The Power of Noticing: What the Best Leaders See

In this book that will suit fans of Dan Ariely and Malcolm Gladwell, Harvard Business School professor Bazerman (coauthor of Blind Spots) describes how we fail to notice the most important details around us. As Bazerman notes, when we analyze a particular problem, we tend to focus on the most readily available solutions; he suggests that we learn to ask broader questions. According to the author, we’re prone to “motivated blindness”—we fail to notice the unethical behavior of others when such an oversight is in our own best interests. This kind of failure explains the “surprises” of the doomed Challenger shuttle; Jerry Sandusky’s crimes at Penn State; child abuse in the Catholic Church; Bernie Madoff’s fraud; and Hurricane Katrina, among other examples. Though the book promises to help leaders be more perceptive, it’s minimally prescriptive, and will delight fans of behavioral psychology. This lively title isn’t likely to make anyone change his or her behavior, but it sheds light on our troubling tendency to see only what’s in front of our noses. (Aug.)