The Deadline Effect

By: Christopher Cox

Narrated by: George Newbern

Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' So said author Douglas Adams - but what if there was a way of making deadlines work for you and using them to ensure others provide you with what you want when you want it?

In Christopher Cox's brilliant new book, he looks at the impact deadlines have on us, and how we can use them to deliver the best results for all parties. Social scientists have revealed that most negotiations run right up to the deadline before a deal is finally struck. What they also discovered was that this deadline effect usually results in a worse deal for both parties. Cox shows you how, instead, the deadline effect can be used to bring about success not failure.

The truth is that most of us think of deadlines all wrong. They aren’t immutable laws of nature; they are a game we can play - and win. This book will show you the strategies different workplaces have come up with to do just that. They are the businesses and individuals who are rehabilitating the deadline effect, taking the urgency it provides and jettisoning all the down-to-the-wire nonsense. Based on his own experience as a magazine commissioning editor, where coaxing writers to deliver on time is an art form, he also embeds himself in other businesses, such as a ski patrol ahead of the first day of the winter season, to see how they meet deadlines that cannot be missed.

Above all, this book is an argument to embrace the power of deadlines. When time is limited, people are less wasteful, more focused, productive and creative. It’s a liberating realisation: excellence and timeliness are not at odds, and the deadline effect can be highly effective.

©2021 Christopher Cox (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc

Not a lot to learn from the book, intro is enough

Very difficult to finish, this should have been a very short article. The details in the stories do not contribute to a better understanding of how deadlines work. Give shorter deadlines and stick to them, under pressure everyone accomplishes more. There I said it, that was what the author tried to say in 5 hours of audio. Narrator was great though.