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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
In Smarter Faster Better, Charles Duhig talks about effective leadership through motivation, teams, focus, goal setting, managing others, decision making, innovation, absorbing data. Unlike The Power of Habit, the narrative seems is less cohesive until the end when the author applies the recommendations to his process of writing this book. The examples of trainings new recruits, employees at a car manufacturing company, and the Pixar writing process for Frozen were interesting enough and demonstrated the key points of productivity the author was focusing on. Some of the examples used earlier to demonstrate the “secrets” (including a plane crash and an attack on Israel), felt like poor choices. I liked The Power of Habit much more and would not recommend this one.
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
This book was interesting in parts, but jumped from topic to topic without much structure to it.
I enjoyed this book's examination of the various aspects of productivity - nothing too crazy or wild, but definitely motivating as an early-in-the-year read!
Recommendation: If you’re expecting a how-to-guide don’t bother. Although Duhigg provides a lot of tips (especially in the Appendix, read it if you read anything), this isn’t a how to book. This is a book of case studies that illustrate the general ideas of how to become more productive, and although fascinating, you have to take a lot of extra time to extrapolate what it is you think you should get out of them.
My Response: When I requested a copy of this upcoming book (released March 8, 2016) from Random House*, I was really hoping for a repeat of Duhigg’s 2012 The Power of Habit. Unfortunately, there was something missing from this one. I can’t quite figure out what it is, but I think it has to do with the first book being much easier to apply and this one overall being more theoretical.
That being said, this was incredibly readable and had a lot of great case studies that I’ve encountered in numerous settings and other books I’ve read recently about work productivity and managing up. Duhigg’s writing style is incredibly easy to read and he seamlessly ties together disparate examples to elucidate his points. Off the top of my head a few are: the development of Disney’s Frozen, General Electric (I feel like I’m an expert after Badowski’s excellent Managing Up), aviation near-crashes, the writing and staging of West Side Story, Google, Cincinnati school reform, debt collection and many others! Needless to say you will easily find at least one example that you really identify with.
Continue reading on my book blog at geoffwhaley.com.
* I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher in return for my honest opinion. No goods or services were exchanged.
My Response: When I requested a copy of this upcoming book (released March 8, 2016) from Random House*, I was really hoping for a repeat of Duhigg’s 2012 The Power of Habit. Unfortunately, there was something missing from this one. I can’t quite figure out what it is, but I think it has to do with the first book being much easier to apply and this one overall being more theoretical.
That being said, this was incredibly readable and had a lot of great case studies that I’ve encountered in numerous settings and other books I’ve read recently about work productivity and managing up. Duhigg’s writing style is incredibly easy to read and he seamlessly ties together disparate examples to elucidate his points. Off the top of my head a few are: the development of Disney’s Frozen, General Electric (I feel like I’m an expert after Badowski’s excellent Managing Up), aviation near-crashes, the writing and staging of West Side Story, Google, Cincinnati school reform, debt collection and many others! Needless to say you will easily find at least one example that you really identify with.
Continue reading on my book blog at geoffwhaley.com.
* I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher in return for my honest opinion. No goods or services were exchanged.
A good refresher but nothing new here if you’ve kept up with these topics (grit, SMART goals, teams that have more input do better, data are better when they’re engaging, etc). And the stories took too long to get to the point. Worth a listen to hear it all put together and think about the concepts again, though.
Not super memorable like Power of Habit. As others note, this book contains info you’ll mostly find elsewhere if you’re familiar with the genre. But Duhigg’s “question > evolution > behavioral science > answer” chapter formula, which he also uses in PoH, remains a useful one. The best part was the final chapter, when he synthesized each of the main points and illustrated them as applied to his own writing process. If I had written this book, I might have included one piece of that at the end of each chapter and then summarized it at the end.
Smarter, Faster, Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg address a topic often addressed - productivity - but does so in with broad philosophical brush rather than a precise prescription. The book is somewhat like reading a collection of well written, well told, and easily read stories rather than a cohesive powerful message on productivity.
Read my complete review at: http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2016/02/smarter-faster-better.html
Reviewed based on a publisher’s galley received through NetGalley
Read my complete review at: http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2016/02/smarter-faster-better.html
Reviewed based on a publisher’s galley received through NetGalley
While I loved Duhigg’s earlier book, The Power of Habit, it took me two years to finish this one, because none of the studies and anecdotes felt relevant or compelling.
Technically there wasn't much new in this book that hasn't been published by previous corporate works. But he presented it in new ways, easy to understand and most importantly, engaging. I found myself jotting key phrases on sticky notes to incorporate into my own workdays.