Left Brain, Right Stuff: How Leaders Make Winning Decisions
Left Brain, Right Stuff takes up where other books about decision making leave off. For many routine choices, from shopping to investing, we can make good decisions simply by avoiding common errors, such as searching only for confirming information or avoiding the hindsight bias. But as Phil Rosenzweig shows, for many of the most important, more complex situations we face—in business, sports, politics, and more—a different way of thinking is required. Leaders must possess the ability to shape opinions, inspire followers, manage risk, and outmaneuver and outperform rivals.

Making winning decisions calls for a combination of skills: clear analysis and calculation—left brain—as well as the willingness to push boundaries and take bold action—right stuff. Of course leaders need to understand the dynamics of competition, to anticipate rival moves, to draw on the power of statistical analysis, and to be aware of common decision errors—all features of left brain thinking. But to achieve the unprecedented in real-world situations, much more is needed. Leaders also need the right stuff. In business, they have to devise plans and inspire followers for successful execution; in politics, they must mobilize popular support for a chosen program; in the military, commanders need to commit to a battle strategy and lead their troops; and in start-ups, entrepreneurs must manage risk when success is uncertain. In every case, success calls for action as well as analysis, and for courage as well as calculation.

Always entertaining, often surprising, and immensely practical, Left Brain, Right Stuff draws on a wealth of examples in order to propose a new paradigm for decision making in synch with the way we have to operate in the real world. Rosenzweig’s smart and perceptive analysis of research provides fresh, and often surprising, insights on topics such as confidence and overconfidence, the uses and limits of decision models, the illusion of control, expert performance and deliberate practice, competitive bidding and new venture management, and the true nature of leadership.
"1116353945"
Left Brain, Right Stuff: How Leaders Make Winning Decisions
Left Brain, Right Stuff takes up where other books about decision making leave off. For many routine choices, from shopping to investing, we can make good decisions simply by avoiding common errors, such as searching only for confirming information or avoiding the hindsight bias. But as Phil Rosenzweig shows, for many of the most important, more complex situations we face—in business, sports, politics, and more—a different way of thinking is required. Leaders must possess the ability to shape opinions, inspire followers, manage risk, and outmaneuver and outperform rivals.

Making winning decisions calls for a combination of skills: clear analysis and calculation—left brain—as well as the willingness to push boundaries and take bold action—right stuff. Of course leaders need to understand the dynamics of competition, to anticipate rival moves, to draw on the power of statistical analysis, and to be aware of common decision errors—all features of left brain thinking. But to achieve the unprecedented in real-world situations, much more is needed. Leaders also need the right stuff. In business, they have to devise plans and inspire followers for successful execution; in politics, they must mobilize popular support for a chosen program; in the military, commanders need to commit to a battle strategy and lead their troops; and in start-ups, entrepreneurs must manage risk when success is uncertain. In every case, success calls for action as well as analysis, and for courage as well as calculation.

Always entertaining, often surprising, and immensely practical, Left Brain, Right Stuff draws on a wealth of examples in order to propose a new paradigm for decision making in synch with the way we have to operate in the real world. Rosenzweig’s smart and perceptive analysis of research provides fresh, and often surprising, insights on topics such as confidence and overconfidence, the uses and limits of decision models, the illusion of control, expert performance and deliberate practice, competitive bidding and new venture management, and the true nature of leadership.
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Left Brain, Right Stuff: How Leaders Make Winning Decisions

Left Brain, Right Stuff: How Leaders Make Winning Decisions

by Phil Rosenzweig
Left Brain, Right Stuff: How Leaders Make Winning Decisions

Left Brain, Right Stuff: How Leaders Make Winning Decisions

by Phil Rosenzweig

eBook

$28.99 

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Overview

Left Brain, Right Stuff takes up where other books about decision making leave off. For many routine choices, from shopping to investing, we can make good decisions simply by avoiding common errors, such as searching only for confirming information or avoiding the hindsight bias. But as Phil Rosenzweig shows, for many of the most important, more complex situations we face—in business, sports, politics, and more—a different way of thinking is required. Leaders must possess the ability to shape opinions, inspire followers, manage risk, and outmaneuver and outperform rivals.

