The Power of Noticing

What the Best Leaders See

By: Max Bazerman

Narrated by: Holter Graham

A “must-read” (Booklist) from Harvard Business School Professor and Codirector of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership: A guide to making better decisions, noticing important information in the world around you, and improving leadership skills.

Imagine your advantage in negotiations, decision-making, and leadership if you could teach yourself to see and evaluate information that others overlook. The Power of Noticing provides the blueprint for accomplishing precisely that. Max Bazerman, an expert in the field of applied behavioral psychology, draws on three decades of research and his experience instructing Harvard Business School MBAs and corporate executives to teach you how to notice and act on information that may not be immediately obvious.

Drawing on a wealth of real-world examples and using many of the same case studies and thought experiments designed in his executive MBA classes, Bazerman challenges you to explore your cognitive blind spots, identify any salient details you are programmed to miss, and then take steps to ensure it won’t happen again. His book provides a step-by-step guide to breaking bad habits and spotting the hidden details that will change your decision-making and leadership skills for the better, teaching you to pay attention to what didn’t happen, acknowledge self-interest, invent the third choice, and realize that what you see is not all there is.

While many bestselling business books have explained how susceptible to manipulation our irrational cognitive blind spots make us, Bazerman helps you avoid the habits that lead to poor decisions and ineffective leadership in the first place. With The Power of Noticing at your side, you can learn how to notice what others miss, make wiser decisions, and lead more successfully.

No magic formula but and interesting book

The book mainly talks about why we don't notice with very little of the book telling you how to notice. I'd still recommend the book, but basically the book tell you what not to do to miss something. This is hard, but worth reading and practicing.

Compelling, disturbing, empowering

If only more high level leaders would, if not able to view and assess all available data, listen to team members who see the ground data on a daily basis.

Not sure

The content is not bad, the author does provide useful insights and advice. However, 'usable' information starts only in chapter 4 or 5. The first ones talk about the greatness of the author, about stories which have way too much detail and are a waste of time. I am glad I eventually made it through these first chapters, but i was seriously considering to quit several times.
The narrator's voice is fine apart from when he tried to speak in a special or low voice...which felt me willing to switch to smth else.

Bad audio and felt the book doesn't deliver what it promises

The audio on this book is pretty bad. Not only does the mic seem to go in and out of intensity, but the speaker has a weird cadence. It took a lot of will power just to get through the audiobook on this alone. I also felt that the book highlighted quite a bit about the power of overlooking key concepts - or being too afraid to speak up, but it really wasn't until the end that he talks about how to not overlook things.

Helpful intelligent information.

I highly recommend this book. It's a great balance between academic information, stories and examples. Highly intelligent. I recommend this to anyone wishing to look at their life and/or their business from a different perspective. The audio is a little uneven but not enough to affect hearing it clearly.