Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business - Book Review

Introduction

"Smarter Faster Better: One of the most effective books laying out the general overview of productivity and organization in life and business is “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business” by Charles Duhigg. This book was released in 2016 to explore how the science and psychology produce some people or organizations perform better than others. The topics of the book are written by Duhigg, a journalist for the Pulitzer Prize, with the help of case studies, science-based researches, and tips for improving the efficiency of individuals and business organizations. This book is full of fun and loads of helpful tips and the author’s analysis indeed enhance it for the individuals aspiring to be efficient in all they undergo.

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Narrative Style and Structure

This is an important component of Duhigg’s work as it makes it possible for readers to be engaged by personalities and at the same time be receive pertinent information. He is so proficient in linking up instances from different fields inclusive of boardrooms of business organisations to camps meant for military training to demonstrate wider principles of efficiency. He is a journalist by profession and there is a lot of research material done and well-analyzed together with proper presentation of the facts. Every chapter has a specific theme that relates to productivity, making the book organized and each chapter forms part of the other like a jigsaw.

The book is divided into eight chapters, each focusing on a distinct principle of productivity: motivation, teams, direction, objectives, subordinates, choices, creativity, and receiving information. This format enables the readers to be in a position to follow through and understand the relation of one principle to the other. This is due to Duhigg’s ability to incorporate experiences and research findings into her work making the concepts easy to understand and relate to.

Key Principles and Themes

Motivation: Firstly, motivation is described by Duhigg as the primary reason behind the effectiveness of productivity boosting techniques. He explained that motivation arises from having control and perceived control with regard to events and outcomes in the environment. Examining the case of how the Marines instill the spirit of discipline in the recruit and how Toyota leads the workers on the assembly line, Duhigg shows that people’s motivation remains most effective when they are allowed to make decisions on their own. He also emphasizes on goal setting as a means of keeping focus and directed effort in the right perspective.

Teams: The second chapter focuses on the fundamental concepts of the team’s operation. According to the last work of Duhigg, he refers to the research of Google’s Project Aristotle and defines psychological safety as the main initiator of team success. The work groups that are characterized by communication, respect; and establishment of a secure environment are more effective because employees freely come up with new ideas and are willing to take certain chances. For instance, Duhigg uses the Silicon Valley new-generation startups and the movie industry to expound on these ideas.

Focus: Staying on track in ways that competitors and well-wishers do not distract is another factor that affects productivity. Cognitive tunneling is another theory that Duhigg also presents; it affirms that fixating on a specific task is likely to cost one relevant information. Sutton also uses Air France flight F447 disaster incident, to explain the consequence of losing situational awareness. Mental models involve trying to endow individuals and teams with greater control through better understanding and, therefore, allow the person to more effectively externalise their focus, and to prepare for changes.

Goal Setting: Managing goals is very critical for any undertaking, and it plays an important role in the accomplishment of organizational goals. Duhigg makes use of the concept of setting SMART goals and notes how the right vision should complement goals for the long-run with those for short-run. He also explains about stretch goals which push the capabilities of an individual or an organization. In their turn, Duhigg shows how goal setting works with the help of examples of such corporate giants as General Electric and reveals personal stories of people who managed to overcome adversity owing to the proper goal setting.

Managing Others: The management and leadership are some of the key factors that drive productivity in organizations or firms. Firstly, Duhigg also covers the necessity of the organization’s climate, which should be encouraging and inspiring for gaining people’s motivation. He again talks about the psychological safety while asserting that this should be viewed as a cultures of the leaders. Two quite interesting case episodes are the turn of Alcoa with Paul O’Neill as ‘the Master Manager’ and Disney’s renewal of the animated feature division.

Decision Making: The good decision making is one of the foundational concepts of efficient work. Likely, Duhigg aims at explaining how people and businesses can make their choices better thanks to probabilistic thinking and imagining the worst-case scenario. To support his argument, he goes to FBI’s Hostage Negotiation Team and Cincinnati Police Department in their fight against crime rates to show the importance data within an organization. Cognitive diversity in teams is also highlighted by the author as an effective way to increase the potential of the decision-making process.

Innovation: Every organisation therefore needs to be innovative to be competitive and productive. Specifically, Duhigg explains how creativity and experimentation are created to stimulate innovation. He talks about Pixar’s working strategy and how the film “Frozen” by Disney was created to explain how failure and the cooperation of multicultural talent can be of use. Duhigg also stresses appropriating the culture that will allow risky and experiments to be taken.

