are deciphered and leveraged for profit, and how we might take back control.
Matz, an early researcher of psychological targeting, takes an interesting look at how companies translate our online activity into unique baskets of psychological traits and then use them to market their products. From Netflix’s recommendation algorithm to Cambridge Analytica, Matz explains how personality prediction has become a central part of our digital landscape, a trend that will likely be entrenched by artificial intelligence.
Refreshingly, however, Matz’s book is not all doom and gloom. It also highlights how nosy algorithms could be useful in the right direction, from detecting early signs of degenerative diseases to helping vulnerable people take control of their finances.
Matz repeatedly returns to the analogy of the small town where he grew up in Germany. The metaphor of snooping on rural neighbors, while arguably overused, is vivid. There are also interesting examples and quizzes, including lists of terms used in Facebook status updates that are associated with personality traits. The word “moooooo” predicts a high level of extroversion, for example. Stephanie Stacey