“Sway – The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior” is an excellent read for all business people. When you finish the book, you’ll get the feeling of having experienced many of the sways that are discussed. It is very easy to get caught up in behavior that is detrimental to one’s business and personal life. The book explores many of the ways that we sabotage our relationships and suggests indirectly how to avoid them.
Each chapter is dedicated to one form of irrational behavior. This keeps things simple and makes the book easier to read and digest. The authors are two brothers; Ori and Rom Brafman. Their writing style is enjoyable and full of examples from real life studies that are easy to relate to. One of these involves first round NBA picks and how they are likely to perform versus other players with identical skills who are not first round picks. The answers are quite revealing and will teach you that it is important to be a better judge of skills and character.
Other examples in the books show how compensating people with bonuses can sometimes be detrimental to achieving the desired results. It turns out that we are more willing to help someone for free than we are to help if we are offered a token of appreciation that we do not value much. The authors and the studies that they cite contend that the brain processes altruistic responses in a distinct part of the brain that is often at odds with the part of the brain that wants compensation or pleasure. They maintain that these two areas of the brain compete when something is perceived as both altruistic and rewarding.
I recommend the book. You can get your copy at Amazon
Robert Alonso
Alonso Consulting
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