Making winning decisions calls for a combination of skills: clear analysis and calculation—left brain—as well as the willingness to push boundaries and take bold action—right stuff. Of course leaders need to understand the dynamics of competition, to anticipate rival moves, to draw on the power of statistical analysis, and to be aware of common decision errors—all features of left brain thinking. But to achieve the unprecedented in real-world situations, much more is needed. Leaders also need the right stuff. In business, they have to devise plans and inspire followers for successful execution; in politics, they must mobilize popular support for a chosen program; in the military, commanders need to commit to a battle strategy and lead their troops; and in start-ups, entrepreneurs must manage risk when success is uncertain. In every case, success calls for action as well as analysis, and for courage as well as calculation.

Always entertaining, often surprising, and immensely practical, Left Brain, Right Stuff draws on a wealth of examples in order to propose a new paradigm for decision making in synch with the way we have to operate in the real world. Rosenzweig’s smart and perceptive analysis of research provides fresh, and often surprising, insights on topics such as confidence and overconfidence, the uses and limits of decision models, the illusion of control, expert performance and deliberate practice, competitive bidding and new venture management, and the true nature of leadership.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781610393089
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Publication date: 01/07/2014
Sold by: Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format: eBook
Pages: 336
File size: 1 MB

About the Author

Phil Rosenzweig is professor at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he works with leading companies on questions of strategy and organization. He is a native of Northern California, where he worked for Hewlett-Packard. Prior to IMD, he was an assistant professor at Harvard Business School. Rosenzweig’s PhD is from the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of numerous articles in journals including Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, Management Science, and Strategic Management Journal. His 2007 book, The Halo Effect...and the Eight Other Business Delusions that Deceive Managers, was described by the Wall Street Journal as "a trenchant view of business and business advice” and lauded by Nassim Nicholas Taleb as "one of the most important management books of all time.”

Read an Excerpt

One the people I admire most, the physicist Richard Feynman, once gave a lecture about science and religion in society. Feynman was no believer in miracles or divine intervention, but he saw no value in telling other people what they should believe. More important was that they think for themselves and learn to ask questions. Speaking about the holy site of Lourdes in southwestern France, where in 1858 a young girl claimed to see an apparition of the Virgin Mary, and which now attracts millions of pilgrims every year, Feynman observed: “It might be true that you can be cured by the miracle of Lourdes. But if it is true then it ought to be investigated. Why? To improve it.”

We might ask whether a person has to enter the grotto at Lourdes to get the full effect of its healing powers, or whether it’s good enough to come close. If so, how close is close enough? Is the healing effect is as strong in the back row as it is in the first row? Is it good enough for a few drops of the spring water to be sprinkled on your forehead, or do you have to immerse yourself to get the full effect? Feynman concluded: “You may laugh, but if you believe in the power of the healing, then you are responsible to investigate it, to improve its efficiency.”

The same goes for decision-making. Research has made impressive contributions to many fields, but hasn’t yet captured the essence of many real-world decisions. Our duty is to ask questions: How do decisions vary? What makes complex decisions different from the simple choices so often portrayed in experiments? The goal is to take the next step beyond what has become conventional wisdom—that people are prone to errors and biases—and to help you learn the keys to making great decisions.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Crunch Time on a Hot August Night 1

Chapter 2 The Question of Control 23

Chapter 3 Performance, Absolute and Relative 45

Chapter 4 What It Takes to Win 64

Chapter 5 Confidence … and Overconfidence 80

Chapter 6 Base Rates and Breaking Barriers 101

Chapter 7 Better Decisions over Time 123

Chapter 8 Decisions of a Leader 145

Chapter 9 Where Models Fear to Tread 165

Chapter 10 When Are Winners Cursed? 191

Chapter 11 Starting Up, Stepping Out 218

Chapter 12 The Stuff of Winning Decisions 238

Acknowledgments 253

For Further Reading 257

Notes 263

Bibliography 287

Index 303

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