Daniel Kahneman
His fascinating book Thinking fast and slow is essential reading for everyone. The book is filled with insight for anyone who is looking for answers about how we make decisions in life. His explanations of the heuristics and biases that regulate our decision making will help us become better at doubting, therefore, de-biasing our judgement in personal and professional life. His talks will explain his previous involvement in structuring the selection process for the Israeli army and how he now helps large corporations filter out and eliminate noise in their decision making process, especially with regard to recruitment and selection.
Daniel Ariely
Dan’s specialty is the study of human actions. His books on irrationality, especially, the book Predictably irrational explains human nature from many different perspectives. Dan’s also big on motivation – what makes us do what we do. I particularly find his recommendation of temptation bundling which he discovered serendipitously, through life changing events and long bouts in the hospital burn unit. Dan studies reward systems and what works and what does not in what conditions. His book Payoff: the hidden logic that shapes our motivations, is an insightful quick read. Dan’s got some fun mobile Apps as well. Conscience+ is a fun take on money, family, work, world, romance and friendship.
Richard Thaler
Richard Thaler is one of the authors/professors responsible for popularizing behavioral economics. His popular book, Nudge, co-written with Cass Sunstein, is very handy for all business leaders. It explain how small cues given in a timely manner can help elicit an action from an individual. From promoting healthy school lunches to organ donation, nudged seem to be effective in a variety of purposes.
Robert Cialdini
Dr. Robert Cialdini has spent his entire career researching the science of influence earning him an international reputation as an expert in the fields of persuasion, compliance, and negotiation. His books including, Influence: Science & Practice, are the result of decades of peer-reviewed research on why people comply with requests. Influence has sold over 3 million copies in over 30 languages and is a New York Times Bestseller. His new book, Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade has many insights into how the principles of persuasion can be applied. My attempt at applying these principles at work in the hospitality industry can be found here in one of my previous posts. He has also co-authored an excellent book The Small Big: Small Changes That Spark Big Influence, with Noah Goldstein and Steve Martin.
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm is a journalist who writes on social issues. His books, Blink, Tipping Point, Outliers, David and Goliath and What the dog saw, are all best sellers. He brings together social research from various scientists to present ideas that could help businesses and enhance human health and well-being. Malcolm has a regular podcast, revisionist history which is equally interesting. Malcolm is an excellent storyteller. I particularly like the book outliers in which he explains how people mastered skills, even if the 10000 hour rule does not work, the stories are very inspirational.
Francesca Gino
Francesca Gino is a professor of business administration in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit at Harvard Business School. She is also formally affiliated with the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, with the Mind, Brain, Behavior Initiative at Harvard, and with the Behavioral Insight Group at Harvard Kennedy School. Her research focuses on judgment and decision-making, negotiation, ethics, motivation, productivity, and creativity.
Her book Sidetracked will help you identify and avoid these influences so the decisions you make do stick—and you finally reach your intended goals. In her latest book Rebel Talent: why it pays to break the rules at work and in life, Gino argues that the future belongs to the rebel — and that there’s a rebel in each of us. We live in turbulent times, when competition is fierce, reputations are easily tarnished on social media, and the world is more divided than ever before. In this cutthroat environment, cultivating rebel talent is what allows businesses to evolve and to prosper. And rebellion has an added benefit beyond the workplace: it leads to a more vital, engaged, and fulfilling life.
Angela Duckworth
In her book Grit: the power of passion and perseverance, Angela explains that grit—a combination of passion and perseverance for a singularly important goal—is the hallmark of high achievers in every domain. She’s also found scientific evidence that grit can grow. Angela gives a first-person account of her research with teachers working in some of the toughest schools, cadets struggling through their first days at West Point, and young finalists in the National Spelling Bee. She also mines fascinating insights from history and shows what can be gleaned from modern experiments in peak performance.
Adam Grant
Adam is a specialist in organizational and individual Behavior. His books Give and take, Originals and the books co-authored with others including Sheryl Sandberg [Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy] are quite insightful for business leaders looking for ways to enhance the human potential. Adam’s almost daily tweets are always insightful and teaches you something new. Following him on Twitter will be a good first step to getting to know his take on our psyche.
Simon Sinek
I got hooked onto Simon from his passionate TED talks. His books on leadership including the latest one The Infinite Game and the books before that are all very inspirational and in his words, will help anyone discover the ‘fire in their belly’. He is a trained ethnographer.
Daniel Pink
Like Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel Pink is fascinated by social research and as he explains the reason for his book When: the scientific secrets of perfect timing, a lot of social scientists and other researchers work in isolation and sometimes on the same topics, like psychologists, endocrinologists who study chemical changes and the relationship between changes in level of cognitive functioning, helps us decide optimum timings for some of the regular things we do on a daily basis. His other books include Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us and To sell is human, both books are excellent reads for managers looking for answers and ideas.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Nassim is a rebel by nature and he is never too shy to stand his ground on Social Mediaor any other platform. His books Antifragile: Things that gain from disorder and Skin in the game: Hidden asymmetries in daily life, are two of my favorite books that explain concepts that everyone can relate in our daily lives.
Steven Pinker
The first book that i read from him was The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century which is an excellent style guide for any writer. When asked about his constant argument with government and society in general about their preoccupation about headlines without much regard to trend lines, says he is no starry-eyed optimist. It’s just that the data don’t lie.
This article was written by Mr. Hassan Saeed. Mr. Hassan Saeed is a career hotelier with over 25 years of experience in Maldives tourism and resort operation. He is passionate about behavioral economics and how concepts like ‘Nudge’ can be applied in service settings. Hassan identifies himself as a lifelong learner. He currently holds the position of Resort Manager at Dhigali Maldives.