Absorbing Data: Last but not least, the denouement speaks on the means by which human capital and companies can apply data in a way that improves work performance. They theorize on what Duhigg calls the thinking of Bayesian, which simply entails the adjustment of beliefs under new evidence. He also provides tips from the world of poker and how military intelligence can be used to come to a better decision. Duhigg also supports the value of sessions and, more specifically, of presenting data in combinations that make them comprehensible and useful.

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Case and Examples

Thus, one of the advantages of “Smarter Faster Better” is that the author provides the examples of how the covered principles of productivity function. It is also essential to notice that these narratives do not just explain the concepts more personally but give tips readers can use in their everyday lives. Some notable examples include:

The Marines: Duhigg also employs the case of how the Marines train fresher ensigns to work, to show how the attributes of motivation and perceived control can be of influence. By delegating a great deal of responsibility and providing significant assignments for the recruits the Marines ensure powerful motivation and devotion.

Toyota: Ahe story of how Toyota delegates responsibilities to the assembly line workers to engage in finding problems and fixing them is an excellent example of people control and using it to improve activities.

Google’s Project Aristotle: In this research study, psychological safety was noted as the important component of effective and high performing teams. In the article, Duhigg describes why leaders need to create conditions that allow employees to experiment and contribute their ideas to obtain the enhancement of team results.

Losing focus & Situational awareness: A case to look into is the unfortunate disappearance of Air France Flight 447. Duhigg explains that cognitive tunneling ultimately leads to disastrous consequences and provides ideas on how one can stay alert.

General Electric: The case of applying stretch goals at General Electric shows how people and organizations should be encouraged to step up to the next level. According to Duhigg, goals, especially those realised as difficult to achieve, cause people to sharpen their focus and work harder.

Alcoa: The case of Alcoa under the leadership of Paul O’Neill is a good example of how proper support and training of employees is important for the company. This book by Charles Duhigg depicts how the obsession that O’Neill had for the safety of his workers and the psychological aspect as well, influenced the company’s culture and results.

Pixar: It is suggested that nevertheless of the fact that the creative process at Pixar is different from the traditional one, they should adopt the idea of failure and value diversity to enhance future innovation, which has been reflected in the process of moviemaking of “Frozen”.

Critique and Reflection

In sum, the book “Smarter Faster Better” can indeed be considered as a perfect guide for productivity as the information that is provided in the book is backed up by research findings. However, it has some disclaimers which are also true to an extent. Probably, some of the readers can be overwhelmed by such a large number of case scenarios and practical references as the book often shifts from one case to another. At the same time, these examples are rather interesting and informative; still, they can overshadow the core messages and make the book seem inconsistent.

Also, it has to be said that some of the principles discussed in the book readers who already have some experience in productivity literature can find familiar. The ideas such as SMART goals, psychological safety, and probabilistic thinking are discussed in the other sources. However, it is due to his approaches on how he combines such concepts and package them in a narrative manner that makes it worthy to go through the book.

All in all, I believe that “Smarter Faster Better” is a useful book and what shortcomings be discerned, they do not vitiate the general usefulness of the book for a reader interested in increasing productivity. Due to appropriate choice of words, logic and interaction of the narrative with the brain, Duhigg’s ease of writing, his research and the real advice to the many victims of addiction, this book may be adopted as a working tool by both the individuals and corporate entities.

Conclusion

"Smarter Faster Better: The book by Charles Duhigg titled “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do,” discussed in the light of “The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business” is a definite must-read. The author uses summaries of various cases, sample researches, and tips and tricks to make the audience familiar with the factors that make them more effective in the contemporary world.

The book splits its matter into eight very informative chapters dealing with motivation, teams, concentration, goals, management, choices, creativity, and intake of data. The contextualization of ideas and utilization of real-life examples are the major strengths of the book as each chapter is replete with such examples along with sound advice that readers can implement in their personal lives as well as their organizations.

The second, could be seen as the fact that some of the principles presented look really familiar, and sometimes, there is an excessive number of case studies that could make a reader confused Between them, however, the author is able to combine these ideas really well, and the book remains highly engaging. His stimulating narrative together with excellent research makes it easier for the reader to appreciate the science and psychology behind and into productivity.

In conclusion, “Smarter Faster Better” is indeed a perfect literary piece for any person who wants to be more efficient and productive for the achievement of his or her set goals. Whether you are a businessman, an employee, a student or a nonspecific reader, this book provides solid tips and true examples which can make you smarter, quicker, and efficient.

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