Global management consultancy McKinsey and Company offers a regular online series called Author Talks in which they present interviews with authors of newly published business books.
Through these interviews readers are able to gain more insight into the author’s experiences and knowledge on their topics.
In today’s blog we continue our series of linking some of these interviews with the books available in the Wellington City Libraries collection.
To access the previous Author talks blog click here
The friction project : how smart leaders make the right things easier and the wrong things harder / Sutton, Robert I
“Every organization is plagued by destructive friction-the forces that make it harder, more complicated, or downright impossible to get anything done. Yet some forms of friction are incredibly useful, and leaders who attempt to improve workplace efficiency often make things even worse. Drawing from seven years of hands-on research, The Friction Project by bestselling authors Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao teaches readers how to become “friction fixers,” so that teams and organizations don’t squander the zeal, damage the health, and throttle the creativity and productivity of good people-or burn through cash and other precious resources. “– Provided by publisher.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Author Talks: Got friction? Stanford’s Robert I. Sutton shares what you can do about it
Are you making the right things effortless and the wrong things hard? To remove friction in your organization, you may want to start thinking like a friction fixer.
Big bets : how large-scale change really happens / Shah, Rajiv Janardan
“Rajiv J. Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation and former administrator of President Barack Obama’s United States Agency for International Development, shares a dynamic new model for creating large scale change, inspired by his own involvements with some of the largest humanitarian projects of our time”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)
Author Talks: Why big gambles can lead to even bigger payoffs
Dr. Rajiv J. Shah explains why building a global community is key to unlocking solutions to the world’s greatest problems.
The battle for your brain : defending the right to think freely in the age of neurotechnology / Farahany, Nita A.
“A rock star academic explores the final frontier of personal privacy: your mind. Imagine a world where your brain can be interrogated to learn your political beliefs, thought crimes are punishable by law, and your own feelings can be used against you. Where perfumers create customized fragrances to perfectly suit your emotions, and social media titans bypass your conscious mind to hook you to their products. A world where people who suffer from epilepsy receive alerts moments before a seizure, and the average person can peer into their own mind to eliminate painful memories or cure addictions. Neuroscience has already made all of the above possible today, and neurotechnology will soon become the “universal controller” for all of our interactions with technology. This can benefit humanity immensely, but without safeguards, it can severely threaten our fundamental human rights to privacy, freedom of thought, and self-determination… The Battle for Your Brain dives deeply into the promises and perils of the coming dawn of brain access and alteration. Written by one of the world’s foremost experts on neuroscience as it intersects with law and ethics, this highly original book offers a pathway forward to navigate the complex ethical dilemmas that neurotechnology presents, which will fundamentally impact our freedom to understand, shape, and define ourselves”– Provided by publisher.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Author Talks: Can you use your ‘brainpower’ to defend cognitive liberty?
Duke professor Nita Farahany examines the promise and perils of neurotechnology developments and their impact on the last bastion of freedom.
You are what you watch : how movies and TV affect everything / Hickey, Walt
“In You Are What You Watch, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and data expert Walt Hickey explains the power of entertainment to change our biology, our beliefs, how we see ourselves, and how nations gain power through entertainment. Virtually anyone who has ever watched a profound movie, a powerful TV show, or read a moving novel understands that entertainment can and does affect us in surprising and significant ways. But did you know that our most popular forms of entertainment can have a direct physical effect on us, a measurable impact on society, geopolitics, the economy, and even the future itself? In You Are What You Watch, Walter Hickey, Pulitzer Prize winner and former chief culture writer at acclaimed data site FiveThirtyEight.com, proves how exactly how what we watch (and read and listen to) has a far greater effect on us and the world at large than we imagine. Employing a mix of research, deep reporting, and 100 data visualizations, Hickey presents the true power of entertainment and culture… In You Are What You Watch, readers will be given a nerdy, and sobering, celebration of popular entertainment and its surprising power to change the world”– Provided by publisher.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Author Talks: Walt Hickey explains how what we watch influences what we do
You may be surprised at how much film and TV have shaped society. Pulitzer Prize winner and data expert Walt Hickey reveals why.
Warriors, rebels & saints : the art of leadership from Machiavelli to Malcolm X / Temkin, Moshik
“We live in a period of leadership in crisis. At home, we sense that unqualified and irresponsible individuals are being elevated to positions of power, while across the globe, strong men leaders consolidate their hold on governance. How have we arrived at this point? And how can we correct our course? For the past decade, Moshik Temkin has challenged his students at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government to grapple with the nature of leadership throughout history as part of his wildly popular course “On Leaders and Leadership.” Now, in Warriors, Rebels and Saints, Temkin refashions the classroom for a wider audience. Using art and literature to illustrate the drama of the past, Temkin considers how leaders have made decisions in the most difficult circumstances-from the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo and the anticolonial wars of the 20th century to the civil rights movement and the horrors of the Vietnam War-and how we can evaluate those decisions and draw lessons for today”– Provided by publisher.” (Catalogue)
Author Talks: Moshik Temkin on power, purpose, and the public good
Today’s changing world calls for bold leadership. Moshik Temkin explores the traits of dynamic leaders in history and how they worked with power—or in opposition to it—to meet the moment.
The geek way : the radical mindset that drives extraordinary results / McAfee, Andrew
“We’re living in a time of amazing innovation, but we’re not paying enough attention to one of the most important of all: the innovation to the company itself. Now, bestselling author of The Second Machine Age, Andrew McAfee, explains how engineers and geeks are changing the world of business – with extraordinary results. A new model is being pioneered by geeks; a radical new mindset that has shifted the paradigm entirely on what a business can – and should – be. They do not follow the rules of the Industrial era, with their hierarchies and bureaucratic ways of thinking. They do not follow the principles preached in business schools since the dawn of time. They have all dedicated themselves to approaching business as a geek would: through trial and error, egalitarianism, evidence and stress-testing ideas in a group setting – rather than relying on the boss’s instincts. By investigating and surveying the contemporary research in psychology, economics and the behavioural sciences, as well as first-hand accounts from the ‘geek’ leaders of today, McAfee’s groundbreaking exploration of this emerging phenomenon gets to the heart of the tectonic shifts taking place all over the business world. (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available in EBook Libby format
Author Talks: Andrew McAfee on how a ‘geek’ mindset can transform your business
Too often, business initiatives get mired in bureaucracy, overconfidence, and lack of ownership. Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Andrew McAfee explores reasons for the dysfunction—and how to fix it.
Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet / Dixon, Chris
“In Read Write Own, Dixon argues that blockchains have the potential to transform how we use the web. He reveals how they will liberate social networks from big tech, transform how we buy and sell online, and create a new age of ‘collaborative storytelling’ in the arts.” (Catalogue)
Author Talks: Chris Dixon on how to reshape the digital landscape
Tired of running into paywalls, walled-off spaces and the broken promise of an open internet? Hunch cofounder Chris Dixon shares why a return to the decentralized internet is key to protecting businesses and consumers.
If you need more information please contact the Prosearch team at the library. We can help you find information across a range of perspectives and resources. All enquiries are treated in confidence.
