THE GREAT MENTAL MODELS
“Everything appears like a nail to a man with a hammer,” goes the ancient adage. But as everyone who has worked on a project knows, a hammer isn’t always enough. The more tools you have, the more likely you are to use the right tool for the job — and complete it well. When it comes to your thoughts, the same is true. The mental models in your head determine the quality of your outcomes. And the majority of people live their lives with nothing more than a hammer. Until now, that is.
The Great Mental Models: General Thinking Concepts is the first book in The Great Mental Models series, which aims to improve your thinking by providing you with the best, most useful, most effective tools so you always have the correct one. This book explains nine of the most versatile, all-purpose mental models that you can start using right away to improve your decision-making, productivity, and clarity of vision. You’ll learn about the forces that govern the cosmos and how to focus your efforts so that you can use them instead of fighting them or worse, ignoring them. Get the first volume today to add to your mental toolbox.
SWITCH
Why is it so difficult to achieve long-term improvements in our businesses, communities, and personal lives?
According to Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the highly acclaimed bestseller Made to Stick, the major barrier is a conflict that is hardwired into our brains. Psychologists have discovered that our minds are governed by two competing systems: the rational mind and the emotional mind. The rational mind desires a fantastic beach body, while the emotional mind wants that Oreo cookie. The intellectual mind wants to make a change at work, while the emotional mind prefers the familiarity of the current routine.
This conflict has the potential to sink a change attempt, but if it can be overcome, change can happen swiftly.
The Heaths explain how ordinary people—employees and managers, parents and nurses—have brought both minds together and produced great outcomes in Switch:
- The humble medical interns overcame a decades-old medical practice that was putting patients in danger.
- The home-organizing guru devised a simple method for conquering housekeeping phobia.
- The manager who turned a slacker customer-service team into service zealots by deleting a common customer-service tool
The Heaths pull together decades of paradoxical research in psychology, sociology, and other sciences in an engaging, story-driven narrative to provide new insight on how we might influence dramatic change. Switch demonstrates that effective changes follow a pattern, which you can apply to make the changes you want, whether you want to change the globe or your waistline.
CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS
Do you have trouble trusting your intuition when it comes to making decisions? Are you sick of getting advice on how to make better life decisions? Have you ever felt envious of folks who seem to have no trouble tackling complex problems or experts who have advanced in their jobs due to their ability to deal with adversity? Every day, we are faced with decisions to make, major or small; if we can think better, we can make better decisions. Anyone can turn a clever idea into a brilliant end with enthusiasm, a focused intellect, and a daring heart. There are numerous ways to hone your newly acquired logical thinking skills. Don’t worry, reading philosophy books or legal codes isn’t one of them (although it would certainly be awesome if you do). This book is designed to help you improve your logical thinking skills while having fun.
THE HOT HAND
How can you enhance your chances of success while minimizing your chances of failure? From basketball to business, Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Cohen expertly analyses the mystery and science of streaks. “For anyone interested in the secrets of excellence, this is a feast.” Andre Agassi is a tennis player who has won a number of tournaments. For decades, statisticians, social scientists, psychologists, and economics (including Nobel Prize winners) have spent a great deal of effort debating whether streaks exist. After all, a large portion of the decisions we make in our daily lives are quietly anchored in this one question: Will something happen again if it happened before? Is there a state of mind known as being in the zone? Is it possible to have a “hot hand”? Is it only a case of noticing patterns in seemingly random events? Or, if streaks are feasible, where do you look for them? Ben Cohen of the Wall Street Journal presents a dependably interesting and insightful exploration into these concerns in his book The Hot Hand.
MAKING PROGRESS
You’ve landed a position as a leader in the field of innovation. (It’s not quite “innovation,” but it’s close.) Maybe you’re in charge of expansion, or maybe you’re in charge of “new products” or services. Maybe you’ve been asked to lead “transformation” or a laboratories group at a big firm, or maybe you’ve been asked to lead “transformation” or a labs group at a big company….) Congratulations! What are your options now? So, where do you begin? What information do you require? What exactly do you do in your day-to-day job?
If you don’t have a job description or if it doesn’t appear to fit (or if you’ve never looked at one), you’ll need to create one for yourself that includes more than a list of tasks or the hiring of a team. This is where this book enters the picture.
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