Executive Instinct : Managing the Human Animal in the Information Age

Rating:
Summary: Communities of 150, Stone Age Minds, and Other Tid-Bits
Review:

I liked this book because it flies in the face of conventional wisdom about human relations and organization, and because it provides an alternative perspective on leadership: recognizing that humans have an "animal" nature that is "hard-wired", and that if we accept that rather than trying to "program" individuals, we will be more likely to create a vibrant organization.

The author's "eight point plan" for capitalizing on creative spirit while minimizing irrationality could not be further from the current practices of most government and corporate activities:

1) Watch how you manage errors and mistakes. Zero-tolerance cultures drive out exploration and prevent learning.

2) Train your managers to create a climate of psychological freedom in which curiosity is valued.

3) Give people space to express their emotions and time for reflection.

4) In areas of high information flow and complex decisions, don't trust your instincts. Use decision-making aids and statistics...

5) Make sure that the climate is one in which diverse expertise and opinions get a real open airing.

6) Question your own assumptions and conventional reasoning before making any important decision.

The entire book is valuable, and the above is but a glimpse of some its value. Especially interesting to me was the author's conclusion that the reason most organizational communications programs fail is because they are trying to control behavior rather than create community--like many of the more intelligent writings on military doctrine being more important that military communications, the author makes a compelling case for using communications to create informal shared standards and expectations rather than to micro-manage individual behavior.

The footnotes are especially worthwhile, and serve as a tour of various relevant literatures, all very pleasantly up to date.

Rating:
Summary: The Consilience of Evolutionary Psychology and Management
Review: E. O. Wilson (1998) promoted the notion of a necessary consilience between academic disciplines. Consilience was described as the "unity of knowledge" or the "snapping together" of ideas. The book "Executive Instinct: Managing the Human Animal in the Information Age" is the consilience point between the fields of Evolutionary Psychology and Management from the Industrial/Organizational Psychological perspective. This lucid interface between these fields lends itself to just that--an interface. It does not contain a sufficiently detailed background of evolutionary theory, nor does it contain a sufficiently detailed review of management theories. What it does contain is an applied theory of management towards "managing instinct with insight." The thesis of the book is immersed in the idea that many of our societal inefficiencies and distresses are derrived from the fact our Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA) is different in many aspects from our current environment. It is the irony of evolution that has prepared us for an environment that has long since past (a phenomenon called evolutionary lag). This book is an effective interface of academic disciplines. It provides a unique perspective that has been conspiciously lacking from previous literature. This perspective on the management of humans in the modern world is grounded in the consideration of our species' evolutionary past and how we can reconcile the differences. Management must take into account the "genetic leash" (Wilson, 1978) to which humans are tethered in order to maximize employee satisfaction and ultimately the stockholder benefits that drive an industrial society.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read!
Review: If you've ever thought that your boss is a Neanderthal (or you've been accused of being one), take heart - it's perfectly natural. Nigel Nicholson reminds us that we are, after all, only animals working with the same Stone Age minds we've had for millions of years. Once you accept this premise, you're ready to incorporate evolutionary psychology into your management techniques and get human nature to work for you, rather than against you. Despite the fact that some sections fail to dig beneath the superficial, we from getAbstract recommend this book to anyone in search of a fresh perspective on management.

Rating:
Summary: Every Manager Should Read This!
Review: Many managers excel at the minutiae of their technical disciplines but don't understand what motivates or how to manage people. This book would help them do so if they are willing to listen.

Nicholson takes the now-familiar idea of the Stone-Age mind in a modern world and shows its implications for social (group and organizational) behavior. The book resonates with what I have felt and seen in large corporations. It explains well the collision between the corporate desire for economy and messy human nature, the mistakes that many corporate leaders make and why people behave as they do in groups.

A smart manager will use this information to see and act upon the interactions between himself, his people, his colleagues and his bosses differently. This well-written, well-reasoned book is a refreshing change from the vogue of manuals of cold methods for managerial efficiency. I recommend it highly.

Rating:
Summary: Every Manager Should Read This!
Review: Many managers excel at the minutiae of their technical disciplines but don't understand what motivates or how to manage people. This book would help them do so if they are willing to listen.

Nicholson takes the now-familiar idea of the Stone-Age mind in a modern world and shows its implications for social (group and organizational) behavior. The book resonates with what I have felt and seen in large corporations. It explains well the collision between the corporate desire for economy and messy human nature, the mistakes that many corporate leaders make and why people behave as they do in groups.

A smart manager will use this information to see and act upon the interactions between himself, his people, his colleagues and his bosses differently. This well-written, well-reasoned book is a refreshing change from the vogue of manuals of cold methods for managerial efficiency. I recommend it highly.

Rating:
Summary: Change with the Change!
Review: The evolution of mankind, nevertheless had been a 'Stone Age' with an animal behavior, which has been a hard fact and Nigel Nicholsan just reminds that. The book's eight-fold plan suggest getting the most out of it instead of building up individuals to polish their behavioral patterns. The brief sum up of human relationship and personality development go hand to hand to jumpstart the leadership qualities optimistically and psychologically get the human nature work in favor to get the positive plus. Nigel gives an insight to wisdom ways of behavioral patterns as to why humans drive out 100 plus with just one bad happening. Evolutionary psychology (EP) is the current debate where human nature varies from genetics to genetic and organizations today need not act on instincts but go ahead with nature attributes. Being an Instructor in Business segment, Nigel has ways and suggestions for Organizations to scratch off the negatives, block off the darker sides. The book says much on Leadership communication and organization as one big community keeping in tune to balancing sex differences, nature barriers and positively focusing on rumors and gossips as lifeblood of communication at work place. Nigel suggest ways to rule off tough times at workplace n avoid disasters. The book is on programming the mind with Executive Instincts to manage with human nature which is quite natural n head way to tolerance to manage erroneous zones which would rather than create a block for learning abilities. I recommend this book especially very necessary to enhance Leadership qualities and adopt the IQ, EQ, SQ and win a 'win chance' with EP - A must follow up of the plans of Nigel Nicholsan, Indeed! Sure Pick.

Rating:
Summary: Change with the Change!
Review: The evolution of mankind, nevertheless had been a `Stone Age' with an animal behavior, which has been a hard fact and Nigel Nicholsan just reminds that. The book's eight-fold plan suggest getting the most out of it instead of building up individuals to polish their behavioral patterns. The brief sum up of human relationship and personality development go hand to hand to jumpstart the leadership qualities optimistically and psychologically get the human nature work in favor to get the positive plus. Nigel gives an insight to wisdom ways of behavioral patterns as to why humans drive out 100 plus with just one bad happening. Evolutionary psychology (EP) is the current debate where human nature varies from genetics to genetic and organizations today need not act on instincts but go ahead with nature attributes. Being an Instructor in Business segment, Nigel has ways and suggestions for Organizations to scratch off the negatives, block off the darker sides. The book says much on Leadership communication and organization as one big community keeping in tune to balancing sex differences, nature barriers and positively focusing on rumors and gossips as lifeblood of communication at work place. Nigel suggest ways to rule off tough times at workplace n avoid disasters. The book is on programming the mind with Executive Instincts to manage with human nature which is quite natural n head way to tolerance to manage erroneous zones which would rather than create a block for learning abilities. I recommend this book especially very necessary to enhance Leadership qualities and adopt the IQ, EQ, SQ and win a `win chance' with EP - A must follow up of the plans of Nigel Nicholsan, Indeed! Sure Pick.

Rating:
Summary: Taking the plunge back in time
Review: There has been much discussion of late concerning the relative importance of heredity and evolutionary forces in the nature of human interaction. Fields including evolutionary biology, psychology, and anthropology have expanded rapidly as researchers have come to show the relative importance of inborn characteristics on behavior. However, few researchers have taken the important and bold steps to move this rather intellectualized discussion into a more practical venue such as the work organization -- until now.

Nicholson's book represents one of the first truly useful attempts at bringing abstract ideas such as evolution into the world of work. Although we have long suspected that our base impulses and motives were tied to ancestral experience, few have been willing to make these connections explicit and potentially open themselves up to the criticisms of social contextualists. It is in this spirit that I believe Nicholson's book has much to tell us about how we behave in the work place. This book clearly breaks from the strong situationalism espoused by current organization theory represented in work by Weick, Daft, Burt, or Donaldson. This is perhaps its greatest contribution in as much as it forces us to re-examine our existing ideas concerning the undercurrent of human action.

An additional point concerning this book is its utility for a managerial audience since it provides numerous useful examples of how our past creeps into the present of our actions. Although a number of these examples will provoke debate and disagreement, they are well constructed and logical with a firm footing in the scholarly literature.

In closing, I would recommend that anyone wishing to understand an alternative new of work behavior put this book on their list of readings.