The Power of Noticing - by Max Bazerman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A "must-read" (Booklist) from Harvard Business School Professor and Codirector of the Harvard Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership: A guide to making better decisions, noticing important information in the world around you, and improving leadership skills.

Imagine your advantage in negotiations, decision-making, and leadership if you could teach yourself to see and evaluate information that others overlook. The Power of Noticing provides the blueprint for accomplishing precisely that. Max Bazerman, an expert in the field of applied behavioral psychology, draws on three decades of research and his experience instructing Harvard Business School MBAs and corporate executives to teach you how to notice and act on information that may not be immediately obvious.

Drawing on a wealth of real-world examples and using many of the same case studies and thought experiments designed in his executive MBA classes, Bazerman challenges you to explore your cognitive blind spots, identify any salient details you are programmed to miss, and then take steps to ensure it won't happen again. His book provides a step-by-step guide to breaking bad habits and spotting the hidden details that will change your decision-making and leadership skills for the better, teaching you to pay attention to what didn't happen, acknowledge self-interest, invent the third choice, and realize that what you see is not all there is.

While many bestselling business books have explained how susceptible to manipulation our irrational cognitive blind spots make us, Bazerman helps you avoid the habits that lead to poor decisions and ineffective leadership in the first place. With The Power of Noticing at your side, you can learn how to notice what others miss, make wiser decisions, and lead more successfully.

Review Quotes

"[A] refreshingly powerful book that uncovers techniques and pointers that many of us have never even considered... fun, shocking, a breack from hard-core business cookbooks. "-- "Blue Heron Journal"

"A guide to making better decisions, noticing important information in the world around you, and improving leadership skills."-- "Value Walk"

"Bazerman's book is not only descriptive, but an effort to turn the reader into a 'first-class noticer.'"-- "First Things"

"Books on leadership seem too numerous to count. But, occasionally, one contributes something to the field that is truly important and genuinely new. With its lucid description of the rarified--but learnable--skill of noticing correctly, this book is undeniably one."--Robert B. Cialdini, author of Influence

"Important new ideas are rare in discussions of flaws of executive performance, but Bazerman has one. In a compellingly readable book he illustrates the consequences of failing to notice signs of impending disaster, and he teaches executives how to practice vigilance."--Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow and winner of the Nobel Prize.

"In this book that will suit fans of Dan Ariely and Malcolm Gladwell, Harvard Business School professor Bazerman ... describes how we fail to notice the most important details around us."-- "Publishers Weekly"

"Many books promise to change the way you see the world - this fascinating, provocative tour into the mind and research of one of the world's preeminent noticers actually lives up to the claim."--Michael Norton, co-author of Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending

"Max Bazerman is one of the most creative, brilliant, and constructive social scientists on the planet. His new book, on the importance and power of noticing, is a game-changer. Notice it!"--Cass Sunstein

"The Power of Noticing hits home, bolstered by Bazerman's connections."-- "South China Morning Post"

"The Power of Noticing makes you better at anything and everything you do - whether in business, law, sports, politics, education, art, medicine, or any other field. Max Bazerman offers not only a lively and engaging book but a challenge and roadmap to live, see, and work with more honesty, vision, and purpose. By resisting the conventional "how-to" tip list, in favor of creating a more powerfully elevated consciousness, this book satisfies the deepest human need for finding the elusive truths that are the keys to success."--Billy Shore, Founder and Director, Share Our Strength

"There are countless theories in the field of behavioral psychology regarding the biases that restrict our awareness, but Bazerman is artful at the nonacademic delivery of the fruits of academia. He makes a convincing case for a handful of valuable tools we can deploy to reap the benefit or dodge the bullet, if only we would take the time."-- "Kirkus"

"This excellent book is a must-read for leaders and aspiring leaders."-- "Booklist"