Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
by Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell’s second book is a relatively quick read with lots of food for thought. Some of my favorite highlights include:

1) We’ve all been here before, haven’t we?
“The Four Horsemen of Ruinous Relationships: defensiveness, stonewalling, criticism, and contempt. With contempt being the true death knell. If you can measure the contempt level in a relationship you don’t need to know other details – you’re pretty much done.” (agreed)

2) Because snooping (a-hem, “research”) is a necessary evil.
“You can learn as much – or more – from one glance at a private space as you can from hours of exposure to the public space.” Damn! If only job interviews involved private time in your future boss’s office and/or home – you’d know exactly what you were getting yourself before you accepted that “fantastic” opportunity.

3) You mean I like furniture better than beer?
Visit www.implicit.harvard.edu for the home of the IAT. Participate in research which shows that our unconscious attitudes may be utterly incompatible with our stated conscious values.

4) Easier said than done, Malcolm…
“When we talk about analytic versus intuitive decision making, neither is good or bad. What is bad is if you use either of them in an inappropriate circumstance.” This is why those Myers-Briggs consultants are in demand. You trying telling those NTs that their analytic, rational decision making process is inappropriate. See what that gets you